David Cross

I had hopes for The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, a new US sitcom starring David Cross (the bald one in Arrested Development) as an incompetent, deluded bluffer who, to his astonishment, is mistaken for a sales genius and gets sent to open a UK office for the launch of an unpalatable Korean energy drink.

It had a promising start. The boss (Will Arnett, the unsuccessful magician and womaniser in Arrested Development) was encouragingly sociopathic; there was an amusing scene in which Todd demonstrated his grip on reality by explaining to his cat that he had to go away but would be leaving a month's supply of tuna in the washing-up bowl ("Don't eat it all at once, all right?").

But events in London felt a touch understaffed, too loosely handled, too dependent on Todd's calamities: a mishap trying to get the lid off a jar using steam, a controlled explosion involving his suitcase, an uproarious... um, sales pitch. His blag started to flag. Sharon Horgan (of Pulling fame) was fine as the molecular cook with a heart of gold, but the script neglected her comic gifts. Likewise, Blake Harrison (the tall, thick one in The Inbetweeners), as Todd's factotum, had little to do except laugh loudly at the unfolding hijinks. If only I could have joined in more often.

TIPDOTM really ought to be pressing the buttons. It's got the cast (David Cross, Sharon Horgan, Will Arnett) and the prestige but, two episodes in, it's sorely lacking gags and sympathy for its protaganist. As an American selling toxic Korean energy drinks, Todd could be a new Tobias Bluth for Cross - but he's more annoying than amusing. Never a great sign for a character. There's too little nuance here, and giving him a pregnant working-class neighbour with a penchanct for White Lightning doesn't help on that front.

The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret flashes back from its protagonist in the dock, facing a list of farcically extreme charges and dressed (I think) as a jockey. This is, after all, a sitcom co-written and starring the American comedian David Cross from the absurdly underrated and sadly short-lived Arrested Development, one of the funniest, most ingenious TV sitcoms of recent years.

He plays a hapless lackey from an American corporation mistakenly chosen to front a sales campaign for a corrosive energy drink in the UK. It's a standard fish out of water scenario in which our idiotic anti-hero wrestles with a culture he knows nothing about while hopelessly trying to impress an attractive café owner played by Pulling's Sharon Horgan.

The basic gag is that, in an effort to mask his inadequacies, Todd continually digs holes for himself with a torrent of preposterous lies. Cue slapstick farce and Gervais-esque cringe humour (it's co-written with Shaun Pye who appeared as Gervais' nemesis in Extras) which, although well performed by the gifted Cross, often feels forced and underwritten.

Though spottily amusing, it's a disappointment overall, especially given the track record of Cross and Will Arnett, a fellow Arrested Development alumnus who cameos as Todd's monstrously priapic, foul-mouthed boss.

First shown as a pilot in Channel 4's Comedy Showcase last year, this fitfully amusing series opener stars Arrested Development's David Cross as the titular Todd, a schmuck who goes from temping in an American office to heading up the sales team launching an energy drink to the UK. In truth the sales team is him and a callow youth called Dave, stuck in a deserted office space. It has a decent cast - including Sharon Horgan as a kindly café owner and Will Arnett, who is gloriously unhinged as Todd's boss - but they have to struggle with an uncertain tone that pitches awkwardly between embarrassment and the broad comedy of pratfalls.

Re-cut and largely refilmed from the Comedy Lab pilot, David Cross (best known as Tobias Fünke from Arrested Development and the legendary early HBO sketch show Mr Show) stars again as the clueless US temp mistakenly sent to head his company's UK division. The biggest change from the pilot is the recasting of Todd's sole employee Dave - out goes Russell Tovey, in comes a much more charming Blake Harrison, aka Neil from The Inbetweeners. Everything else, including cameos from Will Arnett and Spike Jonze, remains more or less in place and it's a funny and promising start.

Put out as a comedy pilot last year and surprisingly turned into a series. There is a modicum of humour to be had from the idiot abroad scenario, but a little goes a long way. David Cross (Arrested Development) is Todd, a hapless American salesman despatched to London to flog a new drink.

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