#1) It's not a "rip off" of HBO's "Somebody Somewhere". They are NOWHERE near similar. This is an "Americanized" remake/reshooting of the BBC's "This Country" -- I mean down to the fact the lead actresses look exceptionally similar in both This Country and Flatch.
2) Current reviewers have no sense of humor. The POINT of the show is that it IS low brow and Kelly and Shrub are idiots, while thinking they are the smartest people in town.
3) It's NOT "at the expense of small towns." There's no such place as Flatch, Ohio -- it's fictitious. If you see ANY similarities to your small town.. well....
I enjoy the dry, acerbic, humor.
Seean William Scott as a preacher is a different role for "Stiffler" and that in itself is interesting. And Aya Cash as the "fish out of water" aspect has "legs".
Is the show meant to elevate your thinking, teach you morals, educate you on today's social constraints, and try to change mindsets?? Heck no! That is what makes it good. It's a 30 minute departure from the real world where you can forget your troubles momentarily... meaning it's entertainment, not propaganda.
In short, reviewers here certainly need to lighten up and stop expecting the "30 minute, laugh-track laced, propagandized dramas being passed off as sitcoms" from the last few years. GOOD entertainment isn't meant to teach you anything or change your world view on some subject.
I think people in the US have completely forgotten what humor actually is and how to laugh.
Is This Country better than Flatch? Maybe in some respects, but Flatch isn't much behind in my opinion. If anything I find them on an even keel.
As for Somebody Somewhere.. that was a typical Duplas brothers "junk" show with zero humor -- Somebody Somewhere WAS/IS propagandized light drama, not comedy. Any comparison between the two shows CLEARLY means you haven't really watched one of them.
