Friends with Better Lives

Like so many so-so comedies, Friends with Better Lives has the beats of funny, without the actual funny. We know from the way the actors pause and then hit their lines that we're supposed to be laughing. But we're not actually laughing at jokes about wives who don't give their husbands enough oral, or vegan restaurants that (get this!) make cheese out of nuts! It's hard to shake the feeling that Friends with Better Lives is yet another retread on the same old Friends setup, with a foxy ensemble cast set loose in scenarios both sexy and silly. It's equally hard not to imagine the series of pitch meetings CBS held for How I Met Your Mother that resulted in Friends with Better Lives.

It's a pity, too, because like HIMYM, Friends with Better Lives features appealing actors, especially the gimlet-eyed Zoe Lister Jones, who bites off every line like she's speaking through a mouthful of glass shards. Van Der Beek, too, has a great smarmy affect that puts one in mind of the early days of Neil Patrick Harris on HIMYM. If only this show would let these two good actors be recognizable people instead of sitcom characters delivering quips.