Do Not Disturb - Do Not Disturb - 2008 Fall TV Pilot Preview

Do Not Disturb - Premieres Wednesday Sept. 10th at 9:30pm on FOX

If you're lucky enough, you'll get to avoid this Fox show without ever needing to touch it or watch it and MAYBE, just MAYBE, it'll disappear without ever disturbing your life.

I watched it so that you don't have to.

Do Not Disturb is an old fashioned sitcom set in a hip Manhattan hotel called "The Inn" (get it?) with Jerry O'Connell as the womanizing manager and Niecy Nash (Reno 911!) as the feisty no-nonsense Human Resources director who is at constant odds with O'Connell. In other words, it lets O'Connell do what he does best, and it lets Nash do what she does best.

Sadly, the rest of the show takes every stereotype you can possibly throw into one show and then re-emphasizes them even further. The show plays up on the whole upstairs/downstairs in a modernized hotel but while I felt like they almost wanted to subvert the stereotypes to add a twist to the show, in the end, like the characters, they accept their fate and just continue in their backwards unfunny ways. The fat girl (Jolene Purdy) and the gay guy (The Class' Jesse Tyler Ferguson) remains hidden away downstairs, while the beautiful dumb receptionist (Molly Stanton, Twins) continues to starve away upstairs (actually, the funniest part of the show was probably the moment she got to eat).

About the only bright light is Brando Eaton as Jason, the young naive pretty boy who is given the chance to shine upstairs despite his yearning to hide downstairs. He's cute and while the twist isn't the most original, it's about as original as this show is going to get.

About the only other thing worth checking into is Niecy Nash who needs to be saved from this show and given something better. She shines in her feistyness (though in on itself, the black feisty woman is probably a stereotype, though one that I can live with) and as the moral centre of the show, seems to be about the only classy thing in the hotel/on the show.

I wish the show were better because I actually don't mind the 4 camera traditional sitcom and I always seem to enjoy watching them when I fold my laundry (Reba, Freddie, The Class, Twins, Back To You) and considering the show comes from folks that were behind Arrested Development and Reno 911!, I expected more. I'm also shocked to read that Jason Bateman (Arrested Development) directed the pilot. Maybe he should stick to being in front of the camera.

The worst part of the show was the fact that they really seemed to want to change up the format and do something new after hitting us with OBVIOUS SITCOM CLICHES and for a few split seconds, I thought the show was going to redeem itself, but in the end, only the starvation joke (of all things) hinted at that direction.

I'll probably watch the show a few more times only because I tend to give shows some chances (Brothers & Sisters vastly improved after episode 3, Carpoolers actually turned out to be pretty funny/twisted) but at this point, I give Do Not Disturb only * (1 star out of 5).

For more Reviews and Previews of the 2008 Fall TV Season, Check here.