Tonight’s first episode of “Powerless” was co-written by Justin Halpern, who was behind both the “Shit My Dad Said” Twitter feed and the 2010 CBS sitcom by the same name starring William Shatner.
At this point Halpern should seriously consider quitting the TV-writing game and focus instead on transcribing his father’s remarks.
Maybe NBC should even consider hiring Halpern’s dad to write “Powerless,” because Halpern fils’ script is such a piece of shit it manages to make the likes of the great Danny Pudi (“Community”) and Alan Tudyk (“Firefly”) unfunny.
“Powerless” is set in the (or a) DC Comics universe that contains Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, The Green Lantern, The Martian Manhunter, Supergirl, The Green Arrow, Firestorm, The Atom and so on. The premise is a fellow named Van Wayne runs a division of his billionaire cousin Bruce’s Wayne Enterprises – a division that busies itself with the design and manufacture of devices intended to protect ordinary people from the mayhem wrought by their universe’s fighty superpeople.
NBC’s old Thursday-night cubicle comedy “The Office” is clearly an inspiration for “Powerless” (Van seems to share more DNA with Andy Bernard than The Batman) but “The Office” employed plenty of writers funnier than Halpern. Qualitatively, “Powerless” is less like “The Office” and more like NBC’s miserable “Office” knockoff “Outsourced.” (For the record, the “Outsourced” pilot sucked bigly, but it was still better than the one offered by “Powerless.”)
If you want to get big laughs out of a universe teeming with superheroes, you’re better off sticking with the very funny Chris McCulloch’s “The Venture Bros.” or any incarnation of the very funny Ben Edlund’s “The Tick.”
... based on the premiere episode (the only one made available to critics), it hasn’t really figured out how to take advantage of having this [DC Comics sitcom] field to itself. …
... It’s quirky and pleasant but not terribly funny, and the comic situations are standard office sitcom: The new supervisor is hazed; the disgruntled workers sort out into nice, mean and wacky stereotypes; the boss spends all his time trying to get his cousin Bruce on the phone. …
... Most of the jokes miss their mark; the show is at its best when it portrays the casual indifference that the citizens of Charm City have developed to their daily doses of chaos. Further episodes might resolve the cast’s chemistry problem; there’s nowhere for “Powerless” to go but up. (Or away.)
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
... Oh, come on, NBC: You’re not even trying. … It’s plotless, humorless, laughless and pointless. …
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
... If “Powerless” had been funny, the lack of big-name heroes would be excusable, but with not much to laugh at a viewer is bored enough to consider all the things this show could be, but is not.…
... the writers make it all too broad and jokey …
... whatever powers this NBC sitcom has on display, the power to make us laugh isn’t one of them. …
... there’s a light, nimble humor to the show’s treatment of superpowers and heroic antics — a much needed respite from the angst and self-seriousness of so many superheroes on the small-screen, who are all so fixated on saving the world. …
8:30 p.m. Thursday. NBC.
