The Crazy Ones Offseason

Even with cable making original programming a year-round affair, the Summer is still a quiet time for my TV viewing. I've got a lot of extra time in my schedule and thought it would be a good time to start a little project.
I do my weekly DVR Purges, but let's be frank: they are crap. I don't proofread them at all most weeks. They're collections of scattered thoughts that barely even make sense a week later. What I've decided to do is, with most of these shows I watch taking a break, reflect on where I stand with them, assessing what is in the show's favor (assets) and what could get it in trouble (liabilities).
Now, not every show I watch will be included. In general, I'm sticking to shows that I've kept notes (be them from Purges or otherwise) as I've watched. That means, shows like The Bridge, Looking, Sherlock, and Dexter will not be included. To get my thoughts on those, ask me. This project, supposing I stay on schedule should take all month and I hope it does a good job summing up where these shows stand. In some cases, I'm hoping to convince you to start watching. Other times, it'll be nothing more than a postmortem for a show that's gone.
I hope you enjoy.

Favorite Episode(s): "Pilot" and "Models Love Magic"

Assets:
Zach and Andrew: I didn't know much about James Wolk or Hamish Linklater other than what I'd seen in Mad Men and The Newsroom. On Mad Men, Wolk's Bob Benson is a fan favorite, but hardly a comedic character in a sitcom way. On The Newsroom, Linklater's character was kind of a jerk. In short, I had low expectations going into this show for them. Wolk quickly established himself as the most comfortable performer in the cast, effortlessly delivering lines and doing that thing where he can be charming in any situation (likable bastard!). Linklater took a little more time to develop but often got the best moments in an episode. I forget how good his speech was about his mom being a chocoholic because it happened on the same night as Abed taking the Nic Cage class on Community, and Andrew got one of my favorite moments on any show this season at the end of "Models Love Magic", distracting the models with a desperation trick. As the season progressed, Zach and Andrew became an even better tandem despite not on paper being characters you'd expect to get along.

Guest Stars: Did any show use guest stars this much? The Mindy Project, maybe. The Crazy Ones definitely had the most true guest stars. By that, I mean, they weren't bringing in established comedy people to be in episodes. They'd get Josh Groban or Gisele Bunchend or, yes, Kelly Clarkson and give them something to do. The guests were almost always fit into the week's story well and didn't take away from the main cast. Not many shows get that right, especially with such a variety of types of actors. Keeping with that Mindy Project comparison, it's more impressive using a Victoria's Secret model well in a show than, say, Glen Howerton on loan from It's Always Sunny.

Amanda Setton: Speaking of The Mindy Project (I swear, I didn't write this back to back with TMP), Setton left The Mindy Project (or was fired. I don't know how that show works) after the first season as one of my least favorite characters. Then she showed up in a similar role on The Crazy Ones and blew me away. I thought she was a poor man's Jennifer Esposito initially and now realize that The Mindy Project simply didn't know how to write her. The Brooklyn (I think...one of the boroughs) accent is a smoke screen. You think she's going to be tough or stubborn but she's often the most juvenile character in the group and The Crazy Ones increasingly used her with Robin Williams because she was the only one he could play off who he couldn't steamroll over. I'm excited to see who casts her next.

Liabilities:

Sydney: Is Joss Whedon going to go down as the only person to know how to use Sarah Michelle Gellar effectively? We know from Buffy the kind of range she has, so it's sad to see her as Sydney. In the pilot, she' s the wet-blanket and, the their credit, the writers moved beyond that. For most of the season, there was a tug of war going on as to whether she needed to be goofy or play the straight woman. With more time, they could've struck a balance, but most of season one went from her being obsessed with a video game one episode to being the person trying to keep the office together the next. I can't even blame Gellar for this because the character was too inconsistent for anyone to play effectively. I wish Joss Whedon would've come in for a day and walked David E. Kelley how to write optimally for her.

Robin Williams: I was as hesitantly excited as anyone for Williams' return to TV. He is an Oscar winner (arguably, should have more than one) and a comedy legend. His last stint in TV was about 30 years ago, so I was expecting him to be a little rusty. It turns out, that the issues were less about rust and more about him still being too big of a personality for the job. Any time he was on camera, he took over. Most scenes with Simon are about the other characters keeping up. The writers were obviously aware of this, like in "Frankenstein" when they have kids mock him for all his silly voices in the library. That doesn't mean they ever figured out what to do with hm. I won't go as far as saying there's no way to fit Robin Williams back on TV, but a character like Simon fed too many of his bad instincts and made him too big for the rest of the show.

Not Enough Kelly Clarkson: Hey, David E. Kelley! A word of advice. Don't give me Kelly Clarkson (She's so nice) in the first episode without bringing her back later in the season (or every episode...). Some people will get too high of expectations at the beginning and be extremely disappointed each when each subsequent episode fails to match the same high mark.

Outlook: 

The show's dead, so...the outlook is pretty bleak. On paper, this is a show that had everything working for it. Successful creator in David E. Kelley with the clout and name recognition to guarantee an initial audience: check. Movie star bringing his fans from TV: check. Cult TV icon bringing curious fans (somewhat muted after the disappointment of Ringer): check. Young, pretty up and comers in the form of Wolk, Setton, and Linklater: check. A healthy stable of big names willing to stop by for an episode or two: check. It's on CBS, a network known for a target audience that doesn't know how to use a remote control or DVR: check. Somehow, the show never came together and wasn't strong enough to lead its own hour (then again, I doubt following Two and a Half Men would've helped much either). By the end of the season, the best thing I could say about it is that I had no reason to stop watching it. That kind of inertia would've carried me into season two. It's a slight relief that it is gone because it's getting to the point that "good enough" isn't....well, isn't good enough anymore.

Previously this Offseason...
Community
Brooklyn Nine Nine
New Girl
Suburgatory
Modern Family 
Parenthood
The Mindy Project 
The Michael J Fox Show 
The Big Bang Theory
Agents of SHIELD