Modified On September 22, 2004
Advance buzz on Rodney Carrington‘s new ABC series Rodney was good. We videotaped it and we’re watching it now.
In the opening credits, he’s depicted onstage at a bar and somebody throws something at him! Not a good start.
Turns out Rodney has quit his job at the fiberglass plant to “pursue his dream.” Also turns out that Rodney used to be a comedian— something that his wife dismisses because, she says, “it was just an excuse to party.” It soons becomes clear why Rodney is a comic: He’s willing to walk into WalMart naked on a bet. What comic hasn’t done that?
In the second half, Carrington’s character, who just got offstage after performing comedy at a bar, is
Shorted $20 on his pay by the bar owner because there weren’t enough people in the audience
and
Punched in the nose by an irate audience member because “she paid $5 and she didn’t laugh once.”
What good is it to have a comedian at the head of a show if he perpetuates such nonsense? About the only true thing said in the half-hour was by the irate wife when she yells: “Let it go, Rodney! It is a pipe dream! You live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, you can’t be a comedian!” (Well, he could… but he’d hafta work for C.W. Kendall!)
The show ends with a short snippet of a song, most likely one of the songs that Carrington is famous for– by virtue of his multiple CD sales and his many appearances on radio.
Marc Berman (Programming Insider, MediaWeek.com) summed it up nicely when he said, “Although Rodney is no cure for the current sitcom drought, out of the compatible According To Jim this could be a good fit.”