The Single Guy

This was a great show that just didn't catch on like FRIENDS did. It wasn't the same kind of show actually. In this show there was one single guy and two married couples. That changed of course in the second season to four singles and one married couple, though it was always cute and entertaining.

The show was centered around Jonathan Elliot(Silverman), struggling writer and a single guy struggling to find the right girl. He did come close with a girl named Charlie McCarthy(not the dummy) but it just didn't work out. Of all of his girlfriends, my favorite was his sister's friend whose's name escapes me but love to call Jonathan "Nibbles". Even though they couldn't stand one another, they made love quite well and often too.

My favourites on the show were the married couple, Sam and Trudy(Joey Slotnick and Ming-Na). They were hilarious. To me they were what made the show. Seeing Ming-Na in the Joy Luck Club and ER, who knew she was as good at drama as she was in comedy. Same for Joey Slotnick who went on to BOSTON PUBLIC. Good luck to both of them!!

When this was on it was one of my favorite shows. I guess I identified a lot with the Silverman character (people say I look like him, only taller and with a gut… oh, and less cute). Silverman is a struggling author trying to find love while surrounded by married friends and that wacky doorman played by Ernest Borgnine. Few remember that the Borgnine character was a flashy cross-dresser in the first three episodes but test-markets showed this was not working so they dropped it (in an episode near the end of the first season, the Borgnine character made a reference to his "garters" that surprisingly made it past the censors!) The show would have probably been a big hit had it not been for the character Sam Sloan, Jonathan's best friend. This guy was supposed to be the wacky, fun guy as the foil to Silverman's straight man but he quickly turned into a catch phrase machine with writers trying like mad to create a catchy phrase. Some of the things he uttered were "Yeah, like an emu!", "Enjoy the veal", and "We'll make millions for sure!" None of these caught on. My personal favorite episode is when Illeana Douglas guest starred as, I kid you not, a female alien who came to earth for superior breeding. Of course, Silverman thought she was a kook and did his best to stay away from her.

This was one of many mediocre shows that tried to ride the Seinfeld/Friends, photogenic, funny, off-kilter, character train in the mid 90's. An ensemble cast that never really gelled, focusing on the trite, relationship foibles of a hipper, slightly less neurotic version of Woody Allen. Annoying, clichéd characters such as the whinny, geeky, best friend who is married to a totally hot, intellectually superior and socially comfortable dish (yeah, that would happen in real life... you know some guy who was a total nebish in high school wrote this!) - nerdy geek marries hot shiksa! because he's so sweet and smart!; doesn't tend to happen in real life unless the guy is rich, rich, rich. Thirty minute filler material between Friends and Seinfeld, kind of like A Different World was between Cosby and Cheers... A grade or two below Caroline in the City, which wasn't exactly a huge Emmy award winning laugh fest either...

...the problem is that it lacked of a spark. Jonathan Silverman who has demonstrated comedic skills, starred in this overall entertaining and regularly funny sitcom. Don't get me wrong, I followed the show constantly and was involved with the characters and situations but to be honest, it had the phrase "easily forgotten" on it's face.

The situations were funny but not sassy or even very interesting. I mean, it displayed the life of a single man in his late 20's who didn't make a change on his life. The characters are super clichéd and didn't add something memorable for the plot. Ernest Borngine was the most likable and funny character in the show. He was memorable... sadly, the rest of the cast didn't show the necessary abilities to perform a more funny show.

Still, this is a prime example of mid 90's t.v. humor. It could've survived as "Friends" did after a period of uncertainty in American sitcom humor, but sadly, it lacked of arguments.

This show had a lot going for it. Good actors and good writing. Every episode made me break out into laughter. For those reasons, I really can't understand how this show got cancelled. This was a show that was short lived and really didn't deserve it. At least reruns can be seen on USA.