'Work It' review: Humor as phony as drag premise
Work It: Sitcom. 8:30 p.m. Tues. on ABC.
Pretty much the best thing you can say about ABC's "Work It," a new sitcom that will follow (probably briefly) Tim Allen's "Last Man Standing" on Tuesday night, is that it isn't as bad as the previous time slot occupant, "Man Up."
The show has been the target of some pre-air criticism from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation because it could be harmful to the transgender community. Memo to GLAAD: Don't fret too much. It won't be around long enough to do much damage to anyone, except the actors playing a couple of out-of-work guys who get jobs as pharmaceutical salespeople by pretending to be women.
Actually, ABC might have reason to be grateful to GLAAD, because controversy might bring a few more eyes to the show's premiere beyond those attached to viewers too lazy to change the channel after "Last Man Standing."
But remember the dustup over an NBC show called "The Playboy Club"? From feminist groups to Interfaith Morality in the Media, the retro show about Hugh Hefner's be-tailed cocktail waitresses prompted no end of tsuris before it actually aired. And guess what? Despite the surfeit of scantily clad young women, viewers stayed away in droves and the show was deservedly axed - the first casualty of the fall season, in fact.
"Work It" was created by Andrew Reich and Ted Cohen, but it might be more fair to credit Don McGuire and Larry Gelbart, not to mention Robert Boyett, Thomas Miller and Chris Thompson. The first two guys came up with the story idea for the 1982 hit film "Tootsie," while the latter three created the 1980 sitcom "Bosom Buddies," which gave Tom Hanks a major career boost.
"Work It" replicates the concept of straight men doing drag so well that it even borrows some gags from its pair of sources as Lee Standish (Ben Koldyke) and Angel Ortiz (Amaury Nolasco) are at the end of their ropes trying to get jobs. Then Lee meets a pharmaceutical rep who tells him her company is hiring, but the boss only likes women for the job.
First Lee gets hired, then Angel gets a job. But just because they're making money doesn't mean it's smooth sailing for these guys. Lee can't quite tell his wife that he's doing drag to put bread on the table, and Angel's life is complicated when he gets the quite unladylike hots for his new female boss.
There are a couple of funny lines, mostly from Rebecca Mader, who plays mean-mouthed regional sales leader Grace, but overall, the humor is about as inauthentic as the guys' drag. Comic John Caparulo, the stand-up fireplug who frequents Chelsea Handler's late-night show, could provide some comedic authenticity here and there, but it's probably not enough to make the show very interesting.
I suppose the show could be offensive to transgender people, but it's probably even more offensive to women. Where Dustin Hoffman's Tootsie was a take-charge, no-BS dame, Lee and Angel play "women" like giggling throwbacks to early '60s beach movies. I don't like them as women, and I don't like them as men. Game over.
So, here's the ABC scorecard for this time slot: We had to endure "Man Up" until it was pulled off the air, with a handful of episodes left to air, and now we're given "Man Down," which will soon follow to the dustbin of TV history. Here's hoping the third time is the charm.
This article appeared on page E - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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