Scheduling a new show for Friday nights on network television is basically begging for the axe. Which is why FOX's Enlisted premiered to an abysmal 2.39 million viewers at its 9:30 p.m. time slot and has people who haven't seen it yet crying cancellation. But as those who had no life last Friday, or decided to give it a chance on Hulu, can attest, Enlisted is the most underrated new sitcom on TV right now.
Starring Geoff Stults, Chris Lowell, and Parker Young, with supporting performances by Angelique Cabral and O.G. Keith David, Enlisted follows demoted Sgt. Pete Hill (Stults) who's been tasked with managing a dysfunctional platoon at a third-rate military base. Led by showrunner/creator Kevin Biegel, a former Scrubs writer and the co-creator of Cougar Town, the single-camera sitcom's got a writing staff that clearly knows how to pull off laughs without resorting to stupid, offensive humor.
Before we go on and on, we'll just give you a few visual reasons why we're definitely tuning into the second episode and then the next episode and then the next episode and then the...
It's not all rah-rah America and gratuitous shots of people getting blown up. Enlisted's toughness is quelled by the dopey, familial bond between three brothers.
One of them, Parker Young, is poised to become an Internet favorite as Randy Hill, an Andy Dwyer-like soldier with the sensitivity of Mr. Rogers.
As for the rest of team, imagine the cast of The Office and now dress them in camo.
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
Exhibit C:
The show's setting up this will-they-wont-they storyline between two rival sergeants that's a little cliched—but who doesn't love some good sexual tension?
And it's not so macho that puppies don't mean the model's breasts in the bikini calendar hanging up by a jarhead's bunk, but actual puppies.
If the Enlisted pilot proved one thing, it's that a new show doesn't always need an entire season to figure itself out. If it's this good, all it takes is 22 minutes.
Written by Tara Aquino (@t_akino)
[GIFs via EnlistedFox, Wintercest, WilliamGuarnere, Hstylestilinski, Sexandgingerhale]
