Work It Amaury Nolasco’s new sitcom on ABC, has had a rough road already. The cross-dressing comedy has already generated protests from a wide range of LGBT and feminist groups for its portrayal of women (of all types) in the workplace–and that was before its premiere. Now that the first episode has made it to the air (Tuesdays at 8:00), at least two other groups are equally unhappy: the critics and the viewers.
A solid 80% of the media critics who reviewed the January 3 premiere were not happy with what they saw. James Poniewozik of Time said Work It is “bad dumb, memorably bad dumb, the kind of bad dumb show you will use in years to come as a benchmark for other bad sitcoms.” David Hinckley of the New York Daily News said the show “lumbers like a 200-pound man trying to impersonate a 95-pound ballerina,” and Robert Bianco of USA Today said it for everyone else: “Work It is dreadful almost beyond comprehension: witless, tasteless, poorly acted, abominably written, clumsily directed, hideously lit and badly costumed.” All in all almost 80% of the post-debut reviews were bad, and even the remaining 1 out of 5 damned the show with faint praise, along the lines of “It’s not as bad as we expected.” You can judge for yourself; it’s available on Hulu and at abc.com.
Viewers apparently didn’t like what they saw either. The debut was viewed (at least in part) by over 6.1 millions people, but the ratings within the all-important 18-49 demo was a very soft 2.0. Worst yet, those numbers are 17% worse than Man Up!, the show it replaced…the show that was cancelled after just a few episodes. By comparison, NCIS, the most-watched show of the night, ran opposite Work It, and garnered more than 21 million viewers.
There are a lot of factors that affect how long a show is given to build an audience; ratings and reviews are only two of them. The number of shows already ‘in the can,’ (and therefore representing money already spent), the cost of not running the program based on contracts and production deals, and the availability of popular repeats for that time slot or new shows waiting in the wings–all are taken into consideration. But given the show’s poor ratings, poor reviews, and built-in controversy, it seems as if Work It is pretty much dead on arrival, and its disappearance only a matter of time.
Amaury Nolasco has a record of quality projects, from Prison Break to Southland to Chase. Let’s hope he gets back to it and Work It is soon forgotten.
