Angel From Hell - General Discussion

[formerlyfreedom]

Discuss Angel from Hell here!

 

[Janimo]

I'm liking Allison's father and brother....but......I'm not impressed by the first two episodes.

I guess that's all I have to say.

[Actionmage]

That spider-dog was so freakin' cute! 

 

I would not waste vodka on a squirt flower; I might use gin or rum.

 

I loved the security safe words.  Hearing"circus peanuts", sadly, will never not make me crave the stupid things.

 

I wonder how canny Allison's ex is. He had a schmoopy ditty specifically designed for the father and brother. He had to know they might show up. Allison possibly even told him about prior attempts, like the Post-It and the scooter in the pool.

 

Amy I'm alright with, for now. I'm not sure I want to see a slightly more uptight version of Juliet ( from psych), which is how Allison sort of reads to me.  I'll have to try another episode.

[giovannif7]

I'm puzzled as to why Amy is so excited about being invited to lunch with Allison and her brother, considering she already met him in the first episode (a bit of the meeting scene was even included in the "previouslies" at the start of this episode.) It's only the second week - Amy can't have forgotten that they've already been introduced and exchanged some banter. I like Jane and Maggie, and they seem to have a nice working chemistry together, so I'll stick with the show for now. I just hope the writing tightens up soon.

[jhlipton]

I like it -- it's fun, with a few throwaway likes "What about the 1%?" "They run everything. Don't you read The Wall Street Journal?"

[tenativelyyours]

I liked the line about 'crazy talk'. 

 

I didn't like a lot of the show though.  A fix this problem each episode is going to get real tired real fast.  It also needs to take the safety helmet off.  This comes after Mom.  It can be a little rougher and harder.  It can be a bit more irreverent and still be a CBS show.  This is the type of show you gamble on and go big.  Or at least bigger.  I was okay with the pilot because that is kind of what pilots do. 

 

In this case though the second show did not get better than the first.  Maybe not worse, but a flat line in trajectory is not a good thing here.  I think the effort to deliver a feel good tidy package in 23 minutes or less will put this down faster than Wilbur at the Elmer's factory.

 

I still like the brother.  Despite the bland writing this episode, there is something about the character that seems in tune with the type of show I want this to be.  I was not happy to see the boyfriend.  Now ex-boyfriend.  I was really hoping he was going to be a one and done.  Or at least maybe popping up another episode to be dealt with once again briefly and permanently.  I so do not want him being a regular.  I have nothing against the actor, I just hate when they have a person cheat and then get the redemption simply because Hollywood writers love throwing two exes together in silly situations. 

 

Thursday has become my block of television with CBS and Top Chef so this has a little more way it can slide in quality before I ditch it completely.  But it can quickly become the noise in the background while I fold laundry, get clothes ready for the next day.  Put away any leftovers.  And then it is a quick jump to being put on mute, like Mom, while I return any phone calls before it is too late or listen to a new song I tracked down after hearing it on a commercial during one of the previous shows.

[Julie23]

I want to like this show since I like both of the lead actors, and the dad and brother are good too. However, I do feel like Jane is playing the Angel just a little too crazy. Since this show is in between Mom and Elementary, I keep it on, but I am hoping it gets more interesting.

[joanne3482]

I want to like this show since I like both of the lead actors, and the dad and brother are good too. However, I do feel like Jane is playing the Angel just a little too crazy. Since this show is in between Mom and Elementary, I keep it on, but I am hoping it gets more interesting.

I love all the actors. Juliet, great! Dude from the Office, great! Kevin Pollock (that's dad's name, right), great! Jane Lynch, great! Brother I recognize from a bunch of other things, great!  But I just can't decide about this show and since I don't watch Mom or Elementary I have to make an effort to see it. (Sadly the last two weeks that effort has been, oh look I'm just getting home from work and it happens to be on...) 

[ae2]

I don't like the over the top crazy character that Jane Lynch plays most of the time, but it's usually tolerable because she's in a supporting role. (E.g. Role Models) Having her be the star of a show is too much for me to stomach.

