Seeing ads for a Watson, I wondered if they meant the Sherlock Holmes character or being cheap. At least it IS the obvious character. I've enjoyed Sherlock things, particular modern day like Elementary (making Watson female initially felt like a gimmick but I found it worked, particularly since it was Lucy Liu, she pulled it off well). In the ads I definitely recognize the lead guy, I know I've enjoyed his work before but I can't place him, finding him well qualified for portraying a suave likeable guy with the smooth resonant voice that girls can like, encouraging there to be girls _I_ can like. :)
Okay, concept is interesting, Sherlock is gone (bit of a shame, but clearly necessary to build a show around Watson), so shows Watson post-Sherlock, with all that investigative experience. Cool idea, sounds like a great recipe for another House - another show I loved - except this actor has the vibe of a personable guy, what was fun about House is his acidity, his sarcasm, his severe lack of a bedside manner and not caring about it. Being brutally blunt in a way that was very effective.
Loving seeing the gorgeous girl from So Help Me Todd, took a bit to recognize her, she looks more exotic here. But then there's the Croft twins. I see Stephens listed (I agree with Watson, that name is moronic, weird names bug me, and it just seems to be to make fun of), but no second Croft. I was trying to look up his name. Hmmm. I spot Croft Twin, so I pay attention to catch the OTHER name, was all ready to edit IMDb to change Croft Twin to the right name. THEN I notice the SAME GUY plays both! What a stupid unnecessary gimmick! And there's two Croft Twins, clearly those two are to play the OTHER twin when focus is on the main actor playing one or the other. Look, the two people playing one gimmick was a fascinating cool innovative crowd pleaser in 1961 with Parent Trap. IT'S JUST STUPID AND UNNECESSARY NOW! This will intrigue nobody now, you need a reason now (like a cloning storyline, or Mike Myers spreading his comedy abilities around in Austin Powers by playing vastly different characters). They're fussing around and making it harder on themselves for NOTHING! Hire actual identical twins, don't get unnecessarily complicated! Aren't the Sprouse twins still acting? Boom, done. Don't want to spend the money? It should be REALLY easy to get no-name identical twins. And are these three really cheaper than two? AND the extra effort/tricks?
And DAMN does Randall Park feel horribly miscast! They shouldn't even have the character, he's shoehorned in here, he doesn't fit in a medical drama. And Randall just has the VIBE for a lovable friendly schlub. He seems to naturally smile all the time, that's what his character was like when I "met" him in his show Fresh Off The Boat. He played "himself" pretty similarly as an interviewer in Young Rock. He guested as a clinic case in House where he was a similar wimpy try-to-please-people kind of guy, a clip that ends up in many House compilation videos. Congrats for not being typecast, but it's just damn jarring here.
My biggest complaint is the twin thing, and they're pretty stuck with it. If they fire one character to simplify the acting, seems like it would be the more enjoyable easy-going one because fussbucket Stephens seems to be the worker, the more effective and useful doctor, so they need to keep both to make a well rounded team and not ruin the unnecessary Team Experiment they declared right off the bat instead of letting it percolate for a few episodes before revealing the surprise.
