User reviews

There are some shows that just don't click with the mass audience. This is one of them.

This show was intelligent, funny, quirky, innovative, and just plane a pleasure to watch.

The acting was superb, the writing was amazing, the jokes were delivered perfectly ever time.

The comedic timing was dead on. These actors were all professional and so worthy of praise. They did get one nomination for something, I remember way back when.

Is is available to stream anywhere?

I was really sad to have seen it go.

Like a number of other shows that are too smart for the mass audience.

Wished it had lasted longer.

Nate Solomon (Josh Cooke) and Marni Fliss (Jennifer Finnigan) are two quirky New Yorkers on separate blind dates. They get mixed up and mistakenly go on the date together. They hit off as their quirkiness match up. He comes from a family of geniuses who all crash after their epic achievements. In order to avoid the inevitable tragic end, he has been working a mindless dead-end job at a record shop with his friend Bowie James (Darius McCrary). She lives in an apartment with a nameless dying clown (Tom Poston) subletting her closet. Her neighbor Tess (Tammy Lynn Michaels) is her best friend who babysit kids.

This NBC show is a midseason replacement and only lasted 13 episodes. Initially, the show starts trying very hard to be quirky. It doesn't get quirkier than a nameless clown living in the closet. It's like the creators used Mad Libs to come up with the craziest character idea. The good part is that I like most of these actors starting with the clown himself, Tom Poston. He gets a big early laugh when he pies himself. It allowed the comedy to come through when the initial quirkiness is so chaotic. There is a recalibration at episode seven when she loses her job and she's allowed to expand into anger. It turns more conventional with the friend group. I'm surprised that they didn't finally give the clown a name. I like this show somewhat. It's mildly amusing with some intermittent laughs. It's no great lost.

I am INCREDIBLY glad that there is finally a sitcom on TV that I can sit down and laugh at. This show is a breath of fresh air and a much needed break from all the crime shows and court dramas on TV today. It's rare when a TV show can make me physically laugh out loud when I'm with a group of people, let alone when I'm sitting in a room by myself, and this show does just that. :) I'm VERY VERY happy that this show was renewed for the rest of the season and I truly hope this show can stick around for the long haul. Hopefully more people will jump on the bandwagon soon and realize what an amazing show this truly is.

To everyone at "Committed", if you're reading this, congratulations on a job well done! You all are amazing! :D And to anyone reading this: check out this show. You'd be surprised at what you're missing. :)

Well, this show is long gone, but I still think of it sometimes. It was SO funny; I rarely laugh as hard as I did from this TV show! But it was also touching. Even "Mr. Binkley," as I always referred to Tom Poston, as a dying clown in the closet, was absurd, and yet it was comforting to have him around! My favorite scene was when Josh and her best friend (who happened to be a black man in a wheelchair), were each trying to be the first to talk to Marni. It was hysterical as they just played music as the two vied to get to her first. The other that sticks with me was bittersweet; the episode about the first snow. If this show comes out on DVD, I'm there!

This was the first sitcom in a long time where I actually LAUGHED! Great chemistry, great humorous topics (like the black dude in the wheelchair), well written, hilarious to watch!!! I love to find videos on Youtube!!

Great use of Sitcom Stars (Tom Poston, Bob Newheart, Jerry Van Dyke)!!

If an official DVD ever comes out, I'll be the first to pick it up!!

It's like the writers went looking for the worst, most obvious "jokes". Part of me thinks they're going for the "it's so bad it's good" angle, but then the laugh-track seems to indicate that it's so bad, it's bad. Bad acting, bad writing, bad directing ... it's overwhelmingly bad. Why inflict this upon the world? I don't know. Tom Poston appears, he was average in the Bob Newhart show, and yet suspiciously he comes up in other shows. Not sure why, he's not funny or talented. This is not politically incorrect, but it's humorously incorrect, too. Possibly an 8 year old wrote it. Doesn't explain why the actors wanted to be in this. They're attractive, there's no doubt about it, but they're just untalented. There's so little talent in this, I couldn't understand it. Don't watch this and then the movie "Airplane" (/ "Flying High") ... you'll realise just how bad television has become. Sad, but true.

