Review: NBC’s Best Friends Forever – A Surprisingly Charming Little Show

TYPE OF REVIEW : FIRST IMPRESSION REVIEW
No spoilers.

NBC’s new comedy Best Friend Forever is surprisingly cute, funny and even a little charming.

While the network is still in search of that big hit that can help carry it out of the ashes, it’s still worth taking notice of the network’s various attempts; some admirable, others forgettable.

Best Friends Forever is interestingly in the middle. It isn’t groundbreaking nor is it horrible. But it is worth giving a try.

The series centers on Jessica (Jessica St. Clair) who flies from San Francisco to New York after her husband files for divorce. She moves back in with her best friend, Lennon (Lennon Parham) who’s just had her boyfriend Joe (Luka Jones) move in as well. Jessica expects to slide back into the life she’d enjoyed with her BFF Lennon three years ago, but everything’s different. Now Lennon is caught between Jessica and Joe, unsure of how to balance her life.

The pilot is quick paced, almost a little frantic, but it is definite set-up of the situation. You leave the pilot unsure of what each week will look like, but you also leave the pilot feeling amused and charmed.

Both St. Clair and Parham can handle funny, whether it’s one liners and broader comedy or the simple, genuine moments. Luka Jones and Stephen Schneider as Rav (who may have unresolved feelings for Jessica) are great sidekicks, almost straight men to the BFFs. But the breakout is certainly Daija Owens as Queenetta, their snappy, fast talking, nine-year old neighbor. She’s probably the most hilarious thing about the series and little kids always make everything better.

Some might be turned off by this comparion, but Best Friends Forever shares a similar kind of charming, full half-hour enjoyment feel that Outsourced did. Though BFF has a much smaller ensemble, each character contributes to what is a full half-hour of fun, amusing set-up for a satisfying punchline and conclusion at the end.

The series might get a nice boost from its Betty White lead-in, but whatever its fate, Best Friends Forever is a charming little series worth a look.

0 thoughts on “Review: NBC’s Best Friends Forever – A Surprisingly Charming Little Show

  1. Looks like it isn’t long for the TV world.

    “There were two series premieres this week, sitcom BFF on NBC, which led out of the Wednesday 8 p.m. time period debut of Betty White’s Off Their Rockers; and Thursday 10 p.m. drama Scandal on ABC. Beloved Betty was respectfully sampled with 7.40 million viewers (#30 overall) and a 1.9 rating/6 share among adults 18-49 (#29t) in the Wednesday 8 p.m. half-hour. But BFF tanked at 3.94 million viewers (#58) and a 1.2/ 4 (#58t) in the demo at 8:30 p.m. Since most new shows drop in the vicinity of 10 to 20 percent in week two, the cancellation clock is already ticking on BFF.”

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