Knee-jerk review: NBC's "Whitney"

1. Perhaps you've heard of it? NBC has spent what is surely a fortune in promotion. We've seen Whitney Cummings in TV spots, on the sides of buses, on thirty-foot-tall billboards, and stuck to plywood walls of construction sites. We get it. There's a new show on called "Whitney."

2. NBC is not only showing it love with advertising, this show also has a plum post-"Office" timeslot. NBC's doing everything it can outside of tying you down and making you watch.

3. "Half of all marriages end in sweatpants." That's kind of funny. "I don't mean to be rude means you're about to say something crazy rude." That's kind of lame.

4. Which summarizes this show in a nutshell. Kind of funny, kind of lame.

5. It's very traditional. Live studio audience, wacky characters, bright no-contrast lighting, set-up/punchline jokes. Interesting that the Cheese Fry's inventory of new sitcoms has continued to lead to this question of reality versus artifice. Should sitcoms strive to capture the natural humor in our lives (like "Modern Family") or create an alternate universe that's completely bonkers (like "Cougartown")? Is one better than the other?

6. Case in point: in the real world, no one knocks themselves unconscious trying to pull off a pair of pants.

7. But there is something genuine and honest about a comfortable, veteran couple worried about maintaining that romantic spark.

8. Good, but not great. And we had such high hopes.

9. Luckily for Whitney, her other show is much better; she's a co-creator of "Two Broke Girls."

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