History has its eyes on them.
Note: this is a spoiler-free review of the first episode of Making History, which premieres tonight on Fox.
Time travel has suddenly become the hottest trope in television, which everything from DC's Legends of Tomorrow to Outlander to 12 Monkeys offering their own take on the subject. Making History is actually one of two time traveled-themed shows premiering tonight (the other being ABC's update of Time After Time). And while it has a few laughs to offer, Making History is hardly going to rise above an increasingly crowded pack.
Like fellow Fox comedy Last Man on Earth, Making History is executive produced by 21 Jump Street and The LEGO Movie directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Unfortunately, their involvement creates certain expectations that this series can't really live up to. That's all the more disappointing considering how much comedic gold the two mined from playing with historical icons in the short-lived animated series Clone High. Making History creator/writer Julius Sharpe is a veteran of Family Guy, and that show's raunchy, pop culture-obsessed sense of humor is much more in line with what to expect from this sitcom.
Nowhere is the Family Guy influence more apparent than with main protagonist Dan (The Mindy Project's Adam Pally), a pop culture-obsessed, blue collar schlub with a talent for bumbling his way through life's problems. Dan coasts through life as a facilities manager at a small Massachusetts university, passing the time until he can fire up his homemade time machine (basically the innards of Doc Brown's DeLorean crammed into a giant duffel bag) and travel back to the days of the American Revolution. There, this faceless loser finds himself the most popular guy in town, even winning the heart of a comely maiden named Deborah (Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester).
Essentially, it's a comedic version of 11.22.63, but with a dash of Legends of Tomorrow thrown in as Dan struggles to undo the the damage his trips are causing to the timeline. To help with that, he recruits brainy history professor Chris (Girls' Yassir Lester) to join him in the past and ensure that the American Revolution still unfolds as it should.
It's a predictable, straightforward premise that yields a decent amount of comedy in this first episode. The pilot tends to hit on the obvious notes, whether it's Chris growing accustomed to the rampant poop smell permeating Massachusetts circa-1775 or Dan wooing Deborah by using a steady stream of re-purposed 21st Century pop culture references. There's nothing particularly creative on display in this episode, although a scene involving Founding Fathers Sam Adams (Ghostbusters' Neil Casey) and John Hancock (Broad City's John Gemberling) does stand out. The show would do well to keep those two characters in play for as log as possible, even if it requires a little Bill and Ted-style tomfoolery.
Though the premise and humor are sometimes disappointingly straightforward, the three leads are enthusiastic and chipper enough to keep the episode humming along. Lester is easily the standout among the main trio, mainly because he's given more to work with than either Pally or Meester. The script leans pretty heavily on Lester's ability to play the high-strung history fanboy. Chris faces both challenges in terms of being a black man trying to operate freely in Colonial New England and in meeting the historical icons he idolizes and realizing that they aren't quite what the history books make them out to be.
Ideally, upcoming episodes will give both Pally and Meester a little more to work with. It's clear there's more than meets the eye with Dan, and this episode hints at an inferiority complex built up after years of living in the shadow of a famous, overachieving father, but it barely scratches the surface of Dan's psychological woes. Mainly, he's content to drop a few pop culture references and make googly eyes at Deborah. Similarly, Deborah shows the beginnings of a decent character arc as an 18th Century woman becoming a 21st Century feminist, but she doesn't have enough screen time for that arc to really take shape.
Basically, Making History needs to show a little more dramatic ambition. This pilot episode is entertaining enough, but with so many competitors on the air these days, it can't settle for merely being "that silly little show about time travel."
The Verdict
Making History is a reasonably entertaining sitcom featuring a likable cast of leads and some funny time travel-based humor. Unfortunately, with so many shows focusing on time travel these days, the bar has been st pretty high. And even with the involvement of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Making History doesn't do much to rise above the crowd.
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