Impastor is mindless entertainment conceived by TV Land executives, who are trying to shed their network’s retro inspired image for one that is edgy and cool. All of a sudden TV Land became MTV’s mom that decided to raid her daughter’s closet for mini skirts and Manic Panic. The result is a sitcom about a man pretending to be a gay pastor because he has thugs coming after him.
The premise alone is a great joke, but Impastor rarely lives up to that high bar. Most of the jokes revolve around Buddy Dobbs’ (Michael Rosenbaum) stupidity. Sure, it’s believe able that he would have no idea Jonathan Barlow is gay. The two men didn’t know each other existed until Buddy tries to jump off a bridge, but it’s hard to find plausible or funny that Buddy would have no idea what scripture is. He’s an atheist, not an idiot. The writers don’t always seem to know the difference.
When Buddy isn’t clueless, he demonstrates why becoming a pastor isn’t a viable career move for him. He is able to identify the type of marijuana a congregation member caught her son with simply by looking at it. For some reason, the woman fell for his “doing missionary work in Jamaica” excuse. He is also delighted to find out that her son discovered that heating up a cantaloupe in the microwave simulates having sex with a woman.
The biggest surprise in Impastor is how much cursing allowed. The previously mentioned woman’s son gets a verbal beat down that included being called a “little shit” and that Buddy may not seem gay, but he does “like cock.” Comedy Central would be a much better home for Impastor, but TV Land wants to give Grandma a heart attack. Why else would the show air on Nick @ Nite simultaneously?
Impastor isn’t appointment TV. Six months from now you aren’t going to be binge watching it on Netflix because you’ve missed the next big thing. It’s what you put on as background noise as you read your Facebook newsfeed. Any buzz it’s receiving is because of the premise. Impastor won’t be the runaway success Hot in Cleveland was in its first season. At least, it’s good enough to not go down in history as the latest My Mother the Car, a bad show best known for it’s absurd premise.
Rating: 5 out of 10
Impastor airs every Wednesday night on TV Land
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Allison Lips is the Founder of Wait! What’s a Dial?, a television blog that showcases the writing of millennials. Allison graduated from Rowan University in May 2013. She has a passion for TV history, especially late night and game shows. If she could go back in time, Steve Allen would still be hosting The Tonight Show. Follow her on Twitter @waitwaitsadial.
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I found the cursing to be refreshing. American television is always so uptight with cursing and sexuality while glorifying explicit violence.
While cursing for the sake of cursing is bad, the cursing in impastor as appropriate for the setting and reinforced the characters.