‘Whitney’ fails on the funny
BY LORI RACKL TV Critic/lrackl@suntimes.com September 21, 2011 7:30PM
Whitney Cummings plays a marriage-phobic photographer in “Whitney.” | Frederick M. Brown~Getty Images
‘WHITNEY’ ★★
8:30 to 9 p.m. Thursdays on WMAQ-Channel 5
Updated: November 30, 2011 12:18AM
Whitney Cummings is a funny comedian. So it stands to reason that a show called “Whitney,” written and produced by Whitney Cummings, starring that same Whitney Cummings, also would be funny.
But it’s not — at least not enough to eclipse the sitcom’s low points, which usually involve Whitney’s neighbor Mark (Dan O’Brien, “How I Met Your Mother”). Mark is an obnoxious cop who jokes about taking a woman for a “ride-along” on his face and wonders if sleeping with a pregnant lady counts as a threesome.
The main action revolves around Whitney, a marriage-phobic photographer who lives with her laid-back (or is he high?) boyfriend, Alex (Chris D’Elia). They share some cute moments together — moments that you quickly forget when Mark observes that side boobs and armpit fat “all feel the same in the dark.”
The sitcom bills itself as “a hilarious look at modern-day love,” but very little about the show seems modern. The relationship jokes come off stale and cliched (men can’t be monogamous!), and you’re left feeling like you watched a raunchier — and less funny — version of “Friends.”
