S01.E02: Wayne Dream Team

[The Crazed Spruce]

Quote

When Emily tries to the members of her team excited about a new product idea, she can't get them to break their obsession with Fantasy Super Hero League; Van makes plans to be included in the Wayne dream-team photo.

[Lantern7]

Quick thoughts:

1. Just thought of a great movie idea: Honey, I Shrunk Scott Adsit. I guess hairlines can't be trademarked.

2. I don't think there's been a Dr, Evillo. Prince Evillo, on the other hand? Totally happened.

3. Of course Van is a douchebag. He likes the idea of finger-guns, even after his aunt and uncle were brutally slain by bullets.

[Arkay]

I thought the show had a good premise. Now that I've watched the first two episodes, I'm going to delete it. There's very little superhero stuff and it's just another hammy office sitcom.

[legaleagle53]

46 minutes ago, Arkay said:

I thought the show had a good premise. Now that I've watched the first two episodes, I'm going to delete it. There's very little superhero stuff and it's just another hammy office sitcom.

That's the point. It's not supposed to be about the superheroes themselves. It's supposed to be about the ordinary people who live among them and how they cope with all the super-shenanigans going on around them and affecting them.

Edited February 10, 2017 by legaleagle53

[RandomWatcher]

That umbrella is something the Penguin might use.

[J0nas3]

So, Susan's the Jerry of this show, then?

[memememe76]

I hate when the mean people gang up on the nice naive person. Hate. I will give it one more episode, but I cannot stand for another similar episode.

[Lantern7]

I don't see Emily's charges as bullies. They're just tired of supervisors coming and going. Also, they live in a city where they can die at any moment. If you don't get pastries due to Jack O'Lantern flying like a jackass, you are lucky. It probably helps to be nihilistic in Charm City, especially when your boss is friggin' Van Wayne.

[thuganomics85]

Laughed a few more times in this one, so I think it will continue to grow on me, but right now, I'm in a weird spot where I find Vanessa Hudgens to be the weakest acting wise, but I still prefer Emily to her employees, despite them being better acted, because they come off like immature jerks to me.  I didn't even mind her lying to them about what really went down with the Internet and HR, because they come off like such whiny babies, I don't blame her for not wanting to deal with the hassle.  Granted, it backfired on her in the end as always, but I still can't fully blame her.

Alan Tudyk is still perfect as Van.  Van is almost reminding me of an incompetent Jack Donaghey with his arrogance and ego ("You can't tell a Wayne where to pee!")

I know different comedies tend to have similar gags or jokes, but Emily's "I instantly regret saying that just now!" lines really reminded of similar thing that Brooklynn Nine-Nine does with Jake.

Won't lie: I would totally buy that "Alan Tudyk doing finger guns" standee!

[dr pepper]

I really love Mini Bob Newhart.

[Danny Franks]

So Emily is supposed to be annoying and sickeningly optimistic. I wasn't sure whether it was just the way Hudgens thinks people do comedy, after the first episode. She's pretty annoying. Still, she should start actually being their boss and disciplining the others for the way they treat her. Start by sacking the woman engineer, because she's incredibly unfunny.

I still feel like Danny Pudi is just doing Abed. But I guess they didn't hire him for his range.

Making fun of comic book book tropes (although they seem to be mostly Batman tropes) like the city being incredibly dangerous, not just because of supervillains but also because of run-of-the-mill murderous villains is amusing. Not side-splitting, but it raises a smile.

Alan Tudyk is still the best thing by a country mile. And the idea of a vapid, arrogant manchild who lives in a world of luxury, isolated from reality, seems oddly appropriate to the current climate. His secretary works well as his straight woman, and as Emily's straight woman.

Also, I just don't believe that any employee anywhere has learned anything worthwhile from an educational video that they're legally mandated to watch.

So, are they allowed to use the names of real superheroes and villains, but not actually show them?

[tennisgurl]

Has any employee ever actually learned anything worthwhile from a video they were required to watch in the history of the human race? Ever?

This did get some laughs out of me (Alan Tudyk and his secretary are still the stand outs), but it seems to be running on potential now, instead of brilliance. I hope we get beyond the "everyone is a dick to Emily until the last 5 minutes" thing fast. Its been two episodes, and I'm already over it.

I know its not the same universe, but when they said the Flash was stuck in the phantom zone all year, I was just like "Oh no! Iris will be so sad! They just got that cute apartment and everything!"

