Fox Axes Flop ‘The Return of Jezebel James’
Sitcoms Are Supposed to Be Funny
That was so thankfully fast. After abysmal ratings for the first three episodes aired, Fox has canceled the truly awful sitcom The Return of Jezebel James.
The series received considerable attention due to the involvement of Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, who created and wrote Jezebel, as well. Only minutes into the premiere episode, however, it was clear Sherman-Palladino’s unfunny and even irritating new series ain’t no Gilmore.
A lot of critics have mentioned the inclusion of a canned laugh track as one reason why Jezebel was so painful to watch. That didn’t bother me as much as the fact that nothing the laugh track underscored was actually funny to begin with.
I have never seen an alleged sitcom that was so devoid of humor and interesting situations. And, note that creator Sherman-Palladino wrote every last single one of the episodes that aired, which makes non-Gilmore fans like me wonder how the heck the earlier series acquired the phenomenal popularity it has.
In any case, Fox’s cancellation is effective immediately, and it has several repercussions. Four of Jezebel‘s seven produced episodes will never air now, and the repeats of the sitcom ‘Til Death that preceded the show have been yanked from the schedule, as well.
In their place, viewers will get repeats of the highly recommended forensic procedural Bones, which had been airing encore episodes on Fridays from 8pm–9pm EST before Jezebel debuted.
Parker Posey and Lauren Ambrose/The Return of Jezebel James photo courtesy of Fox
Not a surprising turn of events as I watched the three episodes that aired hoping upon hope they would get better. Unfortunately the completely manic Parker Posey is NOT Lauren Graham and I think that’s what we were all looking for.
If you want to see a funnier new sitcom the Ashton Kutcher produced “Miss Guided” is very charming, and has a lot more laughs!
There’s no doubt that Posey and Graham are very, very different. Thee main issue with Jezebel, from my point of view, is that the writing just was not funny, and the plots were incredibly boring, too.
Since Sherman-Palladino wrote all three episodes that aired, I hold her solely responsible for the show’s failure. Critics keep blaming things like the laugh track and Posey, but I’m not buying it.
Miss Guided is definitely a better show, as are all of the other non-syndicated sitcoms airing right now. Jezebel gets my pick for the worst TV series this year thus far.