Netflix has dropped a sixteen-episode sitcom loosely based on the comedy of stand-up Leanne Morgan. Many are hailing this as the return of the multi-camera sitcom and a savior of the genre. Backed by powerhouse creator and producer Chuck Lorre (Big Bang Theory, Young Sheldon, Mike & Molly & more) and executive producer Susan McMartin (Mom, Two & 1/2 Men, The Conners), the show takes Morgan’s homespun Southern relatability. It surrounds her with an A-list cast of sitcom veterans and regurgitates Lorre’s proven formula for sitcom success. Morgan’s titular debut in sitcoms seems destined for success, no matter the product produced. The sitcom idea rose from Morgan’s record-setting stand-up special “I’m Every Woman”, also on Netflix. With an incredible 11 million views across 90 countries, Morgan holds the record for the most-watched Netflix stand-up special headlined by a female comedian. With numbers like this, Morgan was sure to catch attention within the industry, and attention she got. The king of the sitcom, Chuck Lorre, traveled to Morgan’s home to pitch the idea for a sitcom loosely based on her life as portrayed in her stand-up.
The original idea was a single-camera documentary-style show (think The Office), but the executives at Netflix had other ideas. They pushed the pair for a traditional multi-camera sitcom, though the genre is in most entertainment circles considered a dead formula, at least for now. The two capitulated, and the result is a multi-camera format filmed in front of a studio audience at Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, California. Lorre put together a stellar supporting cast with long resumes in sitcom work to surround Morgan in her venture into weekly TV.
Veteran sitcom star Kristen Johnston (3rd Rock from the Sun, The Exes), with two previous sitcom successes under her belt, shares nearly every scene with Morgan and plays the perfect sidekick, providing much-needed comic relief for Morgan’s oft-deadpan delivery. Morgan’s character’s main storyline through the freshman season is the departure from her marriage, though not her location of her husband of 33 years, for a younger and pregnant woman.
Johnston has played this character before. The actress is playing the same character she played on 3rd Rock from the Sun and The Exes. It is the same character reworked and repackaged, albeit this time with a southern accent. Here, as so often in life, the third time is not the charm. While the accent is a fresh spin on Johnston’s trademark character, it is as believable as Stiles’s failed attempt at playing southern. The character is as it has always been, brilliantly funny, but here, the third time out, and I say this as a big fan of the actress, the tread on this tire is running bare.
While there are many clever lines from both Morgan and Johnston throughout the series, as with so many sitcoms today, I struggle to find myself laughing at loud at anything spewing forth at me from the screen. I can watch an old episode of The Golden Girls. Every episode of which I have seen so many times, I can quote every line, but I still, after all these years, find myself laughing at Blanche, Dorothy, Rose, and Sophia. The only show I have seen lately that makes me laugh out loud is Hulu’s “Mid-Century Modern”. Called an updated Gay version of the Golden Girls. It is the first show I have seen in quite some time with the sharp wit required to make me laugh.
Not to say that I don’t find Leanne funny; it is funny. It is funny in the way all sitcoms are today. They offer a cleverness that amuses, but nothing that elicits laughter from me as I sit watching. I occasionally smile at the cleverness of many lines, but nothing pulls laughs out of me. Sadly, it seems that is enough in today’s television landscape.
The dastardly husband, played by veteran sitcom veteran Ryan Stiles (The Drew Carey Show), falls flat with Stiles, as is the case with the rest of the cast purporting to be southern with an accent that feels faked. It takes more than a southern accent to embody a character.
Jayma Mays, who I adored as the conniving DA in Trial & Error opposite John Lithgow (one of the funniest and most underrated shows in recent memory), plays neighbor Mary, offering her perfect comedic timing in every scene she graces.
Tim Daly (Wings) plays an FBI agent whom Morgan meets when he comes searching for a fugitive boyfriend of Johnston’s character. He is charming as the sitcom required b story love interest.
The supporting cast is rounded out with other A-list sitcom veterans like Celia Weston (Alice, Dead Man Walking) as the sassy, sexy grandma who always has her eyes on the younger men she encounters, and though her appearance is sporadic, Weston enjoys some of the series’ best one-liners.
All in all, Leanne is destined to add yet another notch to Lorre’s belt, another sitcom that will likely bring him multiple seasons and probable Emmy nominations for Morgan, Johnson, and Weston. Leanne is worth watching, and if you have not seen Hulu’s Mid Century Modern, it’s a must for your watch list. All sixteen episodes of Leanne are now streaming on Netflix.
