Marlon premieres August 16, 9pm on NBC.
NBC has been slacking in the comedy game in recent years, being surpassed by the likes of CBS. After producing many phenomenal shows such as Seinfeld, Friends, The Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, and countless others, they’ve been struggling to find another great program for “Must-see TV”, settling instead for solid but not superb ones such as Superstore and The Carmichael Show.
The Peacock’s latest attempt to bring them back to comedic glory is Marlon, a sitcom led by the hilarious Marlon Wayans. I was lucky enough to have a sneak peek at the show, which will be churned out during the summer.
After screening Marlon, there were a lot of thoughts that went through my mind. The first was “Wow! Wayans is genuinely hilarious.” There aren’t a lot of comedies nowadays that can get me to actually laugh out loud, but I found myself doing so while watching Marlon.
Then I realized that other than the lead himself, I didn’t like any other characters. They all seemed to exist to further his storyline, and the scripts seemed to only highlight him.
In the three episodes provided to press, I hadn’t yet grown sick of the childish antics of Marlon, but over the course of a full season and potential future seasons, I think this show would grow stale fast. I cannot see how this show will last even one season unless there is drastic change in plot. You can only watch Marlon freak out over trivial matters so many times.
That said, I enjoyed Marlon greatly and you should give it a chance.
I give Marlon a B+.
TV and City 