Gone Too Soon: The Goodwin Games

As made apparent in our recent post on the subject, every year the broadcast networks pick up a whole lot of new shows, and so every year they also cancel plenty as well. When its a good show that gets the ax it particularly stings, but what's worse is when a good show is essentially killed before it even airs and so it is sentenced to the (often summer) burn-off where it can air its meager half season in relative peace and quiet. What's baffling is why the networks spend the money and pick up these shows to begin with, sometimes even putting in extra effort (by recasting roles and hiring much-sought-after actors for example), only to offer them little to no chance of performing well in the ratings or building momentum. Although these shows are very short lived and don't get to make too big of an impact, they can still be worth checking out even if it can almost feel like a tease. Each network is guilty of mistreating potential gems, such as NBC's three week/six episode burn off of the delightfully original sitcom Bent last year (star David Walton has been on three failed NBC comedies now, and is trying again with About a Boy next season), and this year FOX is the worst offender with its inexplicable mistreatment of the well-crafted sitcom The Goodwin Games.

When this show was initially picked up, it seemed to have the ingredients for success: made by the creators of How I Met Your Mother, cast the highly sought after Becki Newton (Ugly Betty, HIMYM) and Scott Foley (Felicity, Grey's Anatomy), recast a role with an up and coming comedian (T.J. Miller), and featuring a fresh premise for family comedy and heart. Beau Bridges also stars in video tapes as the late single father who seeks to make up for his absentee parenting after their mother died by forcing three Goodwin siblings to compete in a series of games for a large inheritance. Each game is of course painstakingly designed to teach his children important lessons and help them get their lives back on track, while predicting their actions and accounting for potentially diverging outcomes. Foley plays eldest son Henry, the overachieving surgeon who is engaged to a congressional candidate and never misses an opportunity to mention either. His premature independence and unchecked arrogance have distanced him from his family and hometown, both physically and emotionally. Newton stars as a Chloe, the nerdy math genius who traded brains for popularity as a teenager and moved to LA for a "career" in acting (the most recent episode presented hilarious flashbacks to how a perverted drama teacher gave her a false sense of confidence by casting her as the star in every play and re-writing the roles to better suit her abilities so she could play such classics like "Hamletta"). Her naivety and entitlement led her to a life of financial instability without any true friends, so the games offer her the chance to earn a college degree and reconnect with the former best friend she grew to torment in high school, April Cho (Melissa Tang), who is now her father's attorney running the game. Miller plays the youngest sibling Jimmy, whose lack of supervision growing up led to further irresponsibility as he's been in and out of prison like it has a revolving door, and even tries to get away with schemes when he's back home (which proves exceedingly difficult in a small town where everyone knows each other). However, being home offers Jimmy the opportunity to see his young daughter more often, even if she demands to see a receipt for any gifts he tries to give her as he avoids her mother.

Speaking of the small town they grew up in, Granby seems poised to become another Springfield or Pawnee, though on a smaller scale. Part of the games' rules stipulate that the siblings must all move back in to their childhood home as they compete, allowing them to go back to their roots and atone for past mistakes. It also presents the opportunity for various characters in the town to help flesh out the world of the series and offer up more laughs, though it will be difficult to know how well they could have been employed in so few episodes. Unfortunately seven episodes is not really enough to build an entire world, but the fact that the potential is already so palpable after just four episodes says a lot about what this show would've become if it was given a full season and a more prominent launch (instead of the now also-but-deservedly-canceled Ben & Kate). Since the creators have a more than decent track record on HIMYM, demonstrating clear ability to develop characters and mythology in meaningful and hilarious ways, there was every reason for The Goodwin Games to succeed, as it is already revealing these roots to the lucky few who catch this show before it disappears forever.