What We Think
Reviewed by Living Destiny
Number of Seasons: 1
First and foremost, I apologize for the gist. I've never been very good at them, and lets be honest, it's a sitcom. You try to summarize Friends as anything other than six friends who live in New York City, and you'll figure out how hard explaining a sitcom is. I'm a winner here.
Anyway. So the theme song is awesome. It's a little detail, but the theme song is "On Top of the World" by Imagine Dragons. The playful words and upbeat music fit the comedy of the sitcom, and I honestly just love the band, so anything that uses their music is already great.
The characters are great too. Louis is my favorite. He's a loud, flamboyant gay man who has no boundaries, and thinks mostly of himself, but really cares about his friends and loved ones. It's almost how I picture myself if I were a gay man. Michael Urie (the actor playing Louis) is just adorable, and he has fantastic comedic timing. He's the funniest part of this show. He and David Krumholtz (who plays Joe) have great onscreen chemistry, and they just work well together. Joe is much more tight laced, but he's still funny in a sarcastic, almost dry sort of way. Because he and Louis are so opposite from each other, they make good foils for one another, and their scenes always had me laughing out loud, much to the chagrin of my sleepy parents. Ali and Wyatt aren't exactly smaller characters, but I thought of them that way, mostly because I liked them slightly less than Louis and Joe. Wyatt's character is funny because he's completely stoic. He hardly ever smiles, even when he thinks something is funny. If he purposely tells a joke, no one really knows until he says it's a joke. He's so deadpan all the time, it's fun to watch. He and Louis are a cute couple, and they obviously really care about each other. The same goes for Ali and Joe. The characters were written really well, so that a relationship between all of the four main characters is seen with the other three as a pair. If that makes sense. Ali was my least favorite relatively, but even she was good. She didn't make me laugh as much as the others, but it's not like she ever detracted from a scene. I think she was funny because she would question Joe's relationship with Louis, and it caused interesting conflict.
That's it. Four main characters. There are a few bit players, sure, but there are just four main characters. I really love that. A show doesn't need lots of people or intense action to be entertaining. Look at Friends. Yes, I'm making another Friends reference, but it's been stuck in my head lately. There were six recurring characters in that show, and it was immensely popular. People still love it today, and it ended in 2004. What's necessary is lovable characters and interesting conflict, which I think Partners has. Some of the episodes have more serious issues, like financial problems, and some are completely fickle, like sleeping with a celebrity, but they're always amusing, and they always highlight the complexities of adult relationships. I can't say enough good things about this show.
The plot lines were interesting. I know I just said that, but it's really true. They had creative ideas. The best part of the plot is definitely the conflicts caused between Joe and Louis, and their thoughts on how relationships work. Obviously, most of their differences of opinion come from the fact that they are very different people, but some of them stem from the simple fact that Louis is gay and Joe is straight. I appreciate that difference. It seems to me that there is a trend appearing in modern sitcoms where they have to add in a gay character. Whether that's for social diversity and acceptance, or because writers think gay characters can be funny in a more stereotypical-for-gays-but different-than-straight-guys way, I don't know, but I do know that it's usually done in a hit or miss way. Gay characters can work, but sometimes they're just too over the top to even be believable. And I've seen some over the top gay people, so that's legit. This show does gay well. Louis is loud and silly, but that's more of his personality, and less of his sexuality. Wyatt, however, seems much less like the basic idea of a gay man. He's quiet, reserved, doesn't flaunt his sexuality - although he is very proud of his boyfriend and loves him very much - he's even a Mennonite, which I just had to look up to get facts on, but is a religion that isn't very supportive of homosexuality. Passing him on the street you wouldn't expect him to be gay, you'd notice him because he's ripped and looks like Clark Kent. The comparison between Wyatt and Louis' relationship and Ali and Joe's relationship is a big part of the show, both in how different they are, and also how similar. Most of the contrasting elements come from the people in the relationships, not their sexualities. Some of it, as I've said, is the gay/straight difference, but it's really because they don't act the same. They're both loving, supportive, caring relationships. It's nice that the show can clearly contrast two dissimilar lifestyles, and show how similar they actually are. It seems to me to be a great way of promoting the idea of acceptance and equality by showing how totally equal Joe and Louis, and Wyatt and Ali, really are.
There's really nothing wrong with this show. Some of the humor is brash, inappropriate, or just plain silly, but it's funny, and it has lots of affection as it demonstrates the real relationships that grow between two close friends and their romantic partners. And that is why I was so devastated and confused when it was canceled after only six episodes. I sincerely considered finding the president of CBS and shouting at him until he put the show back on the air. The ratings, apparently, just weren't up to the standards of the station, and so Partners was cut midway through the first season. It was a tragic loss to my night time television schedule, as it left me with only one show to watch, which ended its season about a month ago. I can't describe how angry I was. I became very attached to this show, and then it just disappeared. I read the story lines for the seven episodes of season one that didn't air, and I just became more upset, because they sounded hilarious. This review, it would appear, is too little, too late, but this show shouldn't have been canceled. It was one of the funniest shows I've watched in a long time. Television isn't very funny anymore, and this made me laugh out loud, which doesn't happen often. It's disappointing, and there isn't anything I can do but pout. It should still be on the air, because the characters and relationships are well developed, the conflicts are creative and interesting, and the dialogue is witty and well written. It's a loss to the entertainment world, and I wear black to mourn in its honor.
Real Teen Rating ~ A+: Most definitely should watch!!! You know...if it were still on...
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