For some reason How to Be a Gentleman opens with a recap of the pilot. Did the writers/producers feel like no one would watch the premiere show, or is it that they feel the audience is as stupid as Bert? Either way, it’s not a good sign for the show. The pilot had its highs and lows, but it was a pilot, so weak plot and awkward dialogue can be excused to a certain extent. Unfortunately, the show didn’t get that much better this episode and is at risk of flatlining. Reports are already swirling that HTBAG is at risk of being cancelled thanks to mixed reviews and subpar viewership for a CBS sitcom.
After the recap, “How to Have a One-Night Stand” opens with Bert (the bro-type trainer) moving in with the uptight journalist Andrew. Now we enter deeper into Odd Couple territory than I originally thought the show would. Andrew says he didn’t hire Bert to be his trainer so that Bert could move in. But Burt is brash and doesn’t care. He claims he was hired to shape up Andrew’s entire life, so moving in is a necessity. Andrew caves easily because clearly this show is all about scoring babes, drinking booze and bulking up. Sure, Andrew is an annoying twerp, but I’d rather be his friend than Bert’s. However, the show depicts Bert as what a man should be, and it’s sad to think that my gender is represented in such a manner. If Bert is a role model, then you can count me out of referencing Vin Diesel and giving dead arms on a daily basis.
The subplot in “One-Night Stand” involves Andrew’s sister Janet and her foreign husband Mike. They have his Green Card interview, but when Janet finds out it’s more of a test to see if they know each other, she freaks out because she a poor exam taker. In the actual interview she seems nervous and cannot formulate words. It’s a recycled sitcom plot, but the show doesn’t put a new spin on it. The entire time it feels like something is supposed to happen and unfortunately nothing ever materializes. Mike even shouts that she’s being ridiculous, which is what this show is turning into.
When Andrew goes to a bar on a weeknight with Bert to meet women and work on his next article he is dismayed that the plan is to be rejected so much that he no longer fears it. Bert’s plan doesn’t go exactly as planned, and Andrew manages to be quite the ladies’ man, hitting it off with a very attractive cellist. The episode progressed exactly as it should without anything fresh. It even rehashed the “don’t call a girl for three days” rule that has been used even more times than the Green Card plotline.
I said this while talking about the pilot episode, but this one also feels like a script straight from How I Met Your Mother, but without the loveable characters and the stylization that the other CBS sitcom. The similarities are uncanny and point out how disappointing the show is turning out to be. I had hope about the series to begin with. I even defended it all week when talks of cancellation arose. Now I’m not so sure. CBS is a hitmaker, and this is most certainly not a hit.