Monday, May 2, 2016

The Jamz TV Review

The Jamz (2015-)
Season 1 (2015)

Created by: Jim Kozyra & Chris Petlak
Starring:
Jim Kozyra, Chris Petlak, Emily Peterson, Kathy Najimy, Rammel Chan

Plot: 
The newest television show released to Netflix features graveyard shift Chicago radio DJ's Jay-Jay and Fitzy vying for the soon vacant and coveted morning show in this half hour workplace comedy.

Verdict
The show is mostly a collection of awkward work situations and cartoonish coworkers. It's earnest with references every few minutes, which doesn't always translate to funny since the jokes and situations are often generic. Aided by the brevity of only four episodes, which doesn't give it a chance to get boring, I enjoyed it and would watch future episodes.
Watch it.

Review
With the first season only four episodes long, you can binge the entire thing in less than two hours.

Chicago isn't integral to the show save for a reference to the Blackhawks, and it never explores the decline of radio, but with additional seasons it could. This is very much in the line of The Office with the work place drama. The fact that it's radio has very little bearing on this. It could be any work setting, and I wish they would leverage the setting more.

It's a cross of The Office and a poor man's version of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The crush Fitzy has on Chrissy is similar to Jim and Pam on The Office, and all of the characters fit a standard office type. There is potential to delve into the characters, but that hasn't happened yet.

It's very understated, nothing laugh out loud, and the jokes feel tired. Fitzy and Jay-Jay's banter on and off the radio is quick and amusing, never becoming more than typical shock jocks.
Despite Fitzy being a millennial, the internet is entirely foreign to him which is never believable. Every time it comes off as a cheap, easy joke.

The best reoccurring joke is Fitzy getting advice from Suds the janitor who isn't willingly providing advice. Fitzy provides his own advice while Suds tells him to leave, and Fitzy believes Suds is a sage.

Kasey is the DJ leaving the morning show. He's part enigma and part arrogant who doesn't care to learn anyone's name and lives in his own world. Fitzy and Jay-Jay suck up to him, as does Geena who also wants his job.

The last episode is the best episode with a Jason Mraz parody and the intern Brian doing something nice for Jay-Jay and Fitzy. This show has a lot of potential, assuming it gets more episodes.

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