Back before he starred on Community (#6seasonsandamovie) and in The Hangover films, Ken Jeong was a real-life doctor. Promos for his new show Dr. Ken really like to mention that fact as though it’s somehow relevant to the quality of their new show premiering Friday, October 2nd at 8:30 p.m. So what’s the real diagnosis on Dr. Ken?
Full disclosure: Community is one of my favorite shows of all time and thus, Ken “Senor Chang” Jeong gets a pretty big pass from me. That being said, it’s clear from the pilot that Jeong is so used to playing way over-the-top characters that his acting chops aren’t quite up to par when it comes to playing somewhat normal people. Part of this awkward feeling can probably also be attributed to the fact that it’s a pilot and a multi-cam one at that. Still, some moments in the first ten minutes of the show are particularly cringeworthy.
Even though the show is (kind of?) named after him and he appears in nearly every scene of the pilot, Jeong is not alone on the show. Rounding out the cast are his wife and two kids (Suzy Nakamora, Albert Tsai, and Krista Marie Yu, respectively), his coworkers (Tisha Campbell-Martin, Jonathan Slavin, and Kate Simes), and TV veteran Dave Foley (Newsradio, Flik in A Bug’s Life) who plays Jeong’s boss. Unfortunately, we don’t get much time with any of them in this quick 22 minutes. However, having seen next week’s episode, I can tell you that changes for the better.
In the pilot, Dr. Ken Parker is in trouble at work for mouthing off to yet another patient while also dealing with trouble at home in the form of newly licensed daughter wanting to take the car out and a son who’s performing a mime act at his school’s talent show. If you’ve ever seen a TV show before, you can probably guess how those things work out for him. Because of this, there’s nothing really special about the first episode that will make you really want to tune in again except for maybe the insane likability of Jeong himself (despite the aforementioned setbacks).
Perhaps because of my fondness for Jeong and for Foley, who I didn’t know was on the show until he appeared, I wanted a second opinion on the show. As I mentioned, next week’s episode (which was apparently the third produced) is an improvement as we not only get to learn more about the Parker family sans patriarch but also get to learn more about one of Parker’s co-workers, Hector. Still, the plot felt like mostly rehash of sitcom plots past.
Airing on Friday night, the stakes are pretty low of Dr. Ken, meaning that it probably won’t get pulled from the air unless the rating dip below a million viewers. However, contrary to Last Man Standing‘s five-year run, it’s not going to get an automatic renewal either. One saving grace of Dr. Ken is that it’s better than last year’s Friday freshman Cristela. That may not be a ringing endorsement, but — much like the show itself — it’s an ok start.
