Married

It's a very funny show about how hard it is realizing you've become a cliché: the useless husband, the naggy wife, the insufferable couple on the sitcom.

Thanks to its excellent cast, led by Nat Faxon and Judy Greer as Russ and Lina, Married rises above its cliched setup.

Married turns out in succeeding episodes to be an increasingly sturdy comedy-drama of married life--dour, but recognizable, with strong performances from Ms. Greer and Mr. Faxon.

This is a solid, risky show with loads of potential. Keep it coming.

Sitcoms, far more than dramas, are about chemistry rather than premise. Faxon and Greer have chemistry, with each other and with the very strong supporting cast.... [The characters] may not like their circumstances, but at least they like each other, and that makes them good sitcom company.

There are some terrifically funny lines and it’s intellectually funny, but not often ha-ha funny and the situations are dark and depressing.

The episode is occasionally funny--John Hodgman and Jenny Slate are well-cast as Russ’ friends and sounding boards--but more often it’s mean and miserable.... Stick with Married, though, and it gets better--which is to say that Russ and Lina begin to turn into people.

For every ridiculous plot twist (it's hard to imagine any wife offering infidelity as a solution before, you know, "get a job" or "empty the dishwasher once in a while"), there is a lovely flash of honesty.

Up front, at least, the show too often feels like its fighting with itself.

Married, for all its frank sex and salty language and disinterest in being loved and indie-film handheld camerawork, is really not all that different from the three-camera network usual, and way too much in love with its leading male character's supposed lovable-ness, considering how shallow he is.

Slate's intriguing as Russ' best friend, a woman who married an older man (Paul Reiser) and whose situation is more complicated, and more interesting, than it appears at first. But even if Married was all about her, I'd probably still find it more sad than funny.

Ms. Greer and Mr. Faxon are talented comedians, but the writing isn’t quite up to their abilities.... The show improves when Russ leaves the house and hangs out with his bitter, profane best friends.

As Russ, Faxon is a one-note.... but it’s Greer’s performance as Lina (as well as Jenny Slate’s supporting role as Russ’s friend, Jess) that keeps Married alive.

There’s so much talent here and a bit of promising direction for the characters in that fourth episode that I could see Married turn it around but, to start, it’s a true disappointment, especially given how often Faxon and Greer have made what they appeared in before just a bit better.

This kind of series still requires a deft touch, even with the expanded license FX offers to explore sexual situations more frankly than in the broadcast realm. It’s to Greer’s credit, moreover, that she manages to make Lina more fleshed out than just a tiresome scold, since this portrait of Married life tilts heavily toward Russ’ perspective.

Married, in particular, is one-note with character tone: clueless people acting heedlessly.

The Married pilot is forced, mostly unfunny and tragic in that you immediately want to root for Faxon and Greer, two very funny and very likable comic actors, to have better material.

The whole thing is every bit as joyless, airless and uncomfortable as the marriage it's depicting--a show filled with miserable, unlikeable characters that doesn't provide them with writing remotely sharp enough to compensate.

The material is wooden, lacking the kind of deft writing that would push the premise beyond sitcom cliché and make the characters more engaging. Show creator Andrew Gurland tries to add some racy fun with a few super quirky supporting players, but they only feel tacked on and forced.

The first time I watched the pilot episode of FX’s Married, I found it to be crass, sad and pessimistic, a not-funny comedy about the tribulations of marriage. The second time I watched, just to make sure, I found it less appealing.

Its misogyny is appalling even for an industry in which male-driven stupidity is often a given. Were it funny, that might have helped, but really, it's the ugly, angry undertone that truly hurts.

So far this is a dour, sour affair replete with uninviting characters. That’s generally not a good recipe for return visits.