Odd "Man" Out

Ninety percent of all of the programs ever aired on American television, we are told, fail. And, apparently, 94 percent of these failed shows star Teri Polo. :-(

My favorite actress of my own generation appears in another TV series, and it looks like she is about to become associated with yet another flop, even though this series was initially expected to become a breakout hit of the 2011-12 season. "Man Up!," which debuted on Tuesdays on ABC at 8:30 PM Eastern - coincidentally, the same time slot that was once filled by Teri Polo's underappreciated sitcom "I'm With Her" - is a show that tries to find humor in a group of three men who try to hold on to some shred of masculinity in an increasingly feminized world. But these men have no real manliness about them, which their girlfriends or wives are happy to take advantage of.

I watched one episode, and despite a clever idea or two, it didn't make me laugh the way any of ABC's Wednesday night sitcoms do. It didn't make me want to change the channel, either. In fact, apart from making me want to watch Teri Polo, it didn't make me want to do anything. The writing is so-so, the performances are competent, and the execution of the show's premise - indeed, the premise itself - made me shrug at best. I really don't care much about the male characters and I find their feeble expressions of masculinity more static than amusing. In other words, it's as unengaging as "Better With You," an ABC one-season wonder from last season you already know about.

To make a long story short, the reviews have mostly been bad, and it's been struggling in the ratings - so much, that ABC doesn't even mention "Man Up!" in promos for its Tuesday night lineup. Indeed, they're already promoting "Work It," the show that will fill the Tuesday 8:30 PM Eastern time slot in January, pretty much sealing the fate of Teri Polo's latest sitcom and rendering it as her latest sitbomb. It didn't even premiere on ABC until October 18, meaning it will have only lasted two months.

So once again, Teri Polo will be joining the unemployment line, and, once again, her fans will be wondering when the heck a talented and versatile actress like she is finally going to have a hit series. "Sports Night," which first introduced her to television audiences, was a critically acclaimed ABC show that went nowhere with Nielsen families. "I'm With Her," which had male characters more likeable than those in "Man Up!," was a good ABC show that I believe would have been a great one if given the chance, but it was doomed by being broadcast opposite Fox's "American Idol" at a time when that was the hottest show on television. And the less said of Teri's "Wedding Bells" series on Fox, the better. And I'm not counting the two failed pilot shows she did on top of that.

So we Teri Polo fans will enter 2012 with the same frustration that Charlie Brown always felt when his favorite baseball player, Joe Shlabotnik, kept getting sent back to the minor leagues. And Polo herself will enter the new year feeling as though Lucy Van Pelt pulled the football away from her again. For the time being, the 42-year-old actress may have to resign herself to being a doyenne of Lifetime TV movies despite her natural ability to carry a theatrical release. She's better than TV actresses have to be and so deserves more time on the silver screen. In fact, I would insist that she's too good for TV and so should concentrate on films - but Teri, no more "Fockers" movies, please!

Fans will note that most of Polo's broadcast TV work has been with ABC, so if she does stick with the small screen, maybe she can get on a series that airs on another network. Overall, I'm certain that she won't disappear entirely - unless she ends up on an NBC series, of course.

Oh yeah, "Work It." That's a show about men who dress as women to get office jobs because they need the work. If it sounds like a "Bosom Buddies" rip-off, that's because people who have seen it say it is. Something tells me we won't see another Tom Hanks come out of this. Or anyone to draw comparisons to Dustin Hoffman, either.