Maybe it says something about the current American sensibility of comedy, but for whatever reason, audiences respond to funny situations derived from a character’s dastardly nature. At some point it was established that the “douchebag” personality was a font of comedy. To keep pace, Call Me Fitz features Jason Priestley playing a an asshole, attempting to cash in where the asshole protagonists of Archer, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Dennis), How I Met Your Mother (Barney), Two and a Half Men (Charlie), House, 30 Rock (Jack Donaghy), Entourage, South Park (Cartman), and more have succeeded while mixing it with the redemptive moralistic framework of My Name is Earl. If Call Me Fitz had any of the wit of those counterparts, Call Me Fitz could have been great, but as is it’s a decent premise not helped by its acting or writing.
Richard Fitzpatrick (Priestley), aka Fitz, knows how to sell used cars, and he does so using whatever means necessary to keep his family business afloat. Unfortunately, he finally pushes the line too far and attempts to finalize the sale of a muscle car to a woman after she drives it off a bridge on the test run and ends up in a coma. Fitz’s indifference elicits the ire of the woman’s daughter, and suddenly legal problems loom. Complicating matters, Fitz’s father has sold his half of the business to Larry (Ernie Grunwald), a newcomer who claims to be Fitz’s conscience with an agenda to repair his scrambled moral compass. Is it possible to correct someone’s sense of morality if they don’t think it needs correcting? If the progress of the first season is any indication, yes, it is possible, but the concept can be stretched to fill out five or six seasons if they want.
Undertaking the redemption of a deplorable character gives a show lots of material to work with, especially when the character is established as being flawed in so many different ways. Call Me Fitz hedges its bets and makes its titular lead bad pretty much all around, a drinking, womanizing, lying, cheating bastard accustomed to always getting his way. The season’s plot is devoted to a collection of people (girl scouts among them) attempting to bring light to Fitz’s illegal business practices in running his used car lot, while Larry attempts to rectify them.
Priestley’s acting hasn’t improved much in recent years, and the reckless amoral protagonist the script requires finds a poor embodiment in him. He never brings the proper attitude or personable approach necessitated by the popular douchebag archetype. We don’t believe that he doesn’t care, and so we can’t enjoy his cruel antics the same way we can those of his counterparts in similar roles. The one success of the show is Ernie Grunwald as Fitz’s would-be conscience constantly pushing Fitz into new scenarios to give him the chance to do something right. His ever hopeful but subdued persona is the right balance to what should be Fitz’s in your face behavior, except with Priestley barely able to fill Fitz’s shoes, the dynamic never sticks. It’s unfortunate because the writing has clear potential for sharp and biting dialogue, but with a stale lead and direction that seems unwilling to fix it, the show can only be said to have promise and not actual merit.
The series’ aesthetic runs oddly and unnecessarily dark, as if the crew couldn’t cobble enough lighting equipment together. Internal shots can be downright hard to perceive and at times it’s downright distracting. Otherwise the production values meet the standard of any show out there and it easily overcomes the expectations that come from a show airing on a channel with an incredibly limited audience. If the plight of Starz’s programming has shown us anything, it’s that the quality of a show doesn’t matter if no one watches (RIP Party Down), and for US audiences the only way to catch Call Me Fitz is on DirectTV’s The 101 Network. That doesn’t bode well.
DVD Bonus Features
Two featurettes cover the character creation and casting process of Fitz, but considering how Priestley is the least impressive part of the show, they’re lackluster at best. The blooper reel proves to be the DVD set’s best feature.
"Call Me Fitz: The Complete First Season" is on sale September 27, 2011 and is not rated. Comedy, Drama. Directed by Jason Priestley, James Genn, Scott Smith. Written by Sheri Elwood, Kyle Muir, Dennis Heaton. Starring Ernie Grunwald, Jason Priestley.
