A to Z: 2014s Answer To How I Met Your Mother? Or 500 Days Of Summer?

Since the atrocious end of How I Met Your Mother (I mention the show a lot so I'll abbreviate it throughout the rest of the post) I guess the networks have been scrambling for a replacement romantic comedy. After the end of HIMYM I really wish they hadn't bothered, it'll take me a few years to get over that ending, I can't even watch the old episodes now! Apart from 'The Best Burger In New York', for some reason I love that episode and have watched it about ten times. After the announcement of A To Z I realised that the networks don't really care about me and what I want, they just want to get in on the action and advertising money. Think back to the end of Lost when they were struggling for a replacement and came up with the V reboot and Flashforward, didn't exactly work out did it? I highly doubt it will for A to Z.

A to Z stars Cristin Milioti, the most underused yet most watchable part of the awful last season of HIMYM, as cynical about love Zelda. It's not surprising that she found a role so quickly after winning over fans in her criminally limited screen time on HIMYM (I think I'll be annoyed for quite some time about that). Ben Feldman stars opposite her as the hopeless romantic Andrew and I can't really say much about him because I've only seen him in Drop Dead Diva and the trailer for that horror movie that YouTube keeps forcing me to watch. The two actors interacted with each other well during the pilot and their chemistry didn't seem forced so I do think that audiences may learn to to enjoy watching their relationship grow. This would seem like a positive but the audience are told straight away that they will not end up together, which kind of puts a damper on the show which is a romantic comedy. I thought the point of a romantic comedy was that it was lighthearted and the characters end up together?

This wouldn't be too much of an issue if the characters on their own were watchable but I found myself zoning out when they weren't interacting with each other and had scenes with the other characters. Zelda and Andrew don't seem like they can stand on their own so how can the audience root for them not to be together? Another thing I found quite annoying was Andrews references to fate and true love which was quite forced if you ask me, although I am quite the cynic myself. It's a bit soppy in this day and age to believe you're fated to be with one person, and it's love at first sight with a person that you see across a crowded room. Due to this I found him quite similar to Ted in HIMYM and if you haven't watched HIMYM you should know that Ted was the lead character who happened to be the most irritating. I keep referencing HIMYM and I apologise because I'm sure you all want to forget it exists but to me A to Z is like a less entertaining version of it. I say less entertaining because Zelda and Andrew echo the characters of Ted and Robin (Robin is the second most irritating character) and it was the supporting characters that made the show great in its prime. I may like Zelda and Andrew together but the supporting players made me want to turn it off, they were unfunny and atrocious and you can't have the leads be straight laced characters and the supporting characters be unwatchable in a comedy. 

It's a shame because I have an inkling that the show was trying to be slightly like 500 Days Of Summer which was a realistic sort of romantic comedy where the characters don't end up together, just like A to Z. I haven't really done any research on upcoming episodes of A to Z (in hindsight I probably should've done if I'm going to be writing about it) but am I right in thinking that it'll be non-chronological like 500 days? That way we can see different aspects of their lives before their relationship, during it and after it like 500 Days did and it doesn't limit the show to the eight month long relationship. I could possibly be coaxed into watching more episodes of the show if they do that and manage to explore the characters separately as well as together, and hopefully make me like them individually. If it is drawing inspiration from 500 Days hopefully the show won't go over the top like the HIMYM pineapple incident or recurring blue french horn because what made 500 Days a success was that it was realistic and people could relate to the characters. If A to Z turns out to be a less funny version of HIMYM (and plenty of other sitcoms that follow the same format) them I don't think the audience will be able to form a meaningful attachment to the show or characters.

I can't really see myself watching the show for the next year but I may try and watch a couple of more episodes to see if I can shake the HIMYM feeling which could possibly be something the producers and network was going for. May be the cynic in me speaking again but theres a chance they wanted to imitate the show and imitate the success. Possible more than a chance. It's a shame because it could've been good, maybe it'll do a Happy Endings and completely reinvent itself. Who knows?

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