Review: 'The Winner'

FOX's new comedy The Winner is funnier than any of the half-hour sitcoms the network launched this fall, not that that's saying much.

But FOX isn't doing creator Ricky Blitt (Family Guy) any favors with its hyper-condensed two-episodes-week-for-three-weeks try-out strategy.

Although its connections to Family Guy are being trumpeted, The Winner owes more than a little (read: nearly everything) to FOX's early-90s Chris Elliott vehicle Get a Life. It's another story of a 30-something manchild living with his family and going through a day-to-day routine peppered with conventions lifted from dozens of conventional TV comedies. While hardly as subversive as Get a Life -- Chris' alien buddy Spewey never fails to produce laughs -- The Winner uses star Rob Corddry's innocent charm, and a solid supporting cast, to get away with material the frequently pushes the boundaries of taste.

Corddry plays Glen Abbott, who describes himself as the richest man in Buffalo in the opening voice-over. That, however, is now. Back in 1994, Glen was a 32-year-old virgin living with his parents (Lenny Clarke and Linda Hart) and coasts through life on the waves of subpar primetime TV. Inspiration moves in across the street in the form of Alison (Erinn Hayes). She's the only woman he's even ever kissed, but he's probably got more in common with her hypertensive son Josh (Keir Gilchrist).

Set in the endlessly lampoonable near-past, The Winner thankfully resorts to only occasional chip shot gags at the expense of Wings and O.J. Simpson. Instead, most of the humor is mined from Corddry's guileless depiction of a man so sheltered he's literally rarely left his childhood bedroom. To say that Corddry's central performance compares to Elliott's Get a Life work isn't an insult. The two characters share a naive and optimistic approach to the world of grown-ups, as well as a complete inability to instantly mimic adult behavior, which makes it extra funny when Glen has to alternate between being Josh's father figure (chaperoning him to out-of-town events or meeting with his teacher) and his peer (nervously shopping for condoms he hopes to use on the kid's mom). See how this material could come across as icky? Corddry, also seemingly channeling Big-era Tom Hanks, keeps it pure.

He's aided by Clarke, gifted at manufacturing punchlines out of straight-ahead dialogue, and Hayes, a beautiful and gamely funny revelation.

The Winner has to work hard to provide the necessary balance of humor and heart. That effort, in turn, makes the show a little exhausting to watch at times. While not quite as embalmed in structure as Family Guy, The Winner establishes its comic rhythms very quickly and after watching more than an episode in a row (FOX sent critics all six episodes), punchlines that should be shocking become increasingly predictable. After watching two or three episodes straight, I was able to anticipate which taboos Blitt and company were about to tweak. I didn't find myself disliking the show -- Corddry, Clarke and Hayes are tough to dislike -- but familiarity bred, well, familiarity.

By doubling up on episodes -- practically tripling, since Family Guy episodes are sandwiched in-between -- FOX is guaranteeing an overload of the Blitt/Seth MacFarlane sensibility. Unfortunately, FOX just doesn't have many options these days for getting viewers to sample comedies and The Winner is likely to be another show that doesn't get the chance it may deserve.

Chime in after Sunday with your thoughts...