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MAN UP

** (out of ****)

In my so-far losing battle to convince networks and viewers that the three-camera sitcom era is dead, Man Up steps to the plate to try and prove that the network comedy is dead, regardless of how many cameras were used to film it. Man Up is about the trials and tribulations of three fortysomething dudes, who are trying to balance work and family, but not as much as they are trying to balance being a man with being a bitch. If this premise is lost on you within the first five minutes or so, don’t worry; they will reiterate it countless times throughout the pilot. This is probably the show’s biggest problem, or the problems are so many with this show that I only have enough time to focus on one. The three main characters couldn’t be more cliché, but are cliché in the way that the two lesser main characters are such extreme personality types, essentially the angel and devil on the main character’s shoulders, that it leaves the main character with almost nothing as far as personality goes. There is a slight, and probably wrong, way to look at this show and think that if a couple of things we’re tweaked a little differently earlier on, this might of one day had potential. But they weren’t, and there’s no reason to think it’s not too late to tweak them now.