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Critic Reviews
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There's peril in traveling the well-worn path of unrequited love and adulterous wives. But what makes this beginning of "Brian" work is that the characters are nicely drawn archetypes, not stereotypes.
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It's styled as a sort of laid-back Gen X updating of "thirtysomething," replacing that show's neuroses-fueled, East Coast edge with a more casual, lighthearted California vibe.
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Brian's writing, while witty, tends to be oversize. [21 Apr 2006, p.64]
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Most of the actors make their characters zesty and likable, if on occasion too glib for their -- and our -- own good.
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Ironically, the differences among the characters that make the show interesting and even, at times, compelling, also test its credibility.
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While "What About Brian" strikes some of the familiar chords about love, angst and the terror of young adulthood that have viewers swooning over "Grey's Anatomy," the show does so in a more laid-back tone, which should make its leap from a post-"Desperate Housewives" launch to its regular Monday moorings a commercial challenge.
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"Brian" is easy, harmless viewing, sliding down the gullet as smoothly and reassuring as a glass of California merlot.
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There's not a lot wrong about "Brian.'' But there's not a lot right about it, either.
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This is all nicely produced with mild offbeat tweaks along the way... But none of this is original either. [24 Apr 2006, p.39]
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"What About Brian" isn't a terrible show, it just doesn't offer enough unique reasons to make a weekly appointment with this gang of friends.
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The dialogue ranges from ridiculous to tiresome.
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It's not only unimpressive. Parts of it are uncomfortable.
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Like a sunnier version of thirtysomething, lacking only the inspired casting, the insightful writing and the wrenching realism.
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"What About Brian" is "Prison Break," except the prison is a man's feelings and escape involves eluding the warden of his doubts, and we're talking maximum-security misgivings.
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The series is sentimental in a sleek way, and there are surface glints of humor in the script, but mostly, "Brian" is a blander, less distinctive version of "Thirtysomething."
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"What About Brian"... wants to be "thirtysomething" for twentysomethings, but it is clichesomething.
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[It] looks like a TV commercial with plots. The people are pretty, their homes are pretty, their problems are pretty, and it's all pretty shallow.
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What About Brian traffics in flimsy liaisons, soapy squabbles and sophomoric sexuality.
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Beautiful people, perky and unrealistic dialogue and male characters who have all dropped their huevos in jars of vinegar.
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It [is] such a cloying, annoying mess you can barely expend the effort to hate it.
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[The] characters are so charmless, it's as if they were created on purpose to actually repel viewership - a TV first.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 127 out of 141
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Mixed: 1 out of 141
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Negative: 13 out of 141
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SonjaNApr 26, 2009Perfect show.... That's the only thing that can get me out of bed in the mornings.
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DavidW.Jul 13, 2008
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JerooD.Mar 5, 2008Over-all, the show is really great, that s why im giving it a 10! i hope the show makes a comeback!