Bored To Death is a show that follows a struggling writer named Jonathan Ames whose girlfriend moves out on him because he smokes to much pot and drinks to much white wine. In what could possibly be considered a lapse of judgment he posts a Craigslist ad promoting himself as an unlicensed private detective for hire. Possibly it can help him finish his second novel or maybe get him killed. Time will tell. The only two real constants in his life are his best friend and comic book artist Ray Hueston, played by Zack Galifianakis (The Hangover), and his boss George Christopher, played by Ted Danson (Becker).

I’m instantly reminded of Charlie Kaufman’s Adaptation in which Kaufman writes a film about himself working on a script for a film. Chalk this up to the fact that the main character seems to be named after creator, producer, writer Jonathan Ames whose known for his life as an author. The premise for the show that Ames is so distracted and desperate to break his writers block he resorts to role playing offers up the option for you, the viewer, to simply assume that all of this was somehow real, at least to a certain degree, at some point in Ames’ life. Its then easier to find humor in the sometimes unbelievable things that go on in the show.

Jason Schwartzman does a pretty decent job here, really channeling Luke Wilson big time, but there is just something about the way that he plays his character that just doesn’t do it for me. His comedic timing here is off and or possibly its just the way that his character is written that comes off false. Ted Danson is also not translating well into his character as a big time magazine editor. His character is outspoken but not in the fun way that we’ve seen Ted Danson do. His character is detached from reality possibly to much and comes off a tad bit crazy. I understand the concept of the show is that its players are in fact so bored to death their willing to try anything to kill some time but Dansons character doesn’t seem to have an angle at all. Finally the reliable Zack Galifianakis manages to be the runaway star of the show for the portions that he is in playing his usual character type; awkward, kind of gross, but always funny. His situation seems to be the only down to earth one and his voice the only sane one.

From the first three episodes that I previewed my thoughts on if its going to survive are a bit weary. The show is funny and unique in a way but it just doesn’t seem to be pulled together yet. The fact that the show takes a break in its third episode, The Case of the Missing Screenplay, from its quirky detective routine seems struggling, though the episode is funny, it just seems out of place amongst the first two episode in which Ames actually does hire himself out for detective work. The show has some great players who alone have done some pretty remarkable things in their careers but if they can’t come together to offer up either impressive performances that outweigh their slightly mediocre roles or the show brings up the writing a bit I don’t see it being on air for to long.