WITH Hollywood’s scriptwriters churning out witty and original storylines for television (Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory, Mike & Molly), entertainment appetites have become, shall we say, more refined.
So throwing out a show like Bent and having Amanda Peet sell it doesn’t necessarily render the comedy a winner. If anything, Bent is akin to a disappointingly diluted version of Cougar Town – and that, starring Courtney Cox, is no great shakes either. That it lasted all of six episodes before NBC pulled the plug is a telling statement.
The plot of Bent?
Peet, as Alex, is a recently divorced lawyer with an eight-year-old daughter. While adjusting to being single again, she decides a renovation of her kitchen is in order so she hires Pete Riggins (David Walton), a serial womaniser.
Seriously, that is the best the writers could come up with to create an ambiance conducive to romantic mayhem (cough, yawn).
With Peet adept at rom-coms (Something’s Gotta Give, A Lot Like Love, Griffin and Phoenix) – not to mention that she is a seasoned actress thanks to her plethora of movie and TV roles – it is rather perplexing to find that she gave the nod to Bent.
In an interview with the website tvismypacifier.com, she said: “You know, when I read the script, I felt like it was uniquely charming, and there are a lot of kind of super-quirky [gross]-out comedies, and, you know, there a lot of sort of softer comedies that aren’t really grown up.
“I just felt like it was really charming and very real, and I think that it’s hard to find something that’s romantic on TV that’s also sort of sexy and – I don’t know – suspenseful in a love story way.”
Translated: the salary package must have been bloody amazing.
Commenting on her co-star, Peet enthused: “I think, first of all, that I feel like David Walton is just a revelation. I mean, he’s so brilliant and funny and I don’t think there’s anybody like him and, you know, I think it’s a really kind of… it’s a really unique and very real sort of depiction of somebody who’s a little bit in a state of arrested development, but he has a really good heart and really good instincts.”
While the comedy plays on the “opposites attract” cliché , Bent is a far cry from the charming offering it plays out to be. Such a Peet-y!
• Bent airs on M-Net Series (DStv channel 110) on Saturday, September 29 at 10.30pm.