Coming Soon: Are You There, Chelsea?

When Does It Start: Wednesday 11^th Jan at 8.30pm EST on NBC.

In A Nutshell: Chelsea Handler’s life receives the sitcom treatment. Cue the laugh track!

What’s It About: Based on the bestselling book Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, this NBC sitcom follows the life of a fictional Chelsea Handler (Laura Prepon) and her circle of friends in New Jersey. Chelsea herself pops up as her own pregnant sister, Sloane, and you can bet there’s going to be lots of Happy Endings / How I Met Your Mother style couplings and storylines. Are you laughing yet?

 Plus Points: Love her of loathe her, you can’t deny the fact that Chelsea Handler is a big name these days. Her talk show has proven that a funny-woman can hold her own in the late night world (as if there were any doubt) and she’s had THREE Number 1 New York Times Bestsellers. I would argue that Chelsea has a lot bigger name recognition that Whitney Cummings – and she got a full season pick up for the abysmally rated Whitney! (which Chelsea actually produces by the way.)

Let’s be honest NBC is in the ratings toilet these days so Chelsea doesn’t need to score too highly to be a success. In fact if the show managed 7 million viewers it would be a smash hit for the Peacock network (CBS would cancel it at those levels which speaks volumes.)

On The Downside: Maybe I’m in a minority here but I actually don’t like Chelsea Handler very much. I find her rude, vulgar and frankly just not very funny – and this from a guy who adores feisty and funny women like Joan Rivers and Kathy Griffin. Chelsea comes across to me like a real life mean girl, abusing the guests on her show and relying on her looks rather than the painfully thin material she has to work with. She’s the Charlize Theron character from Young Adult who somehow made it as a talkshow host and author.

Unfortunately for Chelsea, NBC have also decided to place her show in a pretty crummy time slot. She’s inheriting an audience from the desperately unloved Whitney – and leads in to the totally incompatible Harry’s Law. Are You There, Chelsea is also up against Suburgatory, part of the solid ABC Wednesday comedy block. And then there’s the matter of a certain little show on Fox called American Idol. Yep, Chelsea is facing off against the biggest show on TV. Not good!

There’s also the fact that Are You There, Chelsea has been through a whole heap of changes since the pilot was shot. Half the cast were dropped and replaced and the show underwent extensive reshoots. Never a good sign.

Finally there’s the quality of the show itself. NBC might be patient with a cult favorite like Community and Parks And Recreation – but I don’t see many people coming to the defense of this truly woeful series which the critics are already slating. For me the Are You There, Chelsea trailer is pitiful, horribly sitcom-y and full of wacky friends and pat one-liners which all fall flat. Heck, NBC didn’t even have the balls to keep the book’s original title – which tells you just how ‘edgy’ this new comedy is really going to be!

Prediction: It’s a good job Chelsea Handler still has her E! gig. I think she’s going to need it.