Review – ‘Running Wilde’ Runs in a Different Direction

It’s the most-anticipated comedy of the year; that’s almost undeniable. After all, its predecessor, Arrested Development, has often been called the greatest comedy series to ever hit television. It’s been four years since that series was ended, and aside from reruns on IFC, the magic of AD has been absent from television since then. So when it was announced that creator Mitch Hurwitz was returning to television alongside Arrested star Will Arnett for a comedy series called Running Wilde, it almost seemed too good to be true. Thus began the hype.

I’m talking about the sort of hype that often cripples more than it helps. It’s the sort of hype that FlashForward was feeling about this time last year, which ultimately was a large factor in the show’s demise. As FlashForward wasn’t the next LOST, Running Wilde isn’t the next Arrested Development. There are fun little similarities and references, but ultimately, Running Wilde is an entirely different beast from its critically acclaimed predecessor.

The familial charm that Arrested possessed isn’t present at all in Wilde, since the series is really about one lonely man trying to rekindle a romance with a childhood sweetheart who finds him incredibly selfish (yet is still subconsciously attracted to him). Steve Wilde is essentially Gob Bluth with a soul: he’s equally irritating, but he’s also really human and really lovable. His self-destructive tendencies will likely be a keystone of the series, but he has an equal amount of redeeming qualities to counterbalance that. And, as the pilot episode goes to lengths to point out, it’s not all his fault: he’s got daddy issues.

Running Wilde actually doesn’t possess much charm, which is a strange thing to say. The main characters Steve and Emmy (Keri Russell) are pretty much despicably self-absorbed for most of the episode, leaving much of the heavy emotional lifting to be left to Emmy’s daughter Puddle (Stefania Owen), a surprisingly good actress who provides the narration for the series. Her narration isn’t as funny as Ron Howard’s witty commentary in Arrested Development, but she provides an almost innocent look at two supremely messed-up people. She’s the heart of the show, it seems, and it’ll be interesting to see how her character develops while remaining intrinsic to the nature of the show.

Running Wilde isn’t as smart as AD either, though it doesn’t seem to be trying. Instead, it relies on the more obvious humor of Will Arnett’s self-absorbed persona. While Wilde may be just Gob 2.0, his humor is what kept me laughing throughout the entire pilot episode. My only wish was that we got some more of the tighter stories back. The pilot of Arrested Development let us know how smart it was by showing us the peripherally hilarious Tobias pirate incident — Running Wilde has no such tying thread. Right now, it seems pretty straightforward. (Speaking of Tobias, David Cross has a recurring role that has him back to his idiotic antics. The character has potential to be as lovable as Tobias Funke, though only time will tell.)

Fans of AD will probably be disappointed with Running Wilde, but that’s probably because they’re expecting something as immediately brilliant as AD was. Running Wilde isn’t as strikingly original, though. While I would have absolutely loved for Wilde to serve as Arrested Development season four, that simply wasn’t what Hurwitz had in mind. What he had in mind, however, is still way up in the air. The pilot episode isn’t enough to get a defining feeling as to what the story is about. Will I tune back in for more? Of course. Am I immediately gobsmacked as I was with Arrested Development? Of course not. But the sooner we undo the misconception that Wilde is the next Arrested, the sooner we’ll come to appreciate Running Wilde‘s pilot episode for what it is: the beginning of a potentially hilarious comedy.