"Love" LEGIT

Article first published as LEGIT Review Season 2 on Seat42F.

LEGIT’s second season begins on FXX this week with “Loveline.” It’s as much a continuation of the first year as it is a fresh tale. Jim (Jim Jefferies) appears on the radio show Loveline with Dr. Drew Pinsky (himself). During and after this appearance, past girlfriends haunt him, while Dr. Drew attempts to convince Jim that he has a sex addiction and should seek help.

I love that LEGIT goes this route of continuation, rather than starting over. It provides a cohesion and through-line between the two seasons, and even if you didn’t see the previous episodes, or your memory is a little fuzzy about them, there are still plenty of jokes that can be enjoyed with no background. It’s not the type of show to really do long arcs, but the inclusion of Peggy (Ginger Gonzaga) and Jenny (Bre Blair) are still able to hail back to the previous installments.

Even more of a connecting tissue is the movie that Jim got fired from after his highly inappropriate, but very funny, rape misunderstanding last season. The film is now in theaters, and it turns out to be very, very good, much to Jim’s dismay. This provides no end to the humor at Jim’s expense.

A theme of “Loveline” seems to be ‘poor Jim.’ The main character in LEGIT is likeable enough, but he also has his flaws. He can be selfish and self-absorbed. “Loveline” shows us a different side of him, the kind that unfairly suffers from circumstances often outside of his control. It makes him more sympathetic, and even when he looks a bit pathetic, you still root for him to do well, something that isn’t quite always the case in previous entries.

Of course, that’s not true of everything in the half hour. There is at least one scene in which Jim lies to get what he wants, something we’ve seen is part of his nature. But mostly, this premiere finds Jim more accessible and easy to get behind than before.

Even Jim’s sex addiction issues aren’t an indicator of Jim being bad. For one thing, we’re only told about the worst of his actions. What is shown is actually relatively tame. We know he’s screwed up, but I’m not even convinced that Jim needs help. He may just need to find the right person.

Playing it down could actually backfire. LEGET gets well-deserved credit for the handling of some sensitive issues, especially in the way it portrays people with disabilities, both physical and mental. If the sex addiction story is made light of too much, without any real consequences or development, then it could do disserve not only to that problem, but also the character of Jim.

What I like about LEGIT is that it features fully formed characters. Billy (DJ Qualls) is so much more than what one might expect at first glance, and Steve (Dan Bakkedahl) has plenty of problems and idiosyncrasies, too, his alcoholism brought up again in “Loveline.” Jim can be unfeeling at times, but the way he takes care of Steve and Billy as much as he does proves his humanity and compassion for fellow men. Yes, the show is a comedy and needs to keep being funny, but it could also make the sex addiction thing a season-long plot that shows us something new in Jim.

That aside, though, “Loveline” is absolutely just as hilarious as pretty much any installment of LEGIT so far. It’s an edgy, different show with a specific voice and perspective not often shown on TV. I greatly enjoy it, and this premiere is true to the established form. It definitely bodes well for the coming installments.

LEGIT premieres Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET on FXX.

Warren the Ape monkeys around

     MTV has revived an old character and given him his own show.  Warren the Ape, aka Warren DeMontague (Dan Milano, Robot Chicken), is trying to 'put his life back together' after screwing it up with drugs, sex, and alcohol.  Except that he's not trying, really.  In the series, called appropriately Warren the Ape, he still drinks and sleeps around.  But he meets with Dr. Drew Pinsky (himself, Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew) and goes through the motions, as he is making a reality show.  Of course, the joke is that we don't live with puppets, so it's not really a reality show, but I argue it's at least as real as most of the other reality shows that MTV and similar networks put on.

     Warren doesn't look much like an ape.  He's more of a nearly shapeless pile of brown fabric with a white helmet.  But he certainly is a character.  In this week's episode, "Amends", he looked at the 12 Step Alcoholics' Recovery Program, and decided he wanted to skip straight to Step 9: Amends.  Never mind that he continues to ingest as much booze as he wants throughout the episode.  Most of the people he apologized to took it well enough, but Seth Green, his former Greg the Bunny co-star, proved difficult.  Turns out, Warren forgot that he had slept with Seth's girlfriend, and by the end of the half hour, had slept with Seth's current wife, fiance for the episode's purpose.  (It was probably filmed before the wedding, but the two were wed in real life in early May 2010).

     It's hard to tell sometimes what the show considers fantasy and what it considers reality.  Was Greg the Bunny a show they made, or did they work for the kids' show chronicled on Greg?  But the show obviously has crass taste.  The best gag so far was when Warren took a busload of school children to a strip club.  The ape frequently visits the strip club in the series, and the strippers all know him.  It's not a new twist to see a washed up actor hanging out at such establishments, imbibing copious amounts of booze, and behaving obnoxiously.  However, since this time it's a puppet, it's more entertaining than sad.  And it's always nice to see some form of Greg's legacy live on.

     The show also stars Josh Sussman (Glee) as Warren's timid assistant, who goes along with any scheme, no matter how crazy.  I'm sure it's hard to act with puppets, but Josh pulls it off seemingly easily, with none of the cheesiness inherent in the practice.

     Warren the Ape airs Monday nights at 10:30pm on MTV.