 

Meanwhile, I actually like Lynch hosting Hollywood Game Night.

 

Maggie Lawson was amazing in Psych, so I really want to see her star in a successful sitcom. I just wish it were something else.

 

The brother and dad seemed to be very flat actors in the opening restaurant scene. The breakfast burrito joke just felt like someone reading dialogue at a table, not trying to sell it. But as the episode progressed the acting seemed to open up a little and their B-plot was fun.

 

Is it too early for wild speculation about Jane Lynch's character? Is she actually an angel? Crazy stalker? Is Allison actually dead? Going crazy? 

[Kanner]

I really like the brother and dad. They are consistently the best part of the show for me.

I couldn't relate to the friend's anger the second time. The birthday mess up was big, I get that. But how was she to know that he was going to pop the question. If they were such good friends I think this would be something that was more understood than added to the bad list.

[MaryMitch]

I really like the brother and dad. They are consistently the best part of the show for me.

I couldn't relate to the friend's anger the second time. The birthday mess up was big, I get that. But how was she to know that he was going to pop the question. If they were such good friends I think this would be something that was more understood than added to the bad list.

I understand Kelly being put out, but yeah, it really wasn't Allison's fault. (Although putting down the boyfriend is never a safe thing to do until the 2 are DEFINITELY broken up!)  I think if Allison wasn't just lonely she would have just moved on without the 2nd attempt.  I mean, who needs a friend who walks away after you put your foot in your mouth?

 

Regardless - this show is manic, but I really enjoy it!

[Wings]

I like it.  It is 22 minutes of light funny.  

 

 

Is it too early for wild speculation about Jane Lynch's character? Is she actually an angel? Crazy stalker? Is Allison actually dead? Going crazy?

 

 

Showing Amy in a family photograph when Allison was a child, told us she is really her guardian angel.  That is the premise of the series.  

[Hanahope]

Ok, I know that I ignored most music except for my hair-metal and grunge bands in the 90s, but I really had no clue who Joey McIntyre was and had to look him up.  Would it have been too hard for the writers to mention the band (or really singing group) he was with?  That I recognized, once I looked him up.

 

Other than that, the show was pretty good.  I definitely like the dad and brother characters, almost better than the daughter/sister.  The spider costume on the dog was cute.

[jhlipton]

I think there was a brief mention that he was in NKotB but it was probably a "blink-and-you-miss-it" moment.

[Mojeaux]

I’m giving this show one more episode before I break up with it. Light humor that wears very quickly, and says nothing worth listening to. It’s like an after-school special.

[MaryMitch]

I guess the father found out Amy's last name? Because otherwise how could someone do a background check on her? 

 

I thought this episode was meh, but Jane Lynch is just so charming in it.

[tenativelyyours]

Amy moving into the garage was not only a bit heavy handed right out the gate when she asked the brother if it was not time to move out but also heavy handed in terms of ongoing plot.  I already can see the wackiness of her new tenant now right in her own home all the time.  Complete with a pending episode where things blow up and she demands Amy move out followed by realization of how much she cares for her and begs her to come back.  Yeah.  Not a fan of that move. 

 

In fact taking Amy out of the home took some interesting potential to introduce minor characters and some interesting plots.  Three episodes in and there are really only four characters.  It feels oddly claustrophobic in that regard.  Especially since the writing is so light that the characters aren't really gaining much by the tight focus.

 

I know I'm not going to get something unpredictable at this point but it still doesn't disappoint me that the writers are going in such a tight and predictable path every time even if there are some clever one liners here and there.

[Actionmage]

Was it just me that was confused by Allison's anger at Amy in the club? "What have you gotten me into?!"  Well, from what I saw, a dance and one or two kisses. That's not super awful, even in the context of the guy being a husband, wrt Allison. Allison's freak-out, while understandable, seemed a bit much for the situation.

