New Show "Bent" - Pilot + Smitten

First of all, we are glad this is a half-hour comedy. We need more of those quick, fun shows. We caught this on hulu, and that site kept offering us the option to watch Bent commercial-free if we would just watch the Prometheus trailer first. Yes, please. That movie looks bad ass. We wonder why they made Michael Fassbender have the gayest hair of all time. Seriously, that hair color is the worst possible option for everyone. We hope he dies first, so we don’t have to look at it. Fortunately, Bent started right after the trailer.

Bent is your typical “opposites attract” comedy about a straight-laced female lawyer and single mom, Alex, who hires a contractor to improve the new house she bought. The contractor, Pete, is a womanizer who lives with his dad and is trying to get on his feet. The episode won us over quickly with the nice tone and the line “Too soon for nicknames?” There were lots of cute one-liners like that.

Something didn’t feel genuine about the first dinner meeting Pete had with his crew. Maybe it was Pete’s acting. We love Amanda Peet though, and when she is onscreen, she can save scenes. We like the way she can play professional without coming across as uptight or unlikeable. One of us loves David Walton, too, so this is a pretty good show for us. Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development) is also in this. He uttered the line from which we get the name of the show. “I’m bent, not broken, gentlemen.” This is an obvious theme, since both main characters recently went through setbacks (a divorce and gambling addiction).

We remember Screwsie from the Disney Channel’s Even Stevens. It’s nice to see fair-skinned beauty Tawny getting work and finally playing someone her age. She really needs to go back to darker hair though. Friday Night Lights’ Landry is all grown up and looks a little better at this age. There is a child on this show, and while that could have been annoying, Charlie is alright. We liked Charlie “hazing the new guy.” We raised our eyebrows when Pete stole Charlie for the day, even if it was to help her get over her fear of playing piano in public.

We started the second episode and watched the Prometheus trailer again. We love a trailer that doesn’t give too much away. It was a good decision to give Pete a rival for Alex’s affections. We also liked seeing Pete’s crazy, clingy ex. She had an adorable dog. Who turns down airplane sex? “Smitten” is a white person word, haha. We think this comedy will appeal more to women than men. We’re not in love with Bent. Still, there is something pleasant about this new show.

We wonder why NBC is putting it up against Modern Family and showing two episodes per week. There are only six episodes, so this first season is going to be a three-week blip on our radar. The show isn’t nearly bad enough to deserve such treatment, but it looks like NBC is giving up quickly. Hopefully there is some closure in the six episodes, just in case it won't be coming back. However, ABC did something similar to Happy Endings in its first season, and it came back, so don't count out Bent.

Episode grades: B+ for both