We Are Men (2013 Fall Premieres)

We Are Men is a funny, clever, independent situation sitcom airing on CBS’s Monday night line up after How I Met Your Mother. Now, it’s not the best new comedy breakout show of the fall, but it is a decent show to watch in between HIMYM and Sleepy Hollow.  The show begins with the repercussions of lead Carter Thomas (Chris Smith) being left at the alter on his wedding day. His bride played by Fiona Gubelmann (From Wilfred) runs off with an ex-boyfriend and leaves her fiance to live in “temporary housing.” A place meant for people who don’t usually have “enough money to buy their own couch.”

There we are introduced to the rest of the band of brothers: Gil Bartis (Kal Penn), who tried to sleep with his bloated wife only to find out she was in an affair with a woman; Stuart Strickland (Jerry O’Connell) a broken man who has been ravaged by divorce courts (twice) and enjoys being shirtless (disgusting); and Frank Russo (Tony Shalhoub) a womanizing old man who is not letting his age get the best of him. And ironically enough I preferred seeing Tony’s bare chest more than O’Connell’s.

Carter’s new band of brothers help him get over his recent dumpage and remind him what it’s like to have guy friends again, because apparently all men loose their guy friends once they get into a stable relationship. Oh and Carter was working a dead-end job at his future Father-in-Law’s establishment. The show pretty much sets Carter up as a man who was castrated by his soon to be wife, but even after his awesome nights out with the guys )and he realizes how unhappy he was) he still wants Sara back. Yeah her name was spelled without the H. Anyways, Gil, being the last romantic of the trio, talks to Carter alone and tell him he should fight for Sara if he still missed her so much. Turns out Sara wants Carter back too, and there just happened to be an opening for a wedding at some place. Long story short, the 3 new best friends, who weren’t invited to the wedding because there wasn’t enough room, save the day by removing Carter from his wedding willingly.

Runaway Groom + Friends

I can only assume the rest of the season will be about the life of men who were divorced or recently left by their significant others. It seems like an interesting notion that would only interest a niche crowd of viewers, but it does not. I watched the show with my boyfriend of 22 years of age and my brother of 27 years of age (whom has been married for about 5 years), and I a 23 year old woman (committed in a 2 year long relationship) all enjoyed the show. My boyfriend who doesn’t usually enjoy television (or sitcoms for that matter) really enjoyed the show.

Tony Shalhoub’s return to television albeit a different one, is most certainly an interesting one that he seems to enjoy playing. Penn’s character seems to be a lovable return of Psychologist Kevin who dated Robin from HIMYM, and I am happy to see that. Kevin was a great addition to the HIMYM family, and although I’m a rooter for the B-nasty and R-train, I was sad to see Kevin go. The only character I am unsure about is O’Connell’s, it seems no different than any portrayal of his in any movie, and that stomach of his while in a speedo is just unpleasant.

We Are Men isn’t the best thing to be revealed this season, but it certainly isn’t the worst. What else are you going to watch during that 8:30 time frame? And for it being a pilot, you know the acting was pretty damn good. Here’s hoping that you’ll tune in or watch it online.

Click to watch the pilot episode

Oh, PS, Alan Ruck from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is totally the priest at the first ceremony of the episode. It’s a bit part but it makes me chuckle.