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Jan 16, 2022

Enlisted: "Gomer Pyle" meets "MASH," with Beefcake

 


Last night Bob wanted to check out the show on Hulu that stars "Kevin Keller (Casey Cott) from Riverdale and the guy from Imposters."  He meant Enlisted, which originally aired on Fox in the spring of 2014: a military comedy starring Geoff Stultz (7th Heaven),  Parker Young (Imposters), and Casey Cott lookalike Chris Lowell (Veronica Mars).

A military comedy?  In 2014?



The premise: War hero Pete Hill (Stultz), who has led 100 missions in Afghanistan, punches his commanding officer and is demoted (not court-martialed?).  He must train a ragtag bunch of misfits (fat, skinny, female) at Fort McGee, Florida, a base dedicated to cleaning equipment and taking care of military families.

The episode I watched was devoted to Pete meeting his "you're arrogant!" love interest, Sgt. Jill Perez, and getting assigned two tasks by his cliche commanding officer: 

1. Finding the lost dog of a military family (who explain that it's an important reminder of their husband/father overseas, as if you need to justify wanting to find your dog).

2. Playing in war games against the Italians, who are extremely muscular and therefore despicable.

The two tasks interfere with each other, requiring Pete to choose.

The ragtag band of misfits happens to include Pete's two brothers (so why does he resist the assignment so vociferously?  Doesn't he like them?).


1. The sarcastic Derrick (Chris Lowell), who hates the military (so why did he enlist?).   He also seems to hate his brothers.  Actually, he doesn't like anything.  He really belongs on MASH, not a No Time for Sergeants homage.






2. Randy (Parker Young), a dumb jock who is extremely emotionally unstable.  When he thinks he has let his brother down, he cries while doing jumping jacks for hours.  When he becomes agitated, the only thing that will calm him down is his brother Pete's hand on his head (which must have been a problem while Pete was in Afghanistan).  No way this guy should get anywhere near a gun.

Beefcake: The guys are hot.

Gay Characters:  No.

Heterosexism: According to the plot synopses, all of the brothers get girlfriends or have plots involving ex-girlfriends showing up.

Is it Worth It:   Fox has the habit of moving shows around, so you can't find them, then yanking them if the ratings aren't spectacular immediately. The 2013-2014 season also featured American Dad in two time slots, American Idol in three time slots, I Wanna Marry Harry (8 episodes), and Murder Police (1 episode).  Enlisted was cancelled after nine episodes, with an additional four "burnt off" in June 2014.  That's not enough time to get invested in the characters, particularly when they are so unlikeable.  I suggest watching Gomer Pyle instead,



3 comments:

  1. The guys playing the brothers are hot

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really liked this show. Parker Young is always worth watching. I also liked Geoff Stults in The Finder.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I liked the beefcake, but the three brothers did not appeal to me, and the "Hand on head" thing was disturbing.

      Delete

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