"The Winner" Is A Whiny, Boring, Drippy Loser

"Character" isn't something you create by glopping kooky mannerisms onto a blank canvas. Character comes from point-of-view, which determines how a person thinks, feels and responds. And (one of) the problem(s) with The Winner is that the main character -- the guy who's supposed to carry the show, the guy we're supposed to care about or at least be interested in -- is a whiny, boring, drip.

The ostensible hook is that the show begins with a shot from a mansion and Corddry's voiceover explaining that although he's now the richest guy in Buffalo, it wasn't always thus. Flashback to his parents' house a decade or so prior and we're knee-deep in forced quirkiness and mid-90s references (as though this is a decade that merits cultural references, but I guess that's what happens when you're done post-ironically strip-mining the 1980s). We're supposed to be intrigued enough to find out how Corddry morphs from sad-sack loser to The Winner, but I can't imagine TV viewers will care enough to stick around and find out.

PS-I was glad to see Amir Talai, who plays Abdul on Campus Ladies, in a small role as a video store clerk. But I was dismayed that he was playing a stereotypically limp-wristed gay character. Somebody brainier than me might want to comment on the demeaning caricatures non-white supporting characters in largely white sitcoms and movies are habitually cast in as a way to "neutralize" their threatening ethnic identities.