The two-zany formula still works for movie after movie, and the occasional TV show. Case in point: Tonight's Testees, airing on the risk-happy FX network; the comedy doesn't push boundaries so much as trounce and trash them.
What a huge difference between what users are saying about the show and how the critics rated it... Obviously there are a lot of fans. Count me as one... very well written and acted show. Shame FX couldn't have given it another season to catch on.
In a time dominated by ridiculous shows such as Two and a Half Men that only by the grace of God has somehow managed to find a place at the top of the most watched television shows, I am left in disbelief that a little slapstick humour like that of Testees has been met with so much displeasure, I hope that this show is given another chance because, at the end of the day, life can get you down and as silly as this show is, it makes you laugh, and that, after all, is all a comedy sets out to do. In that respect, Testees ticks all the right boxes.
The crass gags--some of which I laughed at--ultimately overwhelm everything else. Better to dole out the tastelessness carefully, so that each crude zinger has some value.
All of this might be vaguely defensible if “Testees” were trying to satirize the abuses of Big Pharma, or the limited opportunities for dumb white men, or really if it were trying to satirize anything at all. But it just sits there, inert, like a patient on a gurney.
Witty comedy with plenty of slap stick sprinkled on top. I can only hope that this show is brought back. This show is exactly what I hope to watch after a long day.
This show was clever, very clever, it made the sort of cringing humor that I normally despise, work... And boy they made it work well! Every episode took the show to new levels of depravity and stupidity and I loved it. Jelly bean omlettes was a classic. I still and cringe when I think about it. Steve Markle deserved an Oscar for doing that one scene. Superb.