If you're staring at your computer screen wondering what these shows are and when they were on, you're most likely not alone. Both Traffic Light and Perfect Couples are brand new shows that just started. They're also both poised to be great comedies, with Traffic Light taking Running Wilde's spot on Tuesday night Fox, on after Raising Hope, and with Perfect Couples being a new addition to the NBC Thursday night comedy block.
As an avid TV watcher (surprise!), I decided to give both of these a shot. I mean, NBC hasn't gone wrong before on a Thursday night, right? Wait. What's that you're talking about? Outsourced? Oh, right. I blocked it from my memory.
Anywho, I have now watched each of these shows at least three times. And I've kind of noticed some similarities. Both shows are about three couples (okay, in the case of Traffic Light, two couples and one womanizer, but it still counts as a "couple dynamic" to me). The couples each have their own, "unique" dynamic, and yet together they all form one big group of best friends.
Both shows have kind of a forced, pointless feel to them, from the way the couples interact with each other, to the way the individual characters act, to the situations they get themselves into. Really, what is there to care about? A bunch of dumb, unrealistic people who hang out together a lot.
The first episode of Traffic Light was actually kind of cute. Throughout the episode the three men refereed several times to the fourth member of their group, repeatedly saying, "But don't forget, we have (Name I Don't Remember)'s thing on Saturday." It turned out at the end of the episode that that "thing" was a memorial service for their best friend who had passed away. It was very moving and a really good twist. I thought most of the episode was meh, but this really made it seem like it had potential. Since then they have never again mentioned the friend or had any kind of touching moments.
Perfect Couples has much better characters. While still forced, the couple dynamics are slightly more believable and well-developed. I thought the characters were endearing in the pilot, but they haven't grown. They just get less and less realistic as the show goes on.
If I had to pick one, I'd say Perfect Couples is the winner, but in like a race of 3,000 shows where Perfect Couples is in 2,789th place and Traffic Light is in 2,791st place. Sorry shows! You tried your best. I guess?
Now. Who wants to guess what place Two and a Half Men is in??
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