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I mentioned Upload a few days ago and I finally finished it. Something wasn't sitting right with me and I think I finally figured it out. Upload is ostensibly a comedy but based on the trailer, I had no interest.
The exact vibe I got based on the trailer was that Matt Damon movie where they shrank everyone. It had all of the same comedic beats, but instead of "hey, everything is giant because we shrank them, isn't that wacky?" it was "Haha heaven has microtransactions"
Based on that, I was out. In fact, I only started watching it because a friend said he started it and I assumed we were going to shit on it. I gave it a few episodes and I liked it so I watched it all. It was only in retrospect that I realized it was almost the show I didn't want
The show only differs from being a pretty medium love triangle story with a minor twist and lazy jokes because they hired two very funny people- @kevinbigley and @zainabjohnson . They're absent from the trailer but do 90% of the heavy lifting comedically
The thing is, as much as without those two the show would be a CW attempt at a "wacky" Black Mirror, funny people SHOULD be front and center. We don't have to adhere to what is basically an outmoded storytelling paradigm.
Traditionally, your lead is supposed to kind of bland so the viewer has an easier time seeing themselves as the lead. If the main character is too interesting, the viewer can't imagine it's them.
A lot of the art you like has a bland main character with a funny and interesting friend. Luke and Han. Harry and Ron. The thing is, the most successful comedies lately bucked that model by making funny people more prominent. Even then, there is still a Jim or Mike Bluth
However, Upload feels like a step backward. I don't want to go back to shows where the only interesting character is billed 5th, like Tyler Labine on Reaper. Give the good characters more screen time. You know who should understand this? GREG DANIELS
Parks and Rec was basically The Office except they realized Jim Halpert SUCKS and you don't need a Jim Halpert. Amy Poehler is the best comic actor on a cast of funny people. I'm not defending Parks and Rec, the pitch for that show was "What if The Office had 2 Kevins?" but...
Parks and Rec at least represented the acknowledgement that when you have a Michael Bluth, if the show goes on long enough, you have to make them act like an asshole to give them something to do besides make their "do you believe this shit?" face at the camera
Leslie Knope never had to start to suck to keep people interested. Upload was created by an experienced writer who I assumed knew how to improve on The Office, at least in terms of how it was structured. Was that an accident?
I guess if I have a thesis here, it's that you can give funny and interesting people more than a 5though the screen time (and probably a 10th of the money). The lead hasn't always had to be boring. Michael Keaton, Bruce Willis - a lot of leads started in comedy
Lately everyone gets treated like Bryan Cranston or Chris Pratt - like being funny was an internship you did, a prerequisite to getting a good role. Make a studio enough money and you get to do serious roles and get actual screen time
Upload was fine, ultimately, but I think it could have been a lot better, and the best joke of the series was when they called Robbie Amell "the chiseled guy" to differentiate him from Kevin Bigley who is just as ripped.