 

Kyle Bornheimer, as Allison's brother, is doing great, fun work here.  The banter between he and Amy is fun. I like that Amy seems to be the boot up the backside in this family, but strangely, it seems Amy is having a better affect on getting Brad to a better place than her own charge, Allison. ( I am guessing that things will happen so that Brad will be able to afford the new apartment. Like the video of him at the club from this episode might go viral and folks want him to do more videos. But that's just speculation on my part.)

 

I feel badly for Allison in that she truly seems to have no good friends. That none of her friends took her side after the bf/fiancé slept with the "best" friend? Wow.  I understand the "wacky friends" idea of Allison and Amy. I'm surprised they didn't call them the Divine Odd Couple. Still, Allison is so sure that she's superior to Amy, even with the knowledge Amy shouldn't be able to know or figure out.  I would understand wary, but Allison's certainty that Amy's barely worth her time feels too mean.  Which is weird, as I enjoy Maggie Lawson.

Edited January 23, 2016 by Actionmage

[tenativelyyours]

Yeah I think the setup for Allison to have a crisis moment in terms of Amy was a bit too light for it.

 

I also think the writers need to come up with why Allison is so lonely and almost anti-social and yet had a house (hers no less) full of friends the first episode.  They were all there for the cheating boyfriend?  And dumped her when she dumped him?  Something is stretched a bit thin there.  Continuity on a show is a small but necessary thing.

[jhlipton]

Was it just me that was confused by Allison's anger at Amy in the club? "What have you gotten me into?!"  Well, from what I saw, a dance and one or two kisses. That's not super awful, even in the context of the guy being a husband, wrt Allison. Allison's freak-out, while understandable, seemed a bit much for the situation.

 

She kissed him in front of his wife and baby.  That would be huge for someone like Allison, and din't bother me.

[jjj]

I kept wondering what kind of club lets a baby in?  I don't know where this is supposed to be located, but under-age kids in a bar/club is not allowed in placed where I have lived. 

 

I really enjoy the very tiny reactions of characters -- like the father when he first met Amy, and she went charging offscreen -- he made a small "WTF?" shrug with his hands.  There are a lot of little moments like that. 

[twoods]

I'm wondering how the mom got in with that huge line, unless she went apeshit on the bouncer.

I wish they depicted Allison as a competent doctor. Her dad always seems to be at the office while she is out and about.

The brother is my favorite character. I find him endearing and rooting for him to turn his life around.

[Wings]

A mother charging into a club vs Amy being an angel who can catch anything you throw at her.  hmmmmm I would say the angel thing is the most unbelievable.  No?   

Edited January 31, 2016 by wings707

[sidekickgirl]

Joey McIntyre!!! My first not husband.

The show is cute, I didn't expect to like it, but I do.

[twoods]

I was hoping that some of Allison's changes would go right, but I will take her dad trying to make her an equal partner. The staff thinking that the lawyer was a stripper was pretty funny.

[Browncoat]

Are they always going to start every episode with what is essentially a recap of the pilot?  It's getting annoying, and we're what, three or four eps in? 

 

But it doesn't really matter, because I think I'm done.  I like the dad and the brother, but otherwise, not so much.

[Wings]

This is wearing thin already.  With only 4 cast members I don't see them being able to sustain it.  Putting aside the premise, most successful sit coms have a much larger cast.  One plot line can only go so far no matter how good and so far this is a one note. 

[jhlipton]

This is wearing thin already.  With only 4 cast members I don't see them being able to sustain it.  Putting aside the premise, most successful sit coms have a much larger cast.  One plot line can only go so far no matter how good and so far this is a one note. 

 

All in the Family only had 4 and rarely had a guest star...

[Wings]

All in the Family only had 4 and rarely had a guest star...

 

Forgot about that one.  The exception to the rule, clearly!   The cutting edge script was its success.  

[tenativelyyours]

All in the Family only had 4 and rarely had a guest star...

 

And yet it also had strong guest stars that were so well written cast and portrayed that in a day when spin offs were not common, they pretty much invented that trope and went on to define their own niches in television pop culture --  The Jeffersons and Maude.  So four can work as it did in All in the Family, but it also had some of the strongest and most compelling guest stars that returned and in doing so made their own characters series worthy.   Maybe this will end up doing the same----sorry I didn't mean to giggle.  No really.  I'm serious....

