NBC’s Deception is Deceivingly Good; 1600 Penn Tries Too Hard

I recently previewed NBC’s new sitcom 1600 Penn and their new thriller, Deception.  I have a lot of high hopes for Deception, which follows an undercover detective investigating the death of her former best friend.

When Joanna Locasto (Meagan Good) learns of her friend’s death, she works her way back into the folds of the wealthy dysfunctional family that once employed her mother as a maid. Old memories and relationships resurface while she tries to make heads or tails of her friend’s tragic death.

Victor Garber plays the distraught patriarch of the Bowers family, Robert Bowers, who has a contentious relationship with his boozy wife, Sophia (Katharine LaNasa).  Tate Donovan plays one of their sons with a shady past.

While the show is set to premiere Jan. 7, you can catch the pilot online now at hulu.com and the Deception official site.

Meanwhile, NBC has also released the pilot ep of their new sitcom, 1600 Penn, about another dysfunctional family — in the White House. While the President (Bill Pullman) tries to run the country with the First Lady (Jenna Elfman) by his side, their 20-something geek of a son, Skip (Josh Gad from The Book of Mormon) returns home after his seventh year in college (with only three credits shy of graduating) to wreak havoc on the Oval Office and the South Lawn.

First of all, let me say, I doubt this show will last through May sweeps.  Secondly, a sitcom that tries too hard usually doesn’t produce much in the way of laughs. This is the case with 1600 Penn. They’ve thrown in too many situations to try and find the funny, but the laughs get lost in the mix.

Of course, I said The Neighbors wouldn’t last, and ABC proved me wrong by renewing it for a second season. Hopefully, NBC doesn’t follow suit.

What ever happened to LOL sitcoms? I miss my TGIF on ABC back in the 80s. I mean, I never was a die-hard fan of Family Matters, but Urkel is still a part of our lexicon almost 20 years later. Where are the iconic characters in sitcoms now? None are remarkable and most, if not all, are forgettable.

1600 Penn is available for viewing on hulu.com and NBC.com, and will fall into its regular time slot on Jan. 10, 2013.