“On the night of the party, Steve was worried he’d made a huge mistake.” – Puddle
Let’s get the Arrested Development talk out of the way early. Is the Running Wilde pilot in the same ballpark as Mitchell Hurwitz’s Arrested pilot? Not quite. But, the Arrested pilot’s greatness was earned in retrospect as the series progressed. Only after we as the audience realized how much we had to pay attention to every minute detail in order to enjoy the show to its fullest extent, were we able to appreciate the groundwork for greatness that was laid in the pilot. I’m not sure if taken on its own, I’d feel the same affection for it without the 52 episodes that followed.
In many ways, the first Running Wilde episode works in that same way. It has several very funny moments, but it’s going to need to take its fairly straightforward concept and really run with it for me to fall in love with it like I did the Bluth clan.
My favorite Bluth was G.O.B., so putting Will Arnett in the title role is a good start. And he plays the part pretty perfectly, if maybe only because Arnett has been playing smarmy his whole career and it just comes natural at this point. His Steve Wilde is somewhat like an exaggerated version of G.O.B. anyway: on Arrested he was the spoiled, neglected son of a rich man; on Wilde he is the spoiled, neglected son of a SUPER rich man. So far, though, I’m completely on board with Arnett’s performance.
I can’t immediately say the same about Keri Russell’s turn as childhood sweetheart/environmentalist Emmy Kadubic. She just doesn’t seem to have the comedic chops, at least not for the screwball nature of the writing seen here. I worry about this because a great deal of the show seems to deal with the supposed chemistry between Steve and Emma, but I didn’t really see much of it.
The supporting cast, though, was quite strong. I especially liked Peter Serafinowicz as Steve’s competitive neighbor Fa’ad and the young, unfortunately-named actress (Stefania Owen) who played the even more unfortunately-named daughter of Emmy (Puddle) handled the necessary excited cuteness needed for the role. I don’t think Owen’s narration abilities will hold a candle to Ron Howard’s, but it was streets ahead of the Scandalmakers narrator.
I just wish I would have gotten some more laugh-out-loud jokes. I found myself smirking often, occasionally breaking out into a mild giggle, but only once really impressed to the point of guffawing: the scene where Fa’ad pretends to be a doctor in order to trick Emmy into staying in town for the sake of the mute-but-faking-it Puddle was downright priceless.
Running Wilde needs to keep up with the kind of tone displayed in that scene for it to come close to Arrested’s glory. And while the creative team behind Wilde is probably trying to downplay the comparisons to AD, it’s going to be on the mind of Bluth fans like me, whether they like it or not. It’s a tough shadow to live under, but the resume of the cast and crew might be just talented enough to create its own legacy.
More thoughts on Running Wilde’s debut:
* Oh, lordy, what a hilarious title for a show. Steve’s last name is Wilde. And it’s called Running Wilde. Get it? Like the expression “running wild.” Comedic genius, I tell ya.
* Gotta love (non-sarcastically this time) the G.O.B. reference in the quote that sits atop the picture above.
* “Fa’ad is going to feel a holocaust of envy.”
* I didn’t even mention David Cross because, unfortunately, there wasn’t much to discuss. He showed up, was dirty, and then disappeared.
* “I’ll go get my thing.”
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.