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On Television |
“The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret,” premieres at 10 p.m., Friday, Oct. 1, on The IFC cable network. |
Cross wins big laughs
in show about a big loser
of TheColumnists.com
The alarm on your clock radio doesn’t go off. You burn your breakfast toast. Your car won’t start. Your cell phone is dead. For most of us, these are just some things that happen every now and then.
For Todd Margaret, played by the brilliant
David Cross, his life is like that--every day! He’s an office
drone working for a company in Portland, Ore. He lives alone,
except for his cat, and has no girlfriend. Well, he thinks he
has one, but a one-night stand with a girl (played by Amber Tamblyn)
doesn’t mean they are girlfriend and
boyfriend, as she tells him. Does it sink in to Todd’s brain?
Not really.
Then one day Todd’s life changes.
The company he works for is bought out by one run by the hard-charging,
money-hungry, foul-mouthed Brent Wilts (Will Arnett). Wilts is
looking to make a lot of money off his new acquisition and is
looking for someone who will help him do that. Todd turns out
to be that man after he talks his way into a new job with Wilts:
Heading up a campaign to launch a new energy
drink named Muscle Thunder in the United Kingdom.
Armed with a company credit card, a laptop and a big salary, Todd jets to London. Right off the bat, things don’t go well. He leaves his suitcase outside a small restaurant where he stops for coffee. While he is chatting up the lovely owner, Alice (Sharon Horgan), his suitcase is mistaken for a bomb-type device and is blown up by the police.
He goes to his new office, which is “filled” with two desks. His “staff” turns out to be a guy named Dave (Blake Harrison), who immediately sizes up Todd as an incompetent loser and decides to do his best to sabotage Todd’s career with the company. Then there is Todd’s company apartment, which is old, dirty, and most everything in it doesn’t work. Welcome to your new job in London, Todd.
Moving forward, Todd perks up when he thinks Dave has landed a deal with a British grocery store to sell Muscle Thunder. (Dave stocks the drink on the store’s shelves himself). Todd even goes so far as to brag about the deal to Wilts. Wrong move (again) Todd. Turns out Muscle Thunder makes people sick and is labeled a “toxic drink” by the Brit authorities. And the grocery store plans to sue Todd’s company over it. Todd thinks the threat of a suit is a small problem because he doesn’t know the grocery store is part of a huge chain of grocery stores all over Britain. Another bad day, Todd.
At least Todd thinks things are looking
up on the romantic front when Alice invites him to her place
for dinner. The problem is Todd has mistaken her friendship for
romantic interest. And the romantic dinner for just the two of
them turns into a dinner for three because Alice has invited
her former, and maybe still, boyfriend, an
award-winning film director played by Colin Salmon. Another bad
night, Todd.
Can life get any worse for Todd? Most likely.
“The Increasingly Poor Decisions of
Todd Margaret” is a six-part IFC original comedy co-written
by Cross and Shaun Pye (HBO’s “Extras”). This
is a funny show in a twisted and slightly off-kilter way. It’s
not your garden variety American comedy like “Cheers,”
“Friends” or “Modern Family.” And I can’t
imagine anyone else in the
title role but Cross. He was great in the late and much-lamented
Fox comedy “Arrested Development” (along with co-star
Arnett), but he is even better as Todd Margaret.
“Todd Margaret” is well worth watching. (Cross can also be seen this fall in a recurring role in the new Fox series “Running Wilde,” starring Will Arnett and Keri Russell).
©2010 by Donna J. Plesh. The illustration is courtesy of IFC. This column first posted Monday, Sept. 27, 2010.
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