A whole lot of funny Potential here. This is a quirky and fun new sitcom, that has that something that hum Let me see

..... I know! Iknow! It makes you laugh. The Characters are funny and still a bit tense, but hopefully this new series will have the chance to stay on long enough to pick their development and keep us laughing as opposed to what there is on TV now, if it is funny well so is the mumps. With exception to "E.B.L. RAYMOND" and "Still Standing" and sometimes "Listen Up", there are not many funny sitcoms on anymore. Heck Friends just ended last year, yet it sucked for the last 3 years it was on anyway. Back to basic's "Committed" is witty and just a whole lot of laughs, hope it makes it.

Sometimes, the TV allows us access to good shows. Some other times, TV gives us crap. Although I do not particularly love the cast of "Committed," I found it shameful that talents were wasted on such a production.

"Committed" is one of those shows that networks would put in a recycle pin, or "on the shelf," because it is something that needs a lot of work. However, it is not too bad that they would cancel its existence. This particular show does not offer any intellectual process or depth of thought. Instead, it is accumulates all kinds of clichés and over-seen situation into one frame. In other words, "Threes Company" seems like an intelligent show in comparison with "Committed." And unlike any other funny TV shows, such as "Grounded for Life," "Still Standing," and some others, the funny jokes are not spontaneous and do not have anything new for an adult to be amused by; furthermore, the situations were built on silliest thoughts and assumptions that a real person would fall into.

The character development in "Committed" is committed for deterioration of mind. There is no development whatsoever, and the plot does not enhance itself. It is even worse because there is no one to advance or make the plot viable (almost plot-less). Sadly, "Committed" is nothing but a draft for TV.

The only reason I watched this show is because of three actors, Jennifer Finnigan, Tammy Lynn Michaels, and Darius McCrary (you have to remember him from "Family Matters"). Those are three actors I respect and adore, but, unfortunately, their talents were completely wasted here. Finnigan, the protagonist (also famous for her role in "Crossing Jordan") is such a pretty gal, but in "Committed" she is most annoying and stupid character with a shrieking voice. T.L. Michaels is a babe, if you remember her in "Popular," and she plays a helping character who is a nanny. McCrary is someone I was hoping to see more of his work, but being a helping character in this show, he is unable to deliver a soaring performance. Otherwise, just watching Finnigan and Michaels is enough to make an effort to glimpse at this travesty called "Committed."

The bottom line is this: the network needed something to fill in the empty slot, so they closed their eyes and randomly selected one of the scripts on the shelves. It is even clear that some elements of this show is similar to "Scrubs" where we see the character "Clown" being Clown like "Janitor" is Janitor in "Scrubs." Though, do not be mistaken, this show has nothing close to/with "Scrubs." Therefore, watching "Committed" is only watching ages fleeing from our time, and the makers of this show are the ones who should be committed.

I can't figure out what people don't like about this show. The Marni character is charming and hot, Nate's clueless and funny. Todd's hysterical. The dialog is hilarious.

The blond nanny neighbor is wicked hot, although they don't show enough of her. (I just learned that she's the wife of Melissa Etheridge. Wow!)

I'll admit, Tom Poston's clown character is kind of silly, and I could probably do with out him, but other than that...

What's not to like?

Unfortunately, I have the sense that this show may not survive, but if not, it'd be a shame.

Network: NBC; Genre: Sitcom; Content Rating: TV-14 (for language and sexual humor); Classification: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4);

Seasons Reviewed: Complete Series (1 season)

It is love at first sight when a mistaken identity blind date brings the wildly free-spirited Marnie (Jennifer Finnegan, "Crossing Jordan") and severely neurotic record store owner Nate (Josh Cooke) together. With their two, respective, friends Bowie (Darius McCrary, trying desperately to loose his "Family Matters" image) and Tess (Tammie Lynn Michaels, "Popular") strapped in the backseat "Committed" takes us on a wild ride through the eccentricity, neurosis and flat-out insanity of the two opposites as they make this budding committed relationship work.

