ST. LOUIS — Beer. Brothers. A brewery in need of a rehab.
That's the basic setup for Netflix's new series, "Brews Brothers," created by Greg Schaffer, who has worked on shows such as "That '70s Show" and "The Tracy Morgan Show." Over the course of eight episodes, we get to see a pair of brothers, Adam and Wilhelm (Mike Castle and Alan Aisenberg) who seemingly despise each other, yet unwittingly work together to restore a brewery on the verge of closing.
Throw in the reliable yet anger management-riddled manager/best friend with cauliflower ear (Carmen Flood), the witty janitor/waiter who spits out various jokes (Marques Ray), and a food truck outside with way too many health code violations along with a bunch of partying monks- and that's Schaffer's recipe for comedy.
Does it work? Let's get into a few things you should know before watching this series.
THERE'S A LOT OF BEER NERD SPEAK HERE
Unless you know your craft beer, a lot of the geeky discussion about ales and lagers will alienate the audience. Bud Light and Stella Artois (not cool!) get a bad rap here, and it only gets worse as the episodes continue. You'll find yourself getting drunk from a lack of laughter as the brothers fight over who makes the better beer.
THE CAST HAS THE MAGNETISM OF PACKAGED AND SEALED DELI MEAT
No cast member stands out. Ray's Chuy is the guy who gets to spit out racial slurred jokes and get away with it, but it's just not funny. Castle wants to be like Topher Grace, but fails miserably. Aisenberg aspires to be Ron Livingston, but doesn't get there. There's no charisma to be found. It's like the C-Team showed up on set.
FRAT BOY HUMOR DOESN'T WORK ANYMORE
Look, "Old School" and "Neighbors" happened, soaking up most of the terrain for scenes where beer is consumed down someone's backside and sexual innuendo could be finessed into a plot. Here, it's recycled bad frat jokes repeated for four hours. You hope for it to get better, but the improvement doesn't occur. It's lazy writing by guys who drank way too many wheat beers one afternoon when one IPA was required.
SITCOM-TYPE SHOWS ARE HARD TO PULL OFF
I understand the old appeal of "Friends" and "Seinfeld," where the characters seemingly interacted on one set or street, and that was all. If the story and comedy was good enough, you wouldn't care much. Here, where most of the goals fall short and laughing is scarce, it doesn't comply. You want more sets and for these people to venture out into the wilderness and get into adventures. They instead hang around a brewery and bicker for eight episodes.
THE SHOW ISN'T FUNNY... AT ALL
The biggest foul here is that I only laughed once and it came from the way Ray read a line of dialogue. There was a big part of me that wanted to laugh more, but bad sitcom humor is as easy to pick out as cheap bacon at the supermarket. For too many long stretches, the laughs didn't come.
FINAL THOUGHTS
In all honesty, when I first saw the name of the show and the description, I thought it was a documentary. When I found out it wasn't- something that happened within the first five minutes of the pilot- I was let down already.
Here's the deal. Skip this show. As a guy who appreciates craft beer and loves talking about them, "Brews Brothers" couldn't even hold up that end of the bargain, and the poorly written jokes just drowned the series. Comedy doesn't always have to be sharp or highly creative, but it also can't feel recycled and tired