GLIMPSE INTO THE THIRD EPISODE OF HAPPYISH

E3 Grade: C

Not long ago, a short little movie on You Tube got a lot of religious people miffed, and a few important Americans had to apologize – profusely!

Well thank goodness, no apologies are needed in this country: as the pop culture loathed Christian God and Jesus get pummeled literally to death in this week’s HAPPYISH starring Steve Coogan as an ad man who, with a very sick son and a curse of being perpetually Catholic, gives the Big G the middle finger and can’t stop… protesting way too much…

Though most of the third episode, titled "Starring Vladimir Nabokov, Hippocrates and God" remains in the ad office where the group's about to lose a big client… An insurance company wanting to be more like Geico and the other funny commercials. At one point, as the cute Geico Gecko is stalking the brooding, miserable Coogan, the little green guy says, "It's only tragedy if you don't see the comedy.” Which can sum up this particular episode, and the entire HAPPYISH series thus far: It's not funny, on purpose, which seems intentional... or something. 

What’s really needed are a few characters not so similar to the main man, sounding as if Woody Allen were channeling through MAD MEN Don Draper, in a vacuum. Without some kind of counterbalance, he's way too lazy and comfortable in his own shared... MISERY. Speaking of... Special guest star Rob Reiner, pretentiously rehearse-directing a bad commercial, looks surprisingly fit. Yet even his nostalgic energy can't bring the level higher than lethargically mediocre, at best.