I saw "Con Man" and it was terribly disappointing

[drwex]

Con Man is the new self-produced series from Alan Tudyk and Nathan Fillion. It's currently available for streaming on Vimeo to people who backed the production through its online fundraiser. That campaign, originally targeted for a few hundred thousand dollars, blew through its cap and ended well over two million. To say there were high hopes for this production is an understatement.

The series premise is that Tudyk and Fillion are actors who attained sci-fi fame through a short-lived television series. Fillion has gone on to other Hollywood successes while Tudyk is stuck doing the B circuit, usually SF conventions and signings for fans. The show was advertised as being a humorous look at this particular slice of life.

It's not. It's painful and awkward and not even a little funny. Tudyk's character is simply a douche and there's very little amusement in watching him be rude and unpleasant to everyone. You can also play "spot the celebrity" - there's Wil Wheaton, there's Felicia Day - which is amusing for about ten seconds.

To be fair, Tudyk is not making fun at the expense of SF fans. It's not a "let's point and laugh at the nerds" thing. It's just that his character is an awful human being who mistreats pretty much everyone and has no sympathetic side. I made it through four and a bit of the seven currently released episodes and decided I had better things to do with my ten minutes. I just couldn't muster up enough "I care" to go on.

Maybe if you're an ultra-fan of Tudyk this is for you, but otherwise give it a pass.

Comments

[marius23.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was a backer too. We've watched the first three episodes, and yeah, we're also kind of meh, but will probably continue to give it a shot. I like Felicia Day's character. Overall, though, it depends way too much on "low" humor.

[tshuma]

Bother. Low humor is my least favorite kind. I have to admit, the trailers they produced made it seem as though it would head that direction, so I never got around to backing them--especially once I saw they'd blown past their target.

[silentq.livejournal.com]

Rats. :-( I haven't had a chance to watch the episodes yet, but will go in with lowered expectations.

[drwex]

Sorry about that. Hope you'll share your impressions as well.

[dcltdw]

I remember seeing the KS video and thinking, wait, this is awful, and you want money from me? What?

I figured I wasn't the target audience.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

I saw when they were kickstarting it (or whatever the fundraising flavor) and then the tab got lost and by the time I got to it again, the time to contribute was past. It did look so promising.

FWIW, I *am* glad to hear that they aren't doing the 'let's laugh at the nerd' thing. I can't tell you how sick I am of being told by smug mundanes how great 'Big Bang Theory' is. YMMV, but I've tried to watch it repeatedly and all of the humor seems to fall on the 'let's label fannish/geeky folk as silly and weird' side of the line. Not impressed.

[erialeduab.livejournal.com]

I completely agree! I was expecting some clever meta comedy and that they would have thought through the plot a little bit more. I was so disappointed that it wasn't any of those things, and the guest stars were completely misused. All they weren't poking direct fun at SF fans, I think their treatment was far from fair.

[drwex]

Yeah it felt like there was some "punching down" involved.