As far as I can tell after two episodes, “Friends with Benefits” is a good show for people who think the main purpose of romantic relationships is to provide an endless well of comedy. But if you’re looking for something a little deeper, something that reflects real, plausible situations, this isn’t your show.
It’s great to see Ryan Hansen — brilliantly over-the-top as the playah in “Veronica Mars” — in a lead role; here, he plays a decidedly tamer, nicer version of Dick Casablancas, although he’s still an old smoothie. His friend with benefits is the glowing Danneel Ackles (wife of the very lucky Jensen, from “Supernatural”), and they work well together.
I won’t say they have chemistry together, though, because as Ben and Sara are written, they don’t have chemistry with anyone. Like many broad romantic-comedy characters, they are averse to settling down because they only see the flaws in their dates.
Keeping “FWB” safely in a stereotypical zone, Ben is the more shallow of the two, actively looking for flaws: He rejects the girl who doesn’t kiss properly, the girl who is a little slow to be intimate, and so forth. On the other hand, Sara seems to have plain-old bad luck; any normal person would find fault with her dates: The guy who takes her to a swingers’ club, the guy who is married, and so forth.
The rest of the group of friends balance out the points-of-view a bit. Although Fitz (Andre Holland) is ladies’ man who operates much like Ben, we also get Aaron (Zach Cregger), the sensitive guy who immediately falls in love with every girl he meets; and Riley (Jessica Lucas), the hottie who is too busy and unorganized to engage in a serious relationship. So we get a fair gender mix.
And if the two main characters are acting out the story of “Friends with Benefits” (the Justin Timberlake-Mila Kunis movie that’s currently in theaters), Aaron and Riley are acting out “Just Friends.” He’s in love with her, but she only sees him as a friend.
“FWB” is slickly made, with appealing actors, and it gets bonus points for not using a laugh track. The problem is that it treats relationships entirely as sources of comedy, to the point where even moments of true emotional pain are played for laughs.
Not that there’s much danger of it veering toward true emotion. “FWB” isn’t a mean-spirited show, it’s just a shallow one. I would’ve preferred to see these characters’ situations play out in a “What About Brian”-style hour-long drama where more time can be spent with their various issues.
Even judged as a sitcom, it isn’t a great one-night fling: It’s not cringingly bad — the cast gives it immediate visual appeal, obviously — but I didn’t laugh once in the first two episodes. Even though this show’s situations rarely happen in real life (which is more complex, and where people can’t be given a one-note label), they do happen on TV sitcoms. All the time.
What are your thoughts on “Friends with Benefits?” Are you going to come back for a second date or dump it?