[tenativelyyours]

Okay so saw the latest episode.  I'm finding each episode that there is more and more of 'too much Amy'.  When Allison as the straight man character is funnier than Amy in their back and forths, I know the show is quickly breeding contempt like the container of salsa I let get shoved to the back of the fridge does mold. 

 

I also am thinking it would have been better that the dad was just Allison's boss.  It is getting stale already having every b plot be the father and son cracking wise.  Well cracking...what the slightly less than medium level version of wise?  And having him date the engaged best friend's mother is a little too close quartered in some ways.  Nice we get new characters that might recur but these people seem really bent on letting no new people in their lives. 

 

The plotline about the soulmate just did not work for me for some reason.  Maybe because they cast the role well and he actually had some nice chemistry with Allison so knowing right from the start that something would go wrong just made the something going wrong a "hurry up and get it over already" moment.

 

I might be able to stick this out a whole season.  But I'm guessing that will be my limit.  Yet the funny thing is that had this show been on USA in the middle of the summer I would probably be more forgiving.  Maybe.

[MaryMitch]

I loved the pillow fight!  I mean, I didn't understand it (where did everyone get their pillows? Why did the cops come?), but Amy going after that guy with her memory foam pillow was hilarious! And Allison going after the guys in the wool caps - I have never understood why someone would wear one of those in 80+ degree weather; that was very satisfying.

[iMonrey]

Damn, I really want to like this show, but . . . it's just not very funny. It's got all the ingredients to be funny, especially Jane Lynch, but it's just not cracking me up. There's something just not working and I can't put my finger on it, other than I know while I'm watching it nothing's really making me laugh. 

[ASpring1900]

This show is losing me... I want to like it because the main character has the same name (and spelling) as me and she looks like Alicia Silverstone circa Clueless. Silly reasons, but I have stuck with shows for more meager reasons in the past. But it's just not funny, and I watched it today more to get it off my DVR than because I care about the characters and want to see what they are up to. I'll give it one (or two) more chances.

 

ETA: The "whoo" bit between Amy and the fiancee was funny.

Edited February 5, 2016 by AManfred

[jhlipton]

HIMYM (back when it was good) told us that there is a proper (as well as many improper) way to "Whoo!" (Although they spelled it "Woooo!")  Nice to see a follow-up.

[ae2]

This show is losing me... I want to like it because the main character has the same name (and spelling) as me and she looks like Alicia Silverstone circa Clueless. Silly reasons, but I have stuck with shows for more meager reasons in the past. But it's just not funny, and I watched it today more to get it off my DVR than because I care about the characters and want to see what they are up to. I'll give it one (or two) more chances.

 

ETA: The "whoo" bit between Amy and the fiancee was funny.

 

If you want to watch a much better show starring an Alicia Silverstone lookalike, then check out Psych. Maggie Lawson isn't in the pilot, but she's a costar after that. Also, she actually got her start because how much she looks like Silverstone.

[teebax]

I hate to say it, but I'm out. I just can't enjoy watching Amy completely meddle in Allison's life. I get that she's her angel, but I find her character completely annoying and inappropriate. I love the cast and have really tried to like this one, but I can't do it.

[Browncoat]

I'm done, too.

[MaryMitch]

Not me... I'm loving this!

[jjj]

I'm done, too.

You and everybody -- the show has been cancelled.  I kept wanting to take a piece of sandpaper to Jane Lynch's character -- just too rough and ragged. 

[niklj]

Did they ever explain why Amy decided to make her presence known in the first place? Or was it just because she felt like breaking the rules one day and letting her know? It's almost like Drop Dead Fred in a way--except people can see Amy.

[Xenith22]

I have to wonder if the writers were planning on maybe introducing an opposing force to Amy?   I mean it struck me as odd how the soulmate mentioned he was not supposed to move to town for another year until something changed that caused his boss to send him early.   Was this a hint that there was someone representing the other side trying to ruin Allison's life for some reason or possibly another angel who has it out for Amy and sought revenge my meddling with her charges life?

