'Leanne' On Netflix Is Exactly What It's Supposed To Be

Chuck Lorre’s shows, and their ilk (think Reba, The New Adventures of Old Christine, etc) are popular for a reason. Script-wise, they’re simple and appeal to the broadest majority of viewers. I don’t want to use the term “lowest common denominator humor” because it’s insulting, and I know some very smart, funny people who enjoy this genre of show. But…

The other thing about Chuck Lorre is that watching his shows is like watching commedia dell’arte. Stop laughing and hear me out. His shows, and those that are similar to his shows (again, see Reba, etc.) are based around ensembles, have stock characters and situations that everyone is familiar with, and all of them share similar themes. You could miss any fifteen-minute segment of any episode and not miss a beat of what’s happening on the show. You could only catch random episodes at 3 am on Nick-at-Nite and still have a firm grasp of the entire backstory, setting, and framing of a series. You could probably intercut scenes from different shows into each other and get away with it, too. You don’t need to pay a lot of attention to enjoy these shows, is what I’m saying.

In his latest, Leanne, stand-up comedienne Leanne Morgan plays the title character. The first frame of the series is her and Kristen Johnston (Third Rock from the Sun, Mom), who plays her sister, making pained faces at each other. Leanne’s husband (Ryan Stiles from Whose Line Is It Anyway? and The Drew Carey Show) has announced he’s leaving her for another woman after 30+ years of marriage. Womp womp.

They have two grown children together. Leanne and her sister also care for their elderly parents (Celia Weston and Blake Clark).

Carol (Johnston) is the horny (read “slutty”) sibling who always has a man she’s messing around with. Carol tries to coach Leanne through her reentry into the dating world. There are jokes about how to dress, how to act, how to have sex, and how to conceal hot flashes. She is basically Charlie Sheen’s character from Two and a Half Men, but less icky. Also, Sheen wishes he had Johnston’s comic timing.

Tim Daly (Madame Secretary) plays her silver fox, FBI agent love interest, whom she meets after he arrests her sister’s boyfriend. There’s also a nosy neighbor, played by Jayma Mays, who knows everything about everybody and will discuss it all loudly, in a high-pitched voice.

The show is framed around the idea of Leanne, a woman in her fifties, going through a divorce, menopause, dealing with aging parents, and learning how to date, while also trying to maintain a relationship with her former husband, which is fine. But, it’s not treading any new ground or presenting any novel concepts or comedy. And sorry/not sorry, Reba did it better. Some of that has to do with the actors faking their way through Tennessee accents in Leanne. For real, please stop, Kristen. I can’t take it.

Leanne is also very right-wing coded. They are regular church attendees, and they take part in fellowship after services. The husband’s mistress finds out she’s pregnant, and there’s a lot of shame around her having a baby out of wedlock, and no discussion at all about abortion being a possibility. Leanne’s son is married to a woman with “liberal” ideas about raising children that they take to a ridiculous extreme (football is too aggressive for their infant son to watch). And her daughter has substance abuse issues that they make fun of. So the format is “nostalgic,” but the content is regressive.

All of the industry vets in this are punching well below their weight class. They have years of sitcom acting and improv experience under their belts, and it shows. It helps make Leanne Morgan (who Chuck Lorre discovered at a comedy club) look good. Otherwise, it’s just her reciting lines from her stand-up routines and fanning herself through hot flashes, for a canned laugh track.

Leanne is what it is. Chuck Lorre will continue to make these shows as long as people are interested in watching the same characters go through the same motions, learning all of the same lessons over and over again.

All episodes of Leanne are streaming on Netflix.