Frank TV
Starring: Frank Caliendo
Airs: Tuesdays at 11:00 PM on TBS
I was at the movies the other day, preparing to have my mind blown by Stephen King’s The Mist when I saw an ad for the new TBS series Frank TV. The series, which premiered on November 20th, stars former MADtv star Frank Caliendo. Having never watched the Fox sketch comedy series, I was unfamiliar with Caliendo or his fantastic ability at celebrity impressions but after seeing the pre-trailer ad at the movies and finding myself chuckling at Caliendo’s fantastic De Niro impersonation, I decided to check out an episode of his new sketch comedy series, Frank TV.
As impressed as I am by Caliendo’s hilarious impressions, Frank TV leaves a lot to be desired. The sketches are just plain silly and rarely warrant a laugh. Not even Frank’s ability to mimic Jack Nicholson, George W. or any of the other people he impersonates is enough to excuse the pointlessness of the sketches. For example, in the opening sketch in the Episode 2, Frank impersonates Jack Nicholson perfectly but the story in the sketch involved Nicholson not being able to find his pants. It was mildly funny but felt like the kind of sketch you might see just before the closing credits on Saturday Night Live. Considering this particular sketch was the opening bit for the episode, things pretty much went downhill from there.
As part of the show, which is partially filmed in front of a live audience, Frank brings an audience-member up to the stage to help him host. Like the sketches, the bits involving the audience member just feel awkward.
The concept behind the series is fine. Take a funny comedian with an uncanny ability to impersonate celebrities and give him his own show. I get it. But the sketches feel more like props to justify Caliendo’s impersonations. And while those impersonations are almost always spot-on and worthy of a laugh, the level of humor in the actual sketches ranges from mildly amusing to just plain not-funny.
My final complaint is that, as I mentioned, the series is filmed in front of an audience but the laughter heard throughout the sketches feels canned. If I found out the producers were using a laugh-track to exaggerate the audience’s reactions to the sketches, I wouldn’t be surprised.
The finale verdict: Caliendo is great but Frank TV needs a lot of work.
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Here’s a clip from the first episode:
