By Christina MurphyCOLUMNIST
As welcoming as I’ve heard television network USA is to its characters, I’ve never been terribly compelled to watch any of their original programming. Or at least that was the case until I saw a commercial for a new show starring Eliza Coupe, who played Jane on the short-lived sitcom “Happy Endings.”
If you’ve read any of my previous articles or ever had a conversation with me, you know that I am still obsessed with “Happy Endings,” and I want nothing more in my life than to see every cast member with a successful television career. Right now I’m four for six, which are pretty good odds for a show that no one other than me still cares about.
Adam Pally and Damon Wayans Jr. found full-time roles on popular Fox sitcoms, “The Mindy Project” and “New Girl,” respectively; Casey Wilson stars in the new NBC sitcom “Marry Me” and now Eliza Coupe moved her talents to USA’s newest workplace comedy “Benched.”
“Benched” is about Nina, an overworked and underappreciated corporate lawyer who, after having a major meltdown, quits her high paying job and becomes a public defender in downtown LA.
Differing from many law-related shows on cable, “Benched” gives us a deeper look into the flawed public defense system. The defenders are careless and apathetic towards their clients, the courthouse is falling apart and the judge treats prisoners like zoo animals. The clients we see in the pilot episode are mostly poor Latinos who speak little English and who, for the most part, committed their crimes not out of greed, but out of desperation.
Nina’s first big courtroom win comes during the arraignment for a woman who was arrested for stealing diapers. She points out how keeping her client in prison is only prolonging her situation, as it is preventing her from returning to her multiple jobs and caring for her child. Beneath Nina’s narcissism, there is someone who genuinely cares about her clients and will do as much as she can to give them a fair defense.
In other reviews of the show, Nina has been compared to Piper from “Orange is the New Black.” Nina is a watered-down, cable-version of the jaded, self-indulgent character who sees that there is another life out there, where some people cut the short-end of the deal, and strives to make a change. Nina is seeing the injustice from a different perspective since she is a lawyer and not a prisoner herself. This allows her to focus on how her once-perfect life is crumbling around her over a glass of wine, which may take away from her likeability.
On top of her adjustment from her glamorous job to her dreary new position, the district attorney is her charming and successful ex-fiance who served as the catalyst for her aforementioned breakdown.
Her co-workers are a colorful cast, including Maria Bamford, who you may know from those Target commercials that air around the holidays, and Oscar Nunez, who played Oscar on the original workplace comedy, “The Office.” There is another noteworthy co-worker, Phil, who we can already tell is her will they/won’t they counterpart, a storyline that they were not at all subtle about, including throughout the first episode.
Eliza Coupe is incredibly talented. She nails every performance from major meltdowns to the quips she murmurs underneath her breath. Coupe can flawlessly capture the essence of a woman who is both powerful and vulnerable. The show has a very present and strong, female voice, which in part is attributed to co-creator Michaela Watkins.
The show is not perfect. Some jokes are predictable and the characters and situations are a wee bit unrealistic, but for USA’s standards, it exceeded my expectations. The network is attempting to rebrand themselves as a hub for quality workplace comedies since the success of “Suits.”
If you love comedies where characters are always in business casual and carrying briefcases, then you should certainly give “Benched” a try.
“Benched” airs on USA on Tuesday’s at 10:30 p.m.