The Return of Jezebel James

Buried on an off-brand network (Fox) in a hideous timeslot (Fridays 8:30p), The Return of Jezebel James premiered tonight. Created by Daniel Palladino and Amy Sherman-Palladino, the same team that brought the world Gilmore Girls, Jezebel James is a ripe enough premise that, with a good squeeze, ought to be able to produce some decent juice.

The first two episodes aired back-to-back tonight, and I’m not going to lie, I was a little bit worried at first. The pilot was, well, how do you say? Bad. In fact, really, really bad, complete with forced humor and a really annoying laugh track, which was pretty much necessary, because it was hard to know when something was meant to be funny. The acting was lacking. The script was lacking. It was pretty much on the level with every other sitcom on television today.

Thank goodness it came in a two-pack.

It seemed everything that episode one lacked, episode two had. It had heart. It had good writing. It had a lot of things that made Gilmore Girls a great show (until that wildly uneven last season).

The verdict?

Watch it… while you can. It’s timeslot is a veritable kiss of death.