Sunnyside

Show has its flaws, some of the characters could use improvement but I think it has potential. Plenty of great shows had weak first seasons. 30 rock and parks and rec both got a lot better in season two so I'm hopeful for it. The last episode about the local news was great.

Will need more episodes for proper character development. May not survive long enough to do so.

Garrett Modi (Kal Penn) spent fifteen years as a city councilman for Sunnyside, Queens. He is forced out after years of hard partying, incompetence, and a drunken viral police videotape scandal. He is trying to make a comeback and finds himself tutoring a bunch of folks hoping to be new citizens.

The subject matter is serious and the humor is rather broad. Sadly, it is not all that funny. The seriousness deflates the start. It is probably a mistake to sent one of the illegals into detention so early. I would think that's a season finale move. At least, they need to build that character up to have a relationship with the audience. We don't know who he is and nobody cares what happens to him. Worst, it's not funny.

The Asian siblings almost get there in outlandish comedy. The show needs to drop any hint of seriousness at the start. It never clicks and NBC pulls it after only four episodes. They dump the remaining seven episode online and the show disappears into the ethereal nothingness of streaming.

I'm glad I gave this show another chance after not getting/not liking the pilot that much. I feel like it has been getting better every week and the 8/10 reflects the strength of the 4th episode as well as the work of Kal Penn and many of the supporting cast ("the twins," for example, can be a bit annoying, but more often then not I laugh at loud at how ridiculous they are).

It feels like this show might be starting to hit its stride, but it currently has a 4.6/10 rating. It is sad that networks are so quick to cancel quirky shows that don't find their audience right away.

Please keep in mind that this was a comedy, and a pilot episode at that (September 26th, 2019), so I, as a Republican voter will cut the series some slack for the first several episodes to see how the characters evolve. Evolve? Yes that is what I said. Well.... wait no longer for Kal Penn to evolve because he is a natural. Some may say Garrett Modi is a drunk, selfish, and a natural loser in this show, but I say he is a natural winner, winning over his audience with his natural ability to make his character, a dismissed/fired City Councillor the champion and saviour of a bunch of immigrants.

If you can see past the political left wing emphasis you just have to keep in mind that the show is a sitcom, and not a promotion to vote Democratic, because if that is what you perceive this sitcom to be than the joke is on all of us. They will never beat Trump and he never starred in a TV sitcom.

I have always liked Kal Penn and he reminds me of the Gujarati Indian model version of the American John Belushi, rest his soul.