The new sitcom BRAM AND ALICE had a very rich pilot.
Bram is a one-time great writer clinging to all of those
great writerly traditions: a ravenous love-em-and-forget-their-names-in-the-morning
sexual attitude, a far closer relationship with the whiskey bottle,
finances which focus on who can be borrowed from and how
little can be repaid, and a penchant for not actually getting
any writing done. Alice is a struggling young writer, not able
to keep an apartment in New York, with one small sale to her
credit. She is also Bram’s long-since-forgotten love child,
who has just discovered who her father is and has gone to
look him up.
The pilot focuses on their meeting, which is one of those
sitcom scenes where two people are having two different
conversations, unaware that the person they are talking with
is on a different page entirely. Alice thinks (correctly) that
she is talking to her father; Bram assumes that she’s a former
one-night stand of his who just might be worth a second go.
The characters are well-formed, with richness to them that
goes beyond their stereotypical set-up. The humorous material
is delivered well, and these are characters I want to spend
time with.
My main concern, however, is that the characters seemed
so designed for this pilot that I wonder if they can
sustain a series based around their on-going relationship.
Now the daughter is living with the dad; what will this lead to?
Will the makers of this show be able to deliver consistently?
Tune in and find out; I know I will.
