I am – Hercules!!

It’s a sitcom, from the writing team of Jennifer Konner & Alexandra Rushfield (“What I Like About You”), about a neurotic psychoanalyst.

In look, in style, with its use of on-screen text and the gay guy who doesn’t know he’s gay, this is a sitcom that wants very badly to be “Arrested Development.” It is not. And it is not funny.

ABC will eventually pair it with “The Knights of Prosperity,” which promises to be a much better comedy.

But what matters Herc’s opinion?

Variety says:

… Therapy groups have long been fertile comedic ground, as has the notion of a counselor who can't follow his own advice, with Ted Danson filling those shoes here. Yet while his old-pro timing gives the show a modest lift, "Help Me Help You" provides more of an incentive to get off the couch than to plop down on one. … the supporting players are almost by definition such archetypes it will be difficult to get invested in them, putting most of the weight on Danson's shoulders. It's familiar territory for him, to be sure, though initially less interesting than his "Becker" role. …

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… the title might be a plea from creators and writers Jennifer Konner and Alexandra Rushfield to anyone watching to come up with suggestions on how to make this show more than sporadically funny and to give it some focus. For now, it remains more like a group of shuffled skits than a cohesive series. … there are some good ideas and characters here, but they remain in search of a vision that encompasses both a direction for the show and boundaries. Just because something is funny doesn't necessarily make it right for the show. …

Entertainment Weekly gives it an “A-minus” and says:

… Cheers was sitcom perfection, it's a delight to see Ted Danson deftly remixing cockiness and cluelessness as Dr. Bill Hoffman, a renowned, self-absorbed therapist who can solve anyone else's problem but can't spot his myriad own: He's Sam Malone, Ph.D. …

USA Today gives it two (out of four) stars and says:

… The Help Me opener you'll see tonight has been tweaked in small ways that make Danson's therapist character a bit more prominent and a lot more annoying. What's worse, the second episode carries the character over from annoying to unbearably obnoxious. It makes you afraid to watch the third episode for fear it might actually be harmful. …

The Washington Post says:

… What killed the sitcom? Could it perhaps have been . . . The Sitcom? That's the glibly simplistic explanation, but it's hardly groundless. Situation comedies became so overwhelming in number and so formulaic in execution over the decades that the typical sitcom seemed like a revival upon arrival. Comes now Exhibit M, N, O or P: Ted Danson starring as Dr. Bill Hoffman in "Help Me Help You," a supposedly fresh sitcom arriving on ABC tonight in a big cloud of deja vu. … "Help Me Help You" begins its existence half-dead and quite deadly.

The Chicago Tribune says:

… the only description I can provide regarding my reaction to the show is in the form of an analogy: One of Danson’s patients, an emotionally stunted, socially awkward young woman named Inger, attempts to “share” some of herself with a date. She recites a long list of unconnected facts about herself, then asks her date if he wants to have sex. He sits there, sort of stunned but slightly amused, and a tentative, confused grin breaks out on his face. That’s the effect “Help Me” has — it’s not laugh-out-loud funny, but once in a while it’s vaguely amusing, though certainly not in a must-see sort of way.

Newsday says:

… "Help Me" is a Gobi Desert of laughs, a Sargasso Sea of laughs, a dark-side-of-the-moon of laughs, a ... Sorry ... I'm getting carried away, but you too will be flummoxed. The failure of "Help Me Help You" does not compute. … There's a strong odor of desperation on-screen, as if the competent and seasoned actors here know they're in this for a short ride. Indeed, they are.

9:30 p.m. Tuesday. ABC.

Season Sets Priced Like Socks!!

$12.00 The Bob Newhart Show: The Complete First Season(24 episodes)
$12.00 The Mary Tyler Moore Show: The Complete First Season (24 episodes)
$16.00 Wonderfalls: The Complete Series (13 episodes)