Critics "Bored to Death" with New Sitcom

HBO releases new sitcom "Bored to Death" and inspite of its name, it is announced as a comedy.

Photo: Critics "Bored to Death" with New Sitcom

Critics

    Ames, played by Jason Schwartzman, is the hero of the new  sitcom. That's "hero" with a self-aware asterisk because he's a writer who can't finish his second novel, because his girlfriend, Suzanne, just left him, because he drinks and smokes too much dope.

   At least that's why he says he can't finish his second novel. From the evidence we see, old Jonathan just may not have that much to say.

  Whatever the cause, he loves reading vintage crime novels, which leads him to a solution for his stagnant life.

  Thanks to the miracle of Craigslist, he starts hiring himself out as a private detective, even though his only skills are what he knows from novels, and he doesn't even execute those very well.

   It's a fairly thin joke. But it's the best joke "Bored to Death" often seems to have.

     There's also this about "Bored to Death": In classic film noir, dramatic lulls often can be camouflaged by style. The way scenes are filmed, the way the detectives wear their hats, the way the dames move.

   Jonathan knows this, but the show never quite makes it happen. He's supposed to be a neurotic slacker who escapes into this cool new world, but even there, he still comes off as a neurotic slacker, according to New York Daily News' review..