[jhlipton]

I have to wonder if the writers were planning on maybe introducing an opposing force to Amy?   I mean it struck me as odd how the soulmate mentioned he was not supposed to move to town for another year until something changed that caused his boss to send him early.   Was this a hint that there was someone representing the other side trying to ruin Allison's life for some reason or possibly another angel who has it out for Amy and sought revenge my meddling with her charges life?

 

No to all the above.  We met one other angel, and he only lasted half an episode.

[iMonrey]

Wow, they're not even going to air the rest of the episodes, they're just putting Big Bang reruns into the time slot. The network must have really hated this show. It's not doing that bad in the ratings - there are some Fox and NBC comedies that would be thankful to be doing as well as this one. CBS really has a low threshold for what they'll tolerate, ratings-wise.

[twoods]

Too bad. I thought it was funny and I would put it on if I'm folding laundry or cleaning since I didn't have to fully pay attention to it. I like Maggie Lawson and her last two shows were cancelled. Hope she finds something longer lasting.

[Big Mother]

So... we never get to find out if she was a real angel or just a lunatic psycho?

[Wings]

So... we never get to find out if she was a real angel or just a lunatic psycho?

 

 

She was a real angel, that is the entire premise of the show.  It wasn't meant to put a question in the viewers mind.  They were very clear to the viewers in showing that.  She could catch anything thrown at her, knew Alison's past and future etc.  

 

We even saw her in a pic when Alison was a child.  

Edited February 14, 2016 by wings707

[Perfect Xero]

She was a real angel, that is the entire premise of the show.  It wasn't meant to put a question in the viewers mind.  They were very clear to the viewers in showing that.  She could catch anything thrown at her, knew Alison's past and future etc.  

 

We even saw her in a pic when Alison was a child.  

 

Most of which could be explained by Amy being good with computers and having good eye-hand coordination. I think there was supposed to be a little doubt there as to whether she was really an Angel or just a mentally unstable drug user who had latched on to Allison at some point. Jane Lynch was on Colbert talking about the show a couple of weeks ago and said the character might just be crazy.

Edited February 14, 2016 by Perfect Xero

[tenativelyyours]

Yeah I never got the sense the show wanted to fully commit.  Why we got the 'oh maybe she isn't' coda of her fellow 'angel' getting rounded up and sent back to the lock up for the mentally unsound.  In hindsight I think this might have been part of the problem since it seemed maybe too transparent that the show was almost lazily trying to have it both ways.  I wonder if the show had committed to one completely?  I did get a sense it wanted a young almost (I hate to say it but) hipster audience and so wanted to make sure it was some "Touched by an Angel" with a snarky mouth on her. 

 

You know my parents often play the game of 'well I remember" in terms technology. Not just land lines and the original mobile phones but things like calling after 7 pm for long distance or the fact my grandfather wisely refused to buy a beta video recorder because somehow he had an inside track on waiting to see if VHS was really going to trump in the video recording machine industry.  And my grandparents talk about having to wait a couple of times when they moved to get a non-party telephone line or how cable when they were kids was only thirteen channels because UHF often wasn't available on whatever cable they had  (no one in my family ever did the 'I walked blank # of miles in the snow to school").  Funny that one of mine is already "well I remember when cancelling a series meant the episodes that were already filmed were still shown and the show just didn't return for another season".  I expect before my generation is done, series will be announced and cancelled the day they are scheduled to air.    I can just see it.  'Tonight on CBS,  The 103rd Season of Survivor premieres at 8, followed at 9 by the new dramedy "Still Trying" starring Matthew Perry, then at 10 stay tuned for the new season of CSI: NCIS: DOA:WTF?  Now get ready as Survivor Tropical Greenland starts right now....followed at 9 by a double airing of some classic episodes of the Big Bang Theory.

[Big Mother]

You absolutely cracked me up with the CSI:NCIS:DOA:WTF and the 103rd Season os Survivor. I'm still laughing.