Traffic Light – Old dogs and even older tricks

After the second episode of Traffic Light, I’m sorry to say I’m not amused.

I really want to like this show! As I mentioned last week, it has promise; but so far all I’m seeing is a bunch of men who still act like kids and treat the women in their life like dummies. Well, I guess that was sort of the theme of tonight’s episode, where “the rules” and various “bro codes” reigned supreme. I tried to remember all the little catch-phrases used tonight, and none of them were cute.

Let’s see, there was “spider hole,” which is when a bunch of your dudes lock you in a storage unit and throw in their cell phone with the strobe function. There was “brunch bros,” which was just alluded to in passing as a phrase the guys had since discarded. And then there was “burn notice,” which dictates that one must not befriend (or, I guess in this case, re-friend) a friend’s ex. Whew. This is confusing. And why bother? As Ethan pointed out, the only reason to abide by this bro code is when you’re all in college together and there’s a fear of everyone meeting up in the cafeteria. “We’re off the meal plan now,” he says. Although why do I get the feeling that these guys would rather eat in a cafeteria and pay with their meal points all the way through middle age?

Perhaps it’s the same reason Mike and Ethan accompanied Adam to retrieve another CJ at the pier. What?! Do men do this together? I’d like to know. And if so, what men? Maybe men who are cheesy enough to — still! — talk about their “thing” they use to snag women. Mike made mix tapes, Ethan did museums (but has since changed over to romantic train rides), and Adam, the poor jerk, wins all of his girlfriends toy dogs by knocking down a few pins with a beanbag. The kid at the pier (who actually won the dog) put it best when he said, “This is just sad, dude. You are a grown-ass man.”

The other thing that’s irking me about this show — other than the obvious, which is that it still isn’t funny to me — is that they overstate the theme each week and very clumsily weave it into the storyline. Tonight’s episode was about “following the rules,” and I don’t think anybody missed the tie-in between the tennis tournament, the foot fault at the pier game, and the rules involving one’s ex. Plus, there was all this fiery dialogue taking over. From the phrase “burn notice,” to Mike’s insistence that Lisa is “playing with fire” by socializing with Alexa, to the mention that all the leftovers in storage will be “fuegoed” (incinerated), the fire theme was overdone and a bit juvenile. (Does anybody actually say “fuegoed,” by the way, or is that just a made-up Spanglish term for the purposes of the show?)

If there were any redeeming qualities to the episode, one of them was probably watching Callie throw fake CJ into the blender. And maybe seeing David Denman in a belly shirt that says “Smash Sisters.”

So tell me, viewers! What did you think of the second episode?

Clacked by Rachel Blum-Jose
on Feb 15, 2011 @ 23:29 EST5EDT