Braff’s new ‘Alex, Inc.’ is difficult to watch
Review: Former Scrubs star’s shtick doesn’t go over well a second time
Kelly Lawler
While speaking on the radio and on podcasts, people sometimes slip into a register known as “vocal fry,” their lowest possible speaking tone, which can sound unnatural or creaky. Over a recording it can be grating and rasping, ruining the experience of listening.
Zach Braff ’s new podcast-centric sitcom, Alex, Inc., is like vocal fry come to life.
ABC’s series, premiering Wednesday (8:30 ET/PT, ★☆☆☆), is the former Scrubs star’s big return to television. Unfortunately, his shtick was a one-hit wonder, and the hapless, starry-eyed man-child act doesn’t work a second time.
Loosely inspired by the podcast StartUp and its creator Alex Blumberg’s life, and created by Matt Tarses ( Scrubs, Sports Night), Alex, Inc. follows a disillusioned radio host and dad who quits his secure job to start a podcasting company. He brings along his producer, Deirdre (Hillary Anne Matthews), who’s apparently madly in love with him, and his supposedly business-savvy cousin, Eddie (Michael Imperioli), a parody of a movie mobster. His wife, Rooni (Tiya Sircar), humors Alex’s new venture, although it’s not necessarily the most responsible decision for their family.
Alex, Inc. is painful: Cute kids utter phrases like “nobody listens to the radio,” there are jokes that never land, and Braff ’s cloying voiceover merely reminds us that his voice is not ideal for podcasting. He seems more like a clownish sidekick than a protagonist, and his impulsive decisions make it
hard to get behind him. But the biggest problem is that Alex is nearly indistinguishable from J.D., his Scrubs doctor, in mannerisms and affectation. Scrubs, which aired on ABC from 2001 to 2010, built a zany but emotionally grounded world around J.D. and its general high jinks. But Alex, Inc. can’t lower the volume from a 10.
Braff is a big roadblock, but he’s far from its only obstacle. The dialogue sounds nothing like normal human speech; it is far too on the nose and hammy. The way Alex builds a business and a podcast is farcical. The series’ relentlessly peppy tone is maddening, especially in moments when Alex aims for serious journalism by interviewing an accused murderer. It’s funny, though, because the suspected killer ends up having an allergic reaction to a cat in a plastic coat. Right?
It’s a shame that this is what the writers came up with after listening to StartUp, a genuinely brilliant podcast that actually teaches you how to be a better storyteller. Fans of the audio series will never spot its DNA in Alex, Inc. The pod- cast became a success because of its honesty and rawness, two qualities that make it an ill-advised candidate for a sunny family sitcom.
If only the fictional Alex had paid a little more attention to it.