When is a fairly standard-issue CBS sitcom better than a risky NBC comedy set in the DC Comics universe? When those shows are CBS's "Superior Donuts" and NBC's relatively laughless "Powerless."
'SUPERIOR DONUTS'
Don't let the show's title or my comparisons to "Powerless" (8:30 p.m. Thursday, NBC) mislead: "Superior Donuts" (8:30 p.m. Thursday before moving to 9 p.m. Monday on Feb. 6, CBS) is a very CBS comedy in many ways.
The premise, although it is based on the Tracy Letts play of the same name, seems designed for viewers unbothered by laugh tracks.
Set at a down-on-its-luck Chicago doughnut shop, the series follows owner Arthur (Judd Hirsch) and his new employee, Franco (charming newcomer Jermaine Fowler), who wants to help Arthur bring his shop into the 21st century. The shop's regular customers include beat cop Randy (Katey Sagal, "Sons of Anarchy"), odd job taker Tush (David Koechner, "Anchorman") and real estate capitalist Fawz (Maz Jobrani), who wants to buy Arthur's building.
The plot of the premiere _ Franco tries to market the doughnut shop and winds up tagging the new Starbucks across the street, forcing Arthur to cover for him _ is a moldy oldie, and many of the jokes are predictable and as stale as a two-day-old cruller.
But "Superior Donuts" also surprises, not only with an ethnically diverse cast, but also with a few jokes that feel a little too close to the bone for a CBS comedy.
"I must really trust you: I just turned my back on a Chicago cop," Franco tells Randy.
"I'm not gonna shoot you," she replies. "I've got my body camera on."
That kind of topicality is something you'd expect to hear on NBC's "Carmichael Show" rather than on, say, CBS's "Kevin Can Wait."
With its talented cast and a willingness to reference current events, "Superior Donuts" evinces some potential, especially if the show's writers can come up with better, less redundant sitcom plots.
'POWERLESS'
NBC's new comedy set in the DC Comics universe doesn't lack for ambition, but it does suffer from a dearth of funny dialogue in its pilot.
The series originally was set in an insurance office that writes policies in a world where superheroes routinely decimate cities in their efforts to protect humanity from evildoers. However, it has morphed into a show about an office where the workers develop products that protect humans from superheroes' collateral damage.
The company, Wayne Securities, is a subsidiary of the Bruce Wayne-owned conglomerate and the office manager, Van (Alan Tudyk), is Bruce Wayne's cousin. He hires Emily Locke (a winning Vanessa Hudgens, "High School Musical") as director of research and development. Her new staff includes cocky Teddy (Danny Pudi, "Community") and geeky Ron (Ron Funches, "Undateable").
There's an enjoyably bright, "Pushing Daisies"-like color palette to the world of "Powerless," but there's not a lot to make a viewer laugh in this comedy. The gadgets are vaguely amusing but not laugh riots and the plot is, like with "Superior Donuts," blah in its banality: Bruce Wayne wants to close the company down because it seems obsolete, can they possibly come up with a new, creative, useful development in 21 minutes? Duh, of course they can.
Other than lip service paid to Bruce Wayne _ who everyone seems entirely too excited about unless they know he's Batman, which they don't seem to _ no brand name superheroes show up in the pilot, just the lesser-known Crimson Fox. If "Powerless" had been funny, the lack of big-name heroes would be excusable, but with not much to laugh at a viewer is bored enough to consider all the things this show could be, but is not.
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