On Monday night, CBS aired the pilot episode for its much-anticipated show, "Welcome to the Captain." The bitingly sarcastic comedy is centered on the goings-on of a fictional apartment complex called "El Capitan" - known to its inhabitants as "the Captain." Actor Fran Kranz assumes the role of quirky protagonist, Josh Flum. Flum, who once received an Academy Award for his involvement in a short film, has hit a veritable writer's wall; in other words, since receiving an Oscar, he hasn't been able to come up with anything worthy of the big screen.
In this first episode, he wrestles with the idea of leaving Los Angeles and moving to New York City in hopes of resuscitating his career as a writer. However, his egotistical best friend and accountant to the stars, Marty (Chris Klein), convinces him to move into a new apartment rather than a new city. Marty, also one of the Captain's tenants, has gotten wind that one of the old actresses living in the building has recently passed away, thereby vacating one of the building's hard-to-get apartments just in time for Flum to move in. The rest of the pilot episode welcomes both the fallen writer and a new audience to the Captain.
The Captain is appropriately full of has-beens: actors, writers and acupuncturists whose careers have either peaked or have never even gotten off their feet. Astrid (Valerie Azlynn), for example, is a young, struggling actress whose only hope for stardom at the moment has arrived in the shape of Flum. She irritatingly bumps into the protagonist over and over again, each time wondering what he could do as a writer to help her career, and each time she adds an "s" in front of her words for fun so that all of her feeble attempts begin with "ohs my god!" or end in "swhatever!"
Perhaps the most entertaining of all of the characters is the daytime doorman, Jesus. Al Madrigal plays a lovable and gossipy character who, along with the Emmy Award winning Jeffrey Tambor as Uncle Saul, is the heart of the apartment building. Uncle Saul, a captain dweller for over two decades, informs the downtrodden Flum on the mechanisms of the building. Tambor keeps the show afloat with his practiced and aged humor, while the youngsters of the cast struggle to find their place in the show (and the world) through comedy.
Saul knows all about who's who and how things usually function in the place, whereas Jesus keeps up a knave and somewhat unintelligible persona in order to do essentially whatever he wants. Jesus is a verifiable gossip queen who gets away with his indiscreet mannerisms by playing (hilariously) dumb. Although the main character is also the most irritating, Josh Flum is arguably a doormat with really bad hair and the wit of a prepubescent boy - "Welcome to the Captain" gets an A for effort. The cast's desperate attempts to hold onto whatever little fame they have left is amusing throughout the thirty-minute time span of the show. Despite having its moments, "Welcome to the Captain" is nothing compared to the comedic giants of other networks, such as "The Office" and "30 Rock" on NBC.
The show has a lot of potential but lacks the biting wit and stellar casting of Tambor's last sitcom: the late, great "Arrested Development." If you're looking for a good way to spend half an hour, go pick up the first season of "Arrested Development." It just may prove to be a much better use of your time.
