Warning: Full spoilers for the Avenue 5 premiere follow... [poilib element="accentDivider"] Those looking for a new series that matches the acerbic wit and venom of Veep could obviously do worse than HBO's Avenue 5, from Veep (and The Thick of It) creator Armando Iannucci. Yes, even though an argument could be made that the series became even funnier when Iannucci left as showrunner after Season 4 and David Mandel took over, Avenue 5 is still filled to the brim with enough spiteful workers, bitter cogs, and depleted hollow leaders to satisfy anyone's penchant for rampant pessimism. Bottom line: Avenue 5 is funny. The series opener, "I Was Flying," certainly has a handful of drop-dead diabolical lines. But the witticisms are also often sidelined because of the series' sci-fi skin. As a viewer, you spend equal time absorbing both the premise and the jokes and because of that some of the dry laughs don't land. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=avenue-5-i-was-flying-photos&captions=true"] Because it's the pilot, one gets caught up trying to figure out the bones and bible of this future world (that smacks of Wall-E, Brazil, and a few other surreally defeatist takes on humanity's fate) at the expense of some of the humor. Obviously, as the series goes on, the particulars of the show's world will start to feel normal and more attention can be paid to the idiots in charge of this vanity pleasure cruise around Saturn (that gets magnificently derailed into a galactic prison), but this first episode has the unenviable job of introducing us to everything while still having to be funny. The ensemble, while chock full of comedy chops, is lacking crucial root-ability at the moment. This could easily change as it the show moves forward and finds nuances to the characters that allow us enjoy them a bit more, even as soulless as most of them are. Of course, Veep's bread and butter was verbal brutality but we still perversely rooted for the Selina Meyer and her team as the perceived underdogs. The best part of Veep, in fact, was that we could equally enjoy Selina's wins as much as her humiliating losses. We don't quite have that yet with Avenue 5 as it follows people in charge who don't care about the people they're supposed to protect - and also the people themselves, who are nightmares in their own right. [widget path="global/article/imagegallery" parameters="albumSlug=midseason-tv-2020-34-shows-we-cant-wait-to-watch&captions=true"] House M.D.'s Hugh Laurie (also of Veep, and of a tremendous British comedy background) is the anchor here, as Captain Clark, space "hero," in charge of glad-handing and keeping spirits up aboard space-cruiser Avenue 5. Part of his day-to-day not only involves smiling and motivating, but tolerating Josh Gad's man-baby Herman Judd, the hapless head of a Buy n Large-style tech company that's taken over the cosmic exploration biz (as well as most of Earth one might assume). Because of Judd's ridiculous needs and unfounded wants, the pilot-less luxury liner experiences a gravity mishap that sends it off course. So much so that a two month excursion becomes a three-year trek of terror. The biggest laugh from the premiere actually involves a detour from the dialogue, as an entire Avenue 5 yoga class gets hurled into the side of the ship while the passengers' loved ones get to witness the disaster unfold in real time on Earth - but with a 26 second delay. It's fun to watch people panic with no immediate follow up to the catastrophe, as they have to wait for the transmission to catch them up. It was a big enough, and funny enough, moment that it was able to break through some of the series' distracting gimmickry. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2020/01/02/the-new-tv-shows-we-cant-wait-for-in-2020"] Lenora Crichlow's second engineer, Billie, seems to be the odd one out, here at the start, as the only character devoid of ego and cruelty. Among Zach Woods' misanthropic concierge, Suzy Nakamura's humorless executive, and the other callous characters she might best represent our interests and ideas. It's hard to say though. Avenue 5 feels like a social experiment as much as a high-concept comedy. As if everyone on board thought they were in the Good Place, only to find out it's all a Bad Place illusion designed to push everyone to the brink of anxiety and agony.
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