The Exes

There appears to be a growing trend in TV program concepts about a person moving into an apartment already being occupied by others. The Fox TV sitcom, New Girl, is a good example, and hot on its heels is The Exes which is currently airing on TV Land after debuting a few weeks back. Despite being relatively new, the program is quickly gaining a following among TV viewers.

The series takes a look at the lives of three men who live under one apartment. Two things bind these men together ; one, they are all divorced from their wives, and two, they share an apartment owned by their divorce lawyer, a female litigator named Holly Brooks and played onscreen by Kristen Johnston. Initially, only two of the three guys live together, namely, Phil Chase (Donald Faison) and Haskell Lutz (Wayne Knight), but in the pilot episode, Holly is seen introducing Stuart Gardner, played by David Alan Basche, as her new client and the new room mate of Phil and Haskell.

The premise is a little flawed as it is hard to accept the idea of a divorce lawyer taking three of her clients and asking them to live together under one roof. At best, the men should strive to get an apartment of their own even as their divorce cases are underway. Still, The Exes is a comedy program, so improbable scenarios are generally acceptable.

Additionally, given this rather unusual concept, it would be interesting to find out what kind of jokes can be developed that focus on the travails that divorced men go through. Apparently, this is one aspect that The Exes seeks to experiment on; thus, the show should be worth watching if only to find out if the attempt is successful.

Finally, very few comedy shows deal with the lives of lawyers especially since most other TV series inolving the legal arena are set under serious and dramatic backdrops. The Exes offers a refreshing change as it seeks to prove that lawyers can also deliver a joke or two.