Kat with a K

Pilot Review: Mad Love

During the first few minutes of Mad Love, I honestly started wondering whether it had started as a How I Met Your Mother spoof that someone had managed to get on the air. It has the "I'm going to tell you a story" voiceover, the New York setting, the same age and demographic . . . and the main character, Ben Parr, looks kind of like Ted Mosby and sounds exactly like him. Oh, yeah, and Sarah Chalke was actually on HIMYM. So . . . yes, this is totally derivative. And yet! And yet. By the end of the episode, I wanted to see more. I mean, it's not gripping or genre-bending or anything, and I'm not going to spend a lot of time thinking about it or talking about it when I'm not actually watching it, and . . . well, the fact that I couldn't remember any of the characters' names when I started writing this should tell you something, especially since one of them has my name. But the cast is likeable (I have a soft spot for Sarah Chalke), it's funny enough, and I really want to see how they're going to deal with the chemistry between the main characters' best friends, who supposedly hate each other. And you know what? After six seasons of waiting to see how Ted met the freaking mother, watching a show where the couple gets together in the first episode is pretty refreshing. You can watch the pilot of Mad Love for free on CBS.com, and the second episode tonight on CBS at 8:30/7:30c. (Right after HIMYM, of course.)