First Impressions: Miss Guided

There is nothing worse than watching great actors slumming it on less than quality projects (think Kristen Bell in anything she has done not named Veronica Mars or Pootie Tang). Also landing in that category is Judy Greer who seems to get wasted as the sidekick in mundane chick flick. Then the few great roles she gets, like the slutty Bluth secretary on Arrested Development, are fleeting at best.

Greer gets a her first chance to get out of the shadows to as the star of Miss Guided the story of a guidance councilor who goes back to her old high school. Naturally she is easily the best part of the show. Sadly everyone around her are just one note or just plain boring. Kristoffer Polaha (North Shore) fills the boring quota as the object of Greer’s affection as the Shop Teacher turned Spanish teacher who know as much as the launguarge as his students.

But Greer has to fight for him with Brooke Burke (also North Shore), the English teacher that also graduated from the school as was everything Greer wasn’t back then. As for the authority figures there is the Earl Billings (never was on North Shore) as the momotone prncipal and Chris Parnel (Staurday Night Live) as second in command who seems like he is just playing an over ran skit.

The three episodes that have aired are mediocre at best, and someone should tell Ashton Kutcher, one of the executive producers, that is not a very good idea to include himself in his own creation because he is much better when someone else creates his characters for him. On the other hand, guest star Jamie Lynn Spears, sans baby bump, is by far the better actress in the family compared to her sister’s cringeworthy stab at acting on How I Met Your Mother.

Verdict: It is nice to see Judy Greer front and center unfortunately everyone around her, from the writers, to the actors, to the directors have dropped the ball. Don’t expect ABC to create anymore episodes than those already in the can. Miss Guided airs Thursday at 8:00 and 8:30 on ABC. You can stream episodes over at ABC.com.