This sitcom follows a group of friends in their day-to-day lives residing in Chicago. The show revolves around Whitney (played by Whitney Cummings) and Alex (Chris D’Elia) – a modern day couple in a long-term relationship. Whitney is a brilliant character to have as our main protagonist, she (as quoted many times by Alex) doesn’t stop talking, always has a joke on hand and never afraid to voice her opinions. As a freelance photographer, Whitney’s pessimistic attitude is quick to defend herself from her unstable childhood which she references a lot. The one man able to settle her down is Alex. More of a romantic, Alex is quick to return a comical quip to Whitney. Their constant rude remarks to each other are hysterical to watch. Always in his flannel shirts and as a successful website-creator, Alex shows a lot of love and care for Whitney – their relationship feels so modern and fresh. They definitely have their ups and downs, their fair share of fights, but their own kind of romance.
Then there are Whitney and Alex’s close friends who make appearances every episode. Whitney’s closest friends, Lily (Zoe Lister-Jones) and Roxanne (Rhea Seehorn). Two characters that are complete opposites. Whitney’s collage friend, Lily is really easy-going and “flighty”. A food blogger, Lily is always determined to find the new place, desperate to follow whatever makes her happy. At the same time, she’s conscious of hurting everyone’s feelings so she adapts to suit others. Roxanne is one of my favourite characters of the show. An independent woman, Roxanne likes to control every situation. She’s fast to pour a drink and acknowledge any negatives, especially if she’s referencing her divorce. Next, is Mark (Dan O’Brien) – my other favourite character. He’s the Joey Tribbiani or the Barney Stinson of the group; deep down he has many feelings, but he likes to show a façade of dating a lot of women. Lastly, Neal (Maulik Pancholy), who is usually seen on the arms of Lily – his character develops a lot as you get to appreciate his personality more across the first season.
The comedy of this show is adult humour, a lot of rude satire throughout. It is similar comedy to ‘2 Broke Girls’ as both are created by the same person – there are quite a few similarities between the two, arguably ‘2 Broke Girls’ was more successful. Furthermore, as ‘Whitney’ is taped in front of a live studio audience, there is laughter throughout the show, alike to many other sitcoms. The actors and actresses also seem really natural in the show, they genuinely seem to giggle along with the jokes with how the characters would react but also how they would react. ‘Whitney’ is just an easy-watching and simplistic tv series. The characters’ background aren’t really important as you just watch day-to-day life, but it’s still a great little giggle with different things happening in each episode. However, saying this I still get invested in the characters as they develop across the series, with only backgrounds created for Whitney as our main protagonist.
This show sadly only ran for two seasons, unfortunately it was cancelled. I can see where this had come from since no one has ever really heard of it – but I believe it to be understated. I would have happily had many more seasons to giggle through and continue to watch the characters grow and develop. The first few episodes aren’t the best, but it really starts kicking in after the initial warming-up, then it’s so much better with plenty of giggle-worthy moments. There are a lot of changes in season two, not all of them for the better. I do think season one is the best season of ‘Whitney’, I mostly watch the second season for Roxanne and Mark. I really enjoy watching this show, it’s not the best, I would rank shows such as ‘New Girl’ higher. Additionally, ‘Whitney’ isn’t a show I’m non-stop laughing at, but as a giggle and to pass time, this sitcom is classic in its humour to appreciate.
Finally, Whitney Cummings plays the main protagonist called Whitney Cummings, who it’s also named after, she is also the creator and an executive producer, she also uses her real-life experiences within the show – so clearly, a key influence for this show; I really love her as a character, if she’s not a character for you to like, then this is definitely not a show for you.
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