Retired at 35 -- TV Review

1:41 PM PST 1/19/2011 by Tim Goodman

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Courtesy of TV Land

The Bottom Line

"Retired at 35" is all about hitting your mark, spewing out a tired line then waiting for the canned laughter to start.

Airdate:

Jan. 19, 10:30 p.m. (TV Land)

Cast:

Johnathan McClain, Jessica Walter, George Segal

TV Land believes throwing the sitcom back to its most awful (albeit successful) days of brainless humor, laugh tracks, cookie-cutter characters and then more of the same over and over again is the way to go. (You people who keep watching "Hot in Cleveland" are to blame.)

Retired's story is simple. David (Johnathan McClain) is a workaholic who visits his parents (Jessica Walter and George Segal) in Florida and decides to stay to find himself -- but actually, it seems, so he can recite or hear every joke about old people ever dreamed up. He's got an overweight, self-deprecating best friend, Brandon (Josh McDermitt), and a love interest, Jessica (Ryan Michelle Bathe).

Instead of Betty White, viewers get Walter, who can be fantastic in just about anything -- like she was in, say, Arrested Development -- but leaves that lofty comedic height to spout retorts you can see coming from decades away. She is reduced to painting hot studs on canvas and talking about working very hard to get the genitalia just right. Segal milks old-fogey tech humor, such as telling his son to "stop all that texturizing" when he's texting and asking him, "Are you on Facial Book?"

Retired at 35 is all about hitting your mark, spewing out a tired line then waiting for the canned laughter to start. Some people like the comfort of familiarity, but others just feel the contempt. Ahem.