TV Review: Trust Me (S1E1)

I get pretty excited when the advertising industry jumps from commercials to tv shows. I am a huge fan of Mad Men; it's now my favorite show. So when I heard that TNT was premiering a new show about an ad firm, I made sure to ad it's premiere to my schedule.

Trust Me stars Eric McCormick (Will from Will & Grace) and Tom Cavanagh (Ed) as two creatives in a Chicago-based ad agency (reminscient of JWT or DDB Chicago, which was actually referenced in the episode). After their hothead of a boss dies, McCormick's character Mason gets promoted to Creative Director. The rest of the series plotline seems to follow the drama that goes on between the main characters, as well as a variety of other office personalities.

After being so accustomed to the brillance with which Mad Men examines social/political issues through the mere lens of an ad agency, it took a bit of adjustment to get used to Trust Me's simple comedic office-drama style. If I'd compare the show to any other, it's probably be The Office, just more realistic and less satirical.

Just like I was when I first saw The Office, I'm a bit unsure what I think of Trust Me. The first episode was very big on setting the characters in motion, the episode little more than an establishing shot with an unoriginal conflict thrown in. I'm going to keep watching, with the hope that the humor starts flowing more and that the characters really do stand out. I'm just very interested in which direction they take: character-based or plot-based. I hope character-based - because I just haven't seen enough tv comedic sitcoms with realistic characters in a realistic environment.