Wedding Band is a star on the new-show circuit
I’ll be honest. At this time each new fall season I get a little burned out previewing new series. In the past couple of months I’ve viewed a couple dozen new fall shows and a half dozen more midseason offerings waiting in the wings.
Only a handful stood out. Most simply ran together in the big smorgasbord that is the annual conglomeration of fall freshmen.
A couple of weeks ago, a three-episode DVD of TBS’ new adult comedy Wedding Band showed up on my desk. I plopped down to watch the pilot episode with few expectations, but quickly found myself laughing out loud at the witty repartee and seamless acting.
Recognizing that the show’s more adult situations will not find favor with some viewers, I thoroughly enjoyed the pilot and quickly viewed the second and third episodes.
The hour-long comedy/drama (with lots of music) only improved.
You can check out Wedding Band when it debuts at 9 p.m. Saturday. It’s rated TV-MA for adult language and situations.
Wedding Band is about the four thirtysomething members of a Seattle band who have day jobs but who play weddings in the evenings and on weekends.
They’ll also play bar mitzvahs, fraternity parties, store openings, business conferences, high school reunions, bachelorette parties and, well, just about anything where they can rock out and make a buck.
The band, called Mother of the Bride, is actually pretty darned good. In fact, they don’t realize just how good they are. I don’t know if the actors actually sing and play the instruments, but if they’re faking, they’re very good at it.
Three of the guys in this bromance are lifelong friends and the new member is a professional session musician who has played with the best, recognizes raw talent and longs to be in on the ground floor when the band gets its big break.
One of the guys is married, but the other three recognize that being in a band is a great way to get girls.
Weddings, after all, come with their own groupies (the bridesmaids), the drinks are free and they get paid at the end of the evening. Here’s the gang. On lead vocals and playing to the crowd is perennial bachelor Tommy (Brian Austin Green). He’s sexy and single. He’s the life of the party on stage and, TBS says, “a champ in the bedroom.”
Tommy may be the band’s bad boy, but he has a big heart.
Viewers will know Green from his days on Beverly Hills, 90210. Look for Green’s sexy wife, Megan Fox, guest starring in a sexy role in the third episode.
On lead guitar is his best friend and married (to a police detective!) father of two, Eddie (Peter Cambor).
Eddie is the one member juggling play dates and date night during the week and being a rock god on weekends.
He’s also the one who gets Tommy out of all his jams.
Fans will know Cambor from his 2009-10 season on NCIS: Los Angeles.
Behind Eddie on drums is his rock-obsessed brother, Barry (Derek Miller), whose mission is to bring the arena-rock experience to even the most mundane event.
Viewers will look at Barry and think “Jack Black.” He’s the wackiest of the four and the one most likely to add laser shows and pyrotechnics to a birthday party.
Miller was “Mailroom Worker” in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Don’t remember him? That’s OK.
Finally, new to the band is Stevie (Harold Perrineau, Lost), a bassist and session musician who has jammed with all the big rock giants (he has gold records to prove it) but he has never been an official member of a band until Mother of the Bride.
And then there are the ladies.
Melora Hardin ( The Office) plays Rutherford, Seattle’s top event coordinator who can take the boys to the next level.
Rutherford is an alpha female and a cougar who frequently clashes with Tommy. But she has the success and clientele to back up doing things her way. Drama ensues.
Rachel (Jenny Wade; Reaper, The Good Guys) has been hired as Rutherford’s junior wedding planner, but gets treated pretty much as her personal assistant. TBS says she has “an unorthodox mix of neuroses and earthy sexiness.” That seems fairly accurate to me.
The bottom line is I found each of the characters in Wedding Band charming and likable and wanted to see what happened to them next. A new series could not ask any more of a viewer.