The Loop

Channel: The Comedy Channel
Day and time*: Tuesday, 9.00 p.m.
(*as at September 2009)

 

Threw me for a loop

Occasionally in the TV game you get to catch up with something that's passed you by. So it is that I was flicking around recently and stumbled across The Loop. This very funny and actually quite clever show is currently airing on pay TV's Comedy Channel. I'd never seen it before, but the reasons for that soon became apparent.

Despite the fact that this is a more than watchable show, it only lasted 2 seasons in the US. It's actually had a run in Australia before, on Channel 7; but in the inimitable fashion of free-to-air television, they stuck it in that winning time-slot - midnight on a Friday night. No wonder it didn't exactly fly. Anyway, you can now find it on at a reasonable hour if you have access to the Comedy Channel.

The show centres around Sam Sullivan (played by Bret Harrison from Grounded for Life), a BYT (bright young thing) executive at a big US airline based in Chicago. Sam's only just out of college and is the first of his circle to get a "real" job. The essential dynamic involves Sam's struggle to balance his sometimes-sucky job with his social life. Mind you, that's pretty sucky too, since the girl of his dreams - his roommate Piper (Amanda Loncar) - is unavailable and largely oblivious to Sam's existence.

Sam however is largely the straight-man here. Most of the comedy is generated by the subsidiary characters - notably two seasoned performers not particularly known for their comedy chops. Philip Baker Hall (memorable from movies like Magnolia) and Mimi Rogers (the former Mrs Tom Cruise) play the head honchos at the airline, and they're the catalyst for much of the mirth. Hall plays Russ, the CEO, and his clueless management style is a source of constant frustration and irritation for our hero. Rogers is Meryl, another high-ranking executive but also a rapacious cougar. She's considerably smarter than Russ, but with her own agendas driving her actions.

The comedy ranges from the smile-inducing to the laugh-out-loud variety. While like many shows there are occasional dull spots, this is genuinely funny stuff. Its take on the inanity of the workaday life and the moronic nature of certain styles of corporate management is mainly quite insightful, even if it doesn't really break any new ground.

The relationships between Sam and his social circle are rather less interesting - and not as funny - as his work life, but the schism between the two is suitably glaring. In that respect, it bears some resemblance to the show that precedes it in the Comedy Channel's Tuesday night line-up, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia; although without the really black edge.

Maybe The Loop isn't the greatest show on TV, but it's great to catch up with something that's as fresh and clever as this that otherwise would have drifted away unseen. This is of course only one of several shows on pay television that allow viewers to catch up with undiscovered shows, but it's one of the better ones.

Phil James

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