Created by classic sitcom writers Eileen Heisler and DeAnne Heline ("Murphy Brown"), "Committed" rejuvenates both the traditional sitcom and the rarely well done relationship series by successfully pulling the rug out from under all our expectations and sends them both flying in fresh new directions. Don't let the New York street setting and self-referential episode titles fool you. With its institutionalized mothers, outrageous plots, lengthy set pieces and politically incorrect dark comedy, "Committed" is more "Titus" and "Monk" - than "Friends".

The drive-by sitcom viewer won't know what to make of this show. Take, for example, Tom Poston in a lead role as a dying clown who lives in Marnie's closet and whose action consists of little more than shuffling to the kitchen in a bathrobe dragging an oxygen tank. Or RonReaco Lee as Marnie's passive-aggressive wheel-chair-bound black friend Todd. His antagonistic relationship with Nat is the highlight of the series. And then there are the over-the-top story lines, my favorite being "The Morning After" where a romantic day puts Nat uncomfortably in the middle of a bitter reunion between Marnie and the father who abandoned her when she was 12. In another episode Marnie's problem is resolved by the death of another character. It's a testament to the writing and mad-capped performances from Cook and particularly Finnegan (doing TV's first low-pitched nasal voice), that this material, which reads so unfunny on paper, gets such raucous laughs.

In the series' driver's seat, Finnigan is a knock-out embodying all of Marnie's effervescent ticks and eccentricities all the while making what could have been such a cartoon character into someone with a winding line of logic to her. Cooke is equally funny with his spastic reactions. The role of tightly wound Nat must be a physical comic's dream. The show works because we buy this unlikely pair as a couple, and it works better than that by avoiding all the lazy pitfalls of the relationship series. There is no "will-they-or-won't-they" false sexual tension, they don't artificially break up and try to get back together. "Committed" is one show that knows how to find comedy in a functional relationship.

The show's weakest elements are with supporting players McCrary and Micheals. The two work well when bouncing off the leads, but the show starts to feel too "sitcom" when episodes start popping up with Bowie and Tess in their own B-story. "Committed" is at its best when it is all about Nat and Marnie. The lack of these forced B-stories is what initially gives the show such a unique flavor and allows precious time for the scenarios to be fully explored and jokes to flow up to the next level. Rare in the usually set-up/punch-line sitcom world. The show does this in the pilot beautifully so we know the show can do it. Special attention goes to a lengthy, gut-busting set-piece in which Todd is forced out of a restaurant.

"Committed" is the type of screwball sitcom that would be called brilliant if it where British. But there is an element of sadness in watching it. In a year with "Desperate Housewives" and "The Office" remake, I can't shake the feeling that this is a last gasp of fresh air for the dying multi-camera studio audience sitcom. Even the fact that I used the word "sitcom" above as a negative is symptomatic of how we have been conditioned to recoil against, and instantly dismiss, the genre over the years. That's a bad sign. Good sitcoms are few and far between and given how far apart they can be this may very well be the last hurrah before the genre is muscled off the stage.

"Committed" is a good one. Even all the elevated standards we now expect for a sitcom to get a shred of notice, this show rises to the challenge and surprises every chance it can. When was the last time you saw a musical action montage at the end of a sitcom episode and it was used well? It has a desire to build on jokes instead of dispensing drive-by one-liners and the skill to create a couple even I enjoyed rooting for. It is a pleasure. A unique show - feisty, cute, very funny, genuine (despite its silliness) and, with these characters, had great potential. It can be edgy and crude but not mean-spirited or crass. You may think you've seen all the sitcom has to offer, but "Committed" proves there is life in it yet.

* * * ½ / 4

The double meaning in the title speaks for itself..

It's not your typical comedy/romance sitcom.. What I like about the show is it's not afraid to take a poke at political correctness gone mad.. It has a British comedy undertone, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's where the idea originated from.. It reminds me a bit of a hybrid crossing of Father Ted comedy series shown in Great Britian and Canada and a Norman Lear type production in the wake of All in the Family.. While Committed isn't as shocking, it certainly takes stabs at places television tends to avoid these days because its not safe..

