Perfect Couples

Although the pilot feels somewhat made-to-order and its characters are schematically arrayed - press materials describe them as "the everyday couple" (Kyle Bornheimer and Christine Woods), "the high-passion couple" (David Walton and Mary Elizabeth Ellis) and "the couple that strives to be perfect" (Hayes MacArthur and Olivia Munn)--subsequent episodes grow looser and more natural, even as they get stranger.

While the show is clearly still finding its footing, there looks to be enough raw material there to make Perfect Couples, if not an instantly vital cog in NBC's Thursday comedy lineup, at least a reason to stay put between "Community" and "The Office."

Its rambling storytelling starts to reveal distinct shape in these people, their relationships and the show's quirky comic perspective [in the second episode].

It's well cast but conceptually unadventurous. [31 Jan 2011, p.39]

There are some likable actors here, and funny moments here and there, but the two episodes I've seen suggest a show not in the league of the established comedies NBC has on that night.

There's nothing really wrong with the show, at least nothing you can easily put your finger on. It just lacks that elusive but absolutely necessary spark of life that turns a stack of script pages and publicity stills into something that will stop you from clicking the remote.

There being few original ideas in television, execution matters. And though "Couples" fields a good cast, including Kyle Bornheimer ("Worst Week") and Mary Elizabeth Ellis ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia"), the two episodes I screened mostly felt forced and formulaic.

The more [Vance (David Walton) is] allowed to cut loose, the closer Perfect edges to real humor.

Between the formulaic nature of the show, the totally exaggerated characters, and the forgettable, mediocre one-liners, we're struggling to find many laughs.

Not only do [Kyle Bornheimer and Christine Woods] try heroically to make something out of nothing, but they also have a realness you'd actually want to watch--something that is buried by the other two couples spouting unfunny dialogue and flailing desperately to find identity in their characters.

The three couples featured on Perfect Couples take on predictable lifestyle issues such as mancaves and game night with all the spark of a wet matchbook.

Kyle Bornheimer's the best thing Couples has going for it, and that's hardly enough incentive for viewers to turn what amounts to a hastily scheduled speed date into a one-night stand, much less a full-blown relationship.

The series has a decent cast, a solid premise, and it's in the middle of the best block of comedy on television; how, then, did the show turn out to be so woefully bland?

If ill-cast, unfunny and thoroughly unoriginal are your ideas of perfection, then Perfect Couples just may be.

If you have the misfortune of meeting their tiresome friends, you'll sympathize with them. And I can't imagine anyone wanting to come back for more.

Perfect Couples is so screechy, predictable and lame that I kind of despised these characters within minutes of being introduced to them.

There isn't a single laugh line in the two episodes NBC sent out to critics, and you'd have to be nuts to want to spend five minutes, much less a half hour, with even one of the Perfect Couples, much less all three.