Satisfaction

This show was all right. For a Canadian comedy TV series it was OK. The main problem as other reviewers seemed to have hit the nail on the head about is the acting in this show. I could not stand any one of the characters in this, and it starts with the three leads. The single guy could be funny at times but the other two couldn't make me laugh with the help of a truckload of tickle monsters. And the single guy was super annoying most of the time, like grow up buddy and why is a 40 year old playing somebody my age? Canadian TV can be so awful. The writing was OK I grant it but the direction was so insane, the show was very fast and nothing seemed to connect very well. The characters would be all over the place for no apparent reason. So you end up with a series of unconnected jokes where they just hope the jokes are funny enough to make us not notice, and sometimes they were but usually they were not, again I blame that on the acting. I hope in the last episode the characters all kill each other and Gary dies of some horrible STD.

This show isn't as awful as most of the negative reviews here but also is not as great as most of the positive reviews here. I would agree with what the negative reviews seem to be saying about the acting that bad acting or characters is the major problem with this show. I for one did not like or believe the main couple leading the cast of the show. They did not seem like believable characters and especially the lead male actor was not very likable. I didn't ever feel like I got to know any of the characters and never felt like I should care much about them or their lives. They are poor losers but can afford a huge apartment in Toronto? Why not get a place with one less bedroom so they don't have to share with their equally old friend? I just never understood why these three people were living together especially when they have nothing in common but also don't even really seem to like each other. Their mooching friend gave them nothing and was never nice to them. That character was also unbelievable and annoying as a person but could sometimes be funny, but the main two characters never seemed very funny to me. I don't have a problem with the other characters in their lives. It was neat to see a Canadian show set in Toronto and I actually know the storefront they are using for the coffee shop because I walk by it every day! I think the show was maybe too ambitious, another reviewer mentioned how maybe things are going too fast and maybe there was a bit too much going on quickly. I don't feel qualified to judge the directing and writing but it seemed like there were some very funny jokes and also stuff that fell flat, so I think an average vote over all is fair! 5 out of 10!

This show is not good and has a lot of problems but the biggest problem is definitely the actors. The guy and girl in the couple are good looking but they couldn't read a line or tell a joke to get someone to laugh if their lives depended on it. It is like they posted an ad on Craigslist for two good looking people to come down then the first two that showed up were told they were now on a TV show and it doesn't matter if they can act at all. It looks like they have other credits and maybe they can act in drama but acting in comedy is somehow different because they stink at this. I can see where the jokes are but these actors just strangle those jokes to death like they hate comedy. Everyone in this show seems like they are just reading their lines for the first time so they can take their bags of cash and get out of there since like most Canadian comedy shows this is truly awful and will be cancelled following a long line of other crap which most of these people have also been in. Are there only 10 comedy actors in Canada? The fat neighbour is the guy had a show that was mind boggling it was so awful, he is actually OK in this as the moronic neighbour, his problem is more that the writing stinks than that he can't deliver any lines right, he seems OK and even made me smile a couple times. The guy who lives with the couple is also OK but it seems strange some other 40 year old guy lives with them but acts like he's 10, he is way too stupid to be believable and that's another problem, everyone in this show is an idiot, don't you know there should be different kinds of characters, Seinfeld had Seinfeld it wasn't just four total morons in a room each doing stupid things. This show makes me angry it's so bad. The girl is an airhead with big boobs. The guy who runs the bar and is a washed up athlete also can't deliver a joke to save his life. The other friend seems like a creepy paedophile and that actor always does but this character especially is creepy and not funny, if you have seen this hour has 22 minutes or Halifax comedy fest you know what I mean when I say this guy doesn't bring anything other than a quick nap he's so boring. Why does Canadian TV keep shoving the same unfunny wash ups down our throats? Even the guests on this show stink. They had Jeff Pierson from 24 on and he's a great actor and he looked like he couldn't believe he was doing such a crappy show and he is right! Same episode, Colin Mochrie not sure if he is a regular but apparently he will do any TV show for a dollar and a can of coke. I give this 2 out of 10 only because I have seen worse shows.

Why would they keep a horrible show like Package Deal and then get rid of this show? This show was not perfect I admit and some of the show's elements were down right annoying like some of the characters I admit were not the best or maybe just were not cast correctly. But there were a lot of funny parts and good jokes and it was cool seeing a different kind of comedy show in Toronto with some funny jokes in it instead of the usual garbage Canadian sitcoms geared toward old people or people with zero sense of humor. That brings me back to Package Deal. Totally predictable garbage jokes with zero entertainment value at all. Satisfaction needed work and maybe re cast a couple characters or just change it up a bit to make it work better or bring in some new characters but if it had a second year it would have at least had a chance to do that and be a good show. Instead Canadian TV keeps churning out more horrible comedies made with the same unfunny cookie cutter.

If it's hard to single out where "Satisfaction" goes wrong, that's only because it goes wrong in so many ways...

Writing: Generic. There's not a single original idea to be had, nor a single memorable character.

Casting: Basically at the level of a student film. It seems as if a dozen people showed up for the auditions, so they were simply cast in the dozen roles that were available.

Direction: At best pedestrian, and certainly not tuned to the rhythms of actual human interaction.

Production: The show looks (and feels) cheap and rushed. For all the producers, executives and consultants listed in the credits, and all the funding and tax credits the Canadian government seems to have given them, one can only wonder where the money actually went. The only sensible assumption is that the credited execs paid themselves handsomely, leaving little money left over for the finished on-screen product.

In short -- this is bad. Elsewhere in the world, it wouldn't even be a series: the pilot would simply be put in a vault, never to be shown in public. Here in Canada, production money has been spent, and Canadian content regulations must be filled, so "Satisfaction" gets a series order.

A SMALL series order, mind you, and one that will be run off in the summer, far, far away from sweeps week. After all, the people that greenlit this series may be buffoons ... but they're not complete idiots.