Not So Super Man

Ugh!

Well, we're only a week into the new TV season and one of the worst sitcoms in television history has already reared its ugly head on CBS. And that's a shame, because "Partners" had a lot of great things going for it to start.

First off, it was created by David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, creators of "Will & Grace." Based on their real-life business partnership and friendship of a gay man and a straight man, the show should have been a no-brainer. Add the talented David Krumholtz ("Numbers"); Micheal Urie ("Ugly Betty"); Sophia Bush ("One Tree Hill") and the gorgeous Brandon Routh (Superman Returns), and CBS should have had an unqualified hit on its hands.

Sadly, "Partners" suffers from zero chemistry between its two leads; absolutely terrible writing with completely unfunny (not to mention horribly stereotypical) jokes and one of the worst, most ill-timed canned laugh tracks in memory  Krumholtz and Urie play Joe and Louis, best friends for 23 years who run an architectural firm in New York. Bush is Joe's girlfriend, a jewelry designer named Ali and Routh is Louis' boyfriend, Wyatt, a nurse. In the pilot, Joe worries that Ali has given him a "marry me or else" ultimatum while Louis insists on telling people that Wyatt is a doctor. Tracy Vilar is Rosanna, their 'saucy' Latina Office Manager who gets away with insulting her bosses with 'jokes' like "Joe, Joe, Joe, gay, gay, gay, I will cut you!" And Routh fares even worse with: "It's Cardiac Awareness Week. Which is why I have a heart on." Sigh...

I can't really tell you more about this travesty, because I was so offended in every possible way, I turned it off after the first 15 minutes.  And I think what bothered me most about the whole thing was the incredible waste of talent of all those involved, especially Routh, whose once-promising career has been reduced to playing a self-loathing gay second-banana (all puns intended) on a third rate sitcom from two men who should know better. Shame on everyone involved with this crap. I'll be surprised if it lasts more than 3 episodes.

Honestly, I've had surgery that was less painful. "Partners" is certainly the worst sitcom of the 21st Century (and possibly of all time*). Zero Stars Out of Four.

More, anon.
Prospero

*And that includes "My Mother the Car;" "Life on a Stick" and "Cavemen."