Created by Bill Lawrence and Greg Malins, Ground Floor was one of 2013’s most surprising new shows, the rare modern multi-camera comedy with a complete understanding of its format, its material, and its performers, without feeling the need to be revolutionary or Important in some facetious way. Simply put, it’s a show people should be watching – and here’s five reasons why:
Briga Heelan
There are many, many reasons to watch Ground Floor – but they all begin with Briga Heelan, the show’s enigmatic female lead. It’s impressive enough how well Ground Floor writes for Jenny’s character; it’s even more impressive what Heelan does with the work. To say this is her breakout role is an understatement: she’s an absolute star, and her effervescent performance and natural screen presence combines with the intelligent writing to make Jenny Miller one of 2014’s best new characters.
Cast chemistry
Like any Bill Lawrence comedy, Ground Floor is an ensemble show full of colorful characters – and even though it only had 10 episodes to work with, the show’s already shown an ability to build out both offices at the center of the show. Tori, Threepeat, Harvard, Heather (Brody’s ex, played by the wonderful Anna Camp)… all of these characters provide an important foundation of multi-camera comedy often lost in the modern age: a wide cast of entertaining characters played by actors all able to hold their own with punch lines.
Music!
Let’s face it: outside of New Girl‘s earliest episodes and Glee (and let’s not talk about Glee), there isn’t a lot of music to be found on television, except in the backgrounds of CSI montages and over the credits of Important Cable Dramas. Ground Floor is arguably the most musical sitcom on television, with characters constantly breaking into song, or sharing scenes singing duets with real emotional undercurrent (as much as I hate “Just Give Me A Reason”, Heelan and Astin’s shared performance of it in “Woman On Top” is beautiful). Could they use a little less hokey song selection? Sure – but the fact remains that Ground Floor embraces the musical talents of its cast, and puts them to use, something that’s all-too-forgotten in the shrinking land of multi-cam comedies (which mostly consists of by-the-numbers CBS comedies at this point, unfortunately).
John C. McGinley
For those dismissing Mansfield as Cox 2.0, don’t worry: though Mansfield is as tough and unforgiving as his spiritual predecessor, Ground Floor’s existence as a multi-cam changes this archetype dramatically. Mansfield has a much bigger heart than Cox ever did – and at the same time, is more vulgar and dominating than the good doctor, giving McGinley a wider range of performance to deliver within the traditional sensibilities of performing for a studio audience (rather than Scrubs‘ absurdist, single-cam style). And as expected, he’s fantastic in the role, just another reminder of what an underrated actor McGinley remains, even after all his years in front of the camera.
Comedy, with a real heart
It would be easy to say Ground Floor has a heart because it’s a love story, however Ground Floor is one of those rare workplace comedies that really feels like its composed of a family (rather than a cranky group of people who happen to cross paths regularly, as too many sitcoms feel like these days). It’s a careful balance many shows never attain: too often, comedy between friends can become so frequent and demeaning that it becomes cruel, a group of bitter characters snapping at each other for eighteen minutes until the obligatory happy ending, full of hugs and all that cheesy nonsense.
Ground Floor has its emotional moments, sure, but it’s the show’s mix of blending its comedy with cathartic moments, like Mansfield and Brody’s moments at the end of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, or the relationship at the center of the show, which doesn’t suffer from the same bickering of previous shows. Instead, Ground Floor uses its two-part finale “The Decision” to bring the ensemble closer together, all while bringing up important issues for the couple to deal with in the second season, together and alone – none larger than Mansfield’s heartbreaking decision to fire Brody, a moment of disappointment that only speaks to how well the show’s forged its emotional bonds between characters in season one.
Photos via TBS
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