I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the two genres that lend themselves to vignette-style TV shows are horror (the various incarnations of “The Twilight Zone” and, from a few years back, “Fear, Itself”) and romance. This summer’s “Love Bites” (9 p.m. Central Thursdays on NBC) explores the horrors — and, OK, a few happy moments — of love with three mini-stories in every hour.
It’s a great concept for a show, and it’s not terrible by any means, but “Love Bites” ultimately plays it safe in the first two episodes, exploring obvious romance themes and peppering in “witty” banter (between groups of guy friends, groups of girl friends, and potential couples, all riffing on relationships) reminiscent of just about every TV show nowadays. Created by one of the writers from “Sex and the City,” “Love Bites” is better than the recent “Cupid” remake, but it falls short of 2003’s “Miss Match,” which remains the standard-bearer for this genre.
In the first six fables, we follow a girl who lies about herself to get a guy’s interest, a guy who loses his job and thinks he is losing his fiancée to a sex toy (yes, sex toys feature a bit too prominently in “Love Bites” for my taste), a guy who fears commitment, parents who struggle to accept that their son is gay, and a husband and wife who are threatened by each other’s fantasies.
The best vignette finds Judd (Greg Grunberg, part of the nominal main cast along with Constance Zimmer, who plays his wife, and Becki Newton, pictured in the show’s logo) pursuing his longtime crush, Jennifer Love Hewitt, with the blessing of his wife. It’s a sweeter version of that “Curb Your Enthusiasm” arc where Sheryl allows Larry to have sex with someone else, knowing full well he won’t be able to pull it off. This is because Grunberg is one of the most naturally likable actors on TV and Hewitt has a lot of fun spoofing her celebrity image.
Indeed, like previous summer anthologies, “Love Bites” provides a chance for actors to get in a quick role, perhaps while biding time for their new show to get picked up. Among the name actors in the first two episodes are Michelle Trachtenberg, Craig Robinson (Darryl on “The Office”) and Kurtwood Smith.
The possibility of seeing more of my favorite actors spreading their wings on “Love Bites” will keep me tuning in for a while. But I am disappointed that the vignettes haven’t been particularly daring, not expanding beyond 20-somethings and 30-somethings as the love-seekers or giving us a fresh spin on old ideas. Hopefully that will change with time; if not, the series will go down as a breezy, but forgettable, summer time-killer.
What are your thoughts on “Love Bites?”
Main image: NBC publicity photo