Running Wilde

Arnett isn't stretching himself here, but he's still funny as a man who can't comprehend why he can't buy the love of his life. Russell brings a fervor to the role of a woman who has yet to come across a tree she wouldn't want to hug.

Running Wilde never reaches the same level of genius [as "Arrested Development"], but maybe that's because we have Puddle narrating the action, not Ron Howard. You can't re-create the magic--but I like that they're trying.

The show would be better if it got a little closer to the ground, but Wilde, with unusually beautiful production values (for a sitcom), completes a one-hour, laugh track-free, absurdist block that gives Fox its best chance at comedy success since The Bernie Mac Show and Malcolm in the Middle.

Tucked into a time period following the big, broad comedy of Raising Hope, Running Wilde seems like a boutique laugh factory. I wonder how long it can stay in business.

Running Wilde demonstrates a distinct lack of its predecessor's lightning speed and intense saturation of jokes. This may be a structural issue: Running Wilde doesn't offer an intricate ensemble cast, but only the usual sit-commy supporting array, a wacky neighbor and a couple of crazy servants.

Wilde is a fast-paced grab bag; it's hard not to like a character who dunderheadedly imports an Amazon tribe to a five-star hotel rather than tell his dad not to drill on their land, all to prove he's a decent guy. But for now, audiences will have to sort through the good stuff and toss aside the lumps of coal that keep "Wilde" from being a truly wild ride.

It's the "Sabrina" story mixed with "Arthur," and it strains to make the tycoon's son endearingly weak and childish

Running Wilde at times recalls the comedic brilliance of "Arrested Development," but unlike that show, there's no relatable central character to ground Running Wilde.

While the reworked pilot is a marked improvement over the original, the parts are still not working together, but you'd like to believe they will be in a few episodes.

Arnett imbues him with the same amusingly creepy patina that works well for him on Arrested and 30 Rock but works against him here. Unfortunately, Russell fares little better. She's never looked lovelier, but the writers made the character too self-righteous to be attractive.

Whatever hopes "Arrested Development" fans may have held for a new Will Arnett series begin to dissipate by Episode 2--even with another "Development" funnyman, David Cross, on board as Emily's annoying eco-terrorist boyfriend. This tiny horsey has no giddyap, but there's still a chuckle or two.

I hated more how little I even giggled at Running Wilde, whose pilot doesn't quite live up to its pedigree.

The writing here isn't very snappy, Steve and Emmy are one-dimensional cutouts and Russell, the former "Felicity" star, looks uncomfortable playing it for laughs.

Running Wilde exerts so much energy setting up the jokes that they end up forced. Arnett breaks off a couple of great one-liners, but Running Wilde has a lot of work to do in order to even be a good sitcom, much less a Hall of Famer like Arrested.

It's stupid, but not in the brilliantly stupid and farcical manner of "Arrested Development." It's just a fast-paced, empty, odd-couple comedy that is irritating before the end of the first episode.

Running Wilde is, simply, not very funny. That's unfortunate, but no unforgivable sin. Funny people occasionally make unfunny things. But it's the way that it isn't funny.

Running Wilde, is another fractured fairy tale, though without the nuance or humor of its predecessor.

Running Wilde gets off to an unpromising start by creating a complicated, tortured premise that many labored minutes later delivers us to a simple rom-com.

When Steve and Emmy reconnect in the mansion where they grew up, sparks are meant to fly. But the chemistry is lacking, maybe because the creators are too busy loading up so many elements of the bizarre around them.

The best the pilot can muster is a few silly hops.

The original pilot had funny moments, but also some pacing problems and dead spots-which the final version, unfortunately, if anything made worse. And a second episode that Fox just sent out is no more encouraging.

What Fox programmers failed to notice was that their new show was peopled entirely with unpleasant characters working from a 100-percent laugh-free script. Watching Running Wilde, you can actually feel your eyes and ears disconnecting as they go off in search of some way to amuse themselves.

Good comedies take a lot of work, but that strain shouldn't show up on the screen. It pains me to say that, despite all the obvious effort, I can't see how Running Wilde could get significantly better.

I just wish he'd [Will Arnett] run away from this dead horse of a sitcom. [11 Oct 2010, p.38]