Edited February 10, 2017 by tennisgurl

[zxy556575]

I'd like the show to lean more into the craziness of living in a superhero universe instead of being basically a workplace comedy. Maybe it's coming.

Edited February 10, 2017 by Lord Donia

[RobertDeSneero]

1 hour ago, Danny Franks said:

Also, I just don't believe that any employee anywhere has learned anything worthwhile from an educational video that they're legally mandated to watch.

You're not supposed to learn anything from it, you're supposed to fear having to watch an even worse video for a longer period of time if you repeat your behavior.

I think this show will reach its potential when they can pull off killing a background character and having the reaction around the office be zany rather than maudlin, stuff that would be wildly inappropriate in response to a real-life death but would make for great comedy.

[PugLoaf]

All I want to know is where Wendy got that cat sweater. If anyone has any ideas I would greatly appreciate a PM!

[MarkHB]

18 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Has any employee ever actually learned anything worthwhile from a video they were required to watch in the history of the human race? Ever?

Once upon a time, I worked in a now defunct discount charm store. New top management took over and started doing Q&A videos. One question they got was, "why do male floor associates have to wear ties?" The new CEO agreed that that was dumb, and said they were dropping that policy. I whipped my tie off in 3 seconds. So that was worthwhile :)

So far as the show goes, I think these first few episodes are still trying to find their rhythm after the creative changeover, and I also wonder if the bit with Jack O'Lantern and the pastries was originally filmed for the old pilot.

[MisterGlass]

On 2/10/2017 at 1:46 PM, Danny Franks said:

Start by sacking the woman engineer, because she's incredibly unfunny.

Normally I'd applaud a show for including women in technical positions, but she's such an unpleasant cliche it would be worth removing her.  Even in the context of the show she didn't get shared praise for the rumbrella.

Honestly, I only tuned in this week to watch Van Wayne and Jackie, and they didn't disappoint.  HR added a little gleam, but otherwise meh.

[BusyOctober]

Aaannnd I'm out.  I usually give new quirky/sitcoms shows 3 tries.  Two episodes of Vanessa H. were all I could take. Deleted from the DVR, but I may lurk here occasionally to see if there's improvement.

[legaleagle53]

On 2/9/2017 at 10:10 PM, Lantern7 said:

I don't see Emily's charges as bullies. They're just tired of supervisors coming and going. Also, they live in a city where they can die at any moment. If you don't get pastries due to Jack O'Lantern flying like a jackass, you are lucky. It probably helps to be nihilistic in Charm City, especially when your boss is friggin' Van Wayne.

Besides, Emily makes herself such an easy target by being so relentlessly perky to the point that I can see why her charges would be constantly rolling their eyes any time she starts talking to them.  Such people tend to get on MY nerves very quickly, especially when, as Emily does, they try WAY too hard to win me over.  Emily's constant perkiness, however, is probably not what I find most annoying about her. It's her constant neediness and her desperation to be liked.  As I said, she tries WAY too hard, and I can understand how it would grate on those around her, especially when they've made a career out of keeping their heads down and doing just enough to get by at work.

[iMonrey]

Quote

There's very little superhero stuff and it's just another hammy office sitcom.

I thought this episode was an improvement over the pilot, but . . . you are correct in that the premise of the show wasn't really utilized in any meaningful way here. It could have been about any other workplace, anywhere. Very generic.

[Maximum Taco]

The characters actually are starting to grow on me after this one, even Emily, although she could do with a little toning down.

I am a little annoyed with how they just seem to be madlibbing the DCU in the fantasy broadcast in this one though. I mean why is Sinestro fighting the Flash? How the hell did he gain access to the Phantom Zone? Superman has got to be concerned with that.

It honestly felt like the line was "Flash was attacked by {insert random villain here} with {insert random incapacitation here}" Cmon Powerless, Flash has his own Rogues Gallery, and he regularly gets trapped in time, or the Speed Force. Try to stay in your lane.

But it was definitely an improvement over the pilot, so I'm willing to give it the 4 episode test.

Edited February 14, 2017 by Maximum Taco

[GenieinTX]

This show is basically Better Off Ted but I liked Better Off Ted way better.  The characters are way more likeable (go watch it on netflix if you haven't seen it). 

I think that's what bugs me the most, everyone who works at the office is unlikeable.  There are potential good ones (the secretary and Ron and Abed) but the rest are awful.  I think the best thing about the show is crazy Jack O Lantern, and that makes me sad because Alan Tudyk is the best.