Watercooler: NBC Needs to Get Bent

Seriously, what the headline says. Because the powers-that-be clearly don't get how delightful this new rom-com is, or they wouldn't be burning off all six episodes with three weeks of back-to-back airings. Much like last season's Perfect Couples (ironically also from executive producer Tad Quill and co-starring David Walton), Bent has a charm that is seemingly lost on the network happier with things like Are You There, Chelsea instead of shows that are actually watchable.

Granted, the title isn't the best, but when you have a cast that includes Amanda Peet as an uptight divorcee, Walton as her freewheeling contractor, and Jeffrey Tambor as his Bluthian failed-actor dad, that's a minor flaw. The prickly sparks generated by the leads as polar opposites who really wouldn't work as a couple, the linoleum knife-sharp writing, heck even the joke-rich home-repair backdrop should have been enough to earn the comedy a slot on the fall schedule, or at least a trial run on Thursday nights as a suitable companion to the equally adult and appealing Up All Night. Instead, it's getting screwed — and we don't mean that in the construction-metaphor kind of way.

Shame, too. We've been waiting for Peet to find a worthy TV vehicle since Studio 60 went off the air, and Walton is the rare find who can do "overgrown frat brah" without venturing into d-bag territory. It would have been nice to see how their pairing — not to mention the kitchen renovations — would have turned out if NBC hadn't turned it into a rush-job.

Did you check out Bent last night? Was it worth your time?

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