Sans Halo

So far the reviews have been pretty mixed for Jane Lynch‘s new sitcom Angel from Hell, but I really enjoyed the first episode, and thought the central premise had a lot of promise. Lynch plays ‘Amy’, a scruffy/eccentric street-magician who latches onto a strait-laced dermatologist (Maggie Lawson) she encounters at a farmers’ market, and claims to be the woman’s Heaven-sent Guardian Angel. Although her provenance seems pretty dubious at first, Amy does seem to know a scary amount of personal details about her ward, and is passionately committed to becoming a positive force of support and protection in her life. Bless. Whether she’s a kosher supernatural being, or simply a highly skilled hacker/con-woman remains to be seen, of course… personally I’m hoping it’s the former, because I’m a romantic like that, though I’d be impressed if they managed to maintain the ambiguity around Amy for the rest of the series… however long that turns out to be.*

Of course, Lynch is the show’s major selling point, and she’s firing on all cylinders here, stealing scene after scene from Lawson’s sympathetic straight-woman… but they make a good double-act, and their bonding scene at the end of the pilot was genuinely heart-warming. Overall, if I had to pick a single word to describe this show (besides “funny”, that is), I’d plump for “adorable”… because, for all of Amy’s rough-edges, she really is a very endearing character, and seeing her go to bat for ‘Allison’ with such fervour was super-sweet… and a little bit frightening at the same time!

Oh, I was also very happy to see Liza Lapira again, playing Allison’s long-time bestie ‘Jill’… but (SLIGHT SPOILER!) considering how the episode ended, I’m not sure if she’s supposed to be a recurring character or not. I hope she is, because Lapira’s great… though I’ve grown so used to seeing her with glasses on (in Apt. 23 and Super Fun Night), I couldn’t help thinking something was missing from her face in her scenes here! I mean, it’s a gorgeous face with or without the furniture… I just prefer her looking a little geekier, s’all…

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* I only say that because this show was created by Tad Quill, who was a writer/producer on Perfect Couples and Bent, two other sitcoms that I liked a lot more than the general-public/critics/network-suits seemed to, and got cancelled too damn soon. Sigh…