Friends With Better Lives / The same old story

Don’t be fooled by the suffix, ‘with better lives’. Friends With Better Lives is a shadow of the popular 90’s show, Friends, if not, it’s precise replica. In its essence, it’s a sitcom based on the lives of six 30-something individuals, all of whom feel that the others have got it better.
Bobby (Kevin Connolly) and Andi (Majandra Delfino) are the quintessential American, Homeland worshiping, married couple now ‘in a rut’. Will (James Van Der Beek) is a man going through divorce, overstaying his welcome at Bobby’s house. Kate (Zoe Lister-Jones) is a sassy, ambitious, sarcastic woman, failing to get herself a decent date. Jules (Brooklyn Decker), is a bubbly, impulsive woman who falls in love with Lowell (Rick Donald), an Aussie Buddhist who owns a natural restaurant.
That the show premiered on March 31, only after the most popular sitcom of the time, How I Met Your Mother, breathed its last, doesn’t seem coincidental. Created by Dana Klein, the writer of the original show, Friends, it shows how these six characters are stuck with each other (and how we are stuck with them for half an hour). The humor is not refreshingly original as it resorts to punchlines on booze, sex, poop, and other such elements of American amusement. The characters although different from each other, feel uniform in their setting. The storyline of two couples is very contrary, adding a little something for everyone. While Bobby and Andi are trying to accept the fact their marriage has fallen in a rut, Lowell and Jules are a newly fallen in love couple, giving the show its much required spice. Kate’s sarcastic remarks and Will’s pranks are either a hit or a miss, much like the entire show itself.
Very evidently, the show is a desperate attempt, or at least looks like one, to achieve the glory and fame of the the original show Friends. The good part about that is that you’re assured a laugh or two at any point, without having to religiously follow the show.

Verdict: It will tickle some remote funny bone of yours but stay away from it if you’re seeking originality.