The Loop; Season One DVD Review

When The Loop first came on the air it carried a dark cloud with it, for this was the show that replaced the cult favorite, Arrested Development, and the awfully familiar storylines didn’t help the cloud dissipate. A show with a group of twenty-something roommates and the secret crush our hero has on his female friend, also equipped with a womanizer and dumb blond, just seems like a lazy and continued attempt to try and imitate the successful formula of Friends within the new format of one-camera sitcoms without the studio audience. Although this is only half of the plot, sadly it is usually the better half.

The other portion of the show is dedicated to twenty-four-year-old Sam Sullivan’s job as an executive at a major airline. Sam is the youngest executive in the company’s history and he continues to rise because of his incredible talent for remembering facts about the planes. Each episode Sam is torn between his job and living his youth up with his roommates. Sam’s roommates include his slacker brother Sully, his longtime crush Piper, and the blond bimbo bartender Lizzy. Each episode these roommates manage to get Sam into some trouble with his job, but it all ends up working out in his favor, oddly enough. This may be because Sam’s work is nearly as deranged as his living environment. His bosses both love making obscure and often suggestive remarks that are never really funny but are obviously written to be quirky in a forced manner, and his assistant is the queen of deadpan which is so much a shtick that it loses humor immediately.

It isn’t all bad, but there is a formula in the first episode which is imitated each episode that follows in the short season. In seven episodes you aren’t likely to see much of a change in the formula for each episode, which can be somewhat comforting when watching something that doesn’t require thinking is what is desired. Otherwise it can be somewhat frustrating. I found that the later I watched the show, the easier it was for me to turn my brain off and enjoy it. Unfortunately this was the show which replaced a show far too smart for enough people to appreciate.

Seeing as there are only seven episodes only one disc is necessary for the whole season, and apparently enough room for a number of menus for each episode and a featurette as well.