I fear it won't last, if only because of the double meanings will be missed by a vast majority of viewers.. And some of the double meanings have the propensity to offend. That in itself is not a bad thing.. sometimes we need to be offended in order to realize how ridiculous some things are.. The story lines, while somewhat predictable at times, work because of the great chemistry the cast seems to have developed, including some great cameos early on.. I love Todd as the protaginistic, wheel chair bound third wheel, no pun intended.. Tom Poston is he usual dry self that works against the shtick back drop of the main characters.. I try never to miss the show.. and ensure my PC records it for my viewing pleasure.. If you like something irreverent, I highly recommend it.. If you are easily offended, be forewarned.. the show gets close to the edge of the envelope..

For a show made up of complete chaos it is surprisingly funny and kind of resemblant of real life when you do meet that person and it makes you crazy. OK, well maybe not so crazy, but still an OK show. I like how not everything is spoken just like in real life and how the people are just so nuts you can help but wonder what they are going to do next. This is that completely off the wall comedy I've been waiting my whole 17 years of life for. The illogical ramblings and crazy antics of these two characters is just to good to pass up even if it isn't you slice of pie, you have to watch it once just to see how crazy it is. Plus, the dying clown in the closet is about one of the funniest things I've ever seen on television, because you just don't get that crazy what the heck is that even in there for stuff out of regular TV. I give this show about a 7 because even though I like it, it is probably to intensely dense for some people.

I got this show from an internet download (I don't live in the US. I wasn't expecting much but I really was impressed. My g/f and I loved it, even from the pilot. The main guy reminds me of Ben Stiller or Jason Lee - if you like the awkwardness of 'Meet the parents' you'll probably enjoy this show. Nice to see someone taking a few chances with sitcom, it touches on several points concerning race and disability, always getting close to the edge but without offending anyone. A nice surprise was that the supporting players are all good, esp the guy in the wheelchair. Apparently my comment didn't contain enough lines so I'll add that in one episode they used a real cat, which surprised me, normally a sitcom would use some awful puppet.

This show has just come on in Australia and i gotta say it's fantastic. I really love it when basically unknown actors really get their chance to shine and pull it off really really well. The writing is excellent and the actors don't disappoint the humor. Their mannerisms,facial expressions even the tones of their voices alone make you laugh.

I love how neurotic Nate is and his scenes with the guy in the wheelchair are hilarious. The "clown in the closet" who's built into the contract of the lease is a brilliant aspect of the show. I mean why not have a clown in your closet? It's funny and it works and no other show has it. It's shows like these that are worth spending the money on. And it's reality shows,with hideous situations and bias editing that need to go.

I mean, really, this show is new and cute. And, yes, I love Arrested Development, and the weird shows and the cynical ones but, this show is new and tries to do something different. Nate is hysterical, as is Tess and the clown is great!!! I admit that I thought it might be weird but, he is so funny that you forget that it is odd. And Marni is adorable! She is fresh and sweet, and although it seems contrived-one must remember that people like that look that contrived in real life. I think Jennifer Finnigan is doing an amazing job and I hope that the show stays on the air and gains great success! I truly think that those people that don't think it's funny are entitled to their opinion but, why believe that everything that you think is the end all and be all of funny? I don't like feeling like an idiot because of what I think is funny!

I really do like this show for the most part. I have seen it four or five times and it has never ceased to make me laugh. Josh Cooke has got to be one of the most attractive men on television right now and surprisingly, his comic timing is dead on. The only reason I do not watch the show more is because of Jennifer Finnigan. I just want to smack her. She is the only unfunny part of the show. It is completely unbelievable that Cooke's character would be with her. I honestly believe that she will be the downfall of this show.

Otherwise, the show is clever with some fresh material. It is always a joy to watch people who are more neurotic than you are.

This show deserves credit for TRYING to have flawed, quirky leads in the sickly sitcom format. All sitcoms need leads to be perfect - or if at least the husband is kind of a dufus - he always learns a nice little life lesson in 22 minutes (minus commercials). So, good for COMMITTED for trying to deliver laughs with this strange, damaged people. But just because you TRY doesn't mean you SUCCEED and this show is dreadfully unfunny. I find the female lead to be a low-rent Kate Hudson (and Hudson ain't no Carole Lombard) - she's all one-note - not sure what to do so I'll just be cute and ditzy. And the male lead is yet another NBC Handsome Bland Guy with no comic timing whatsoever. He may be "attractive" but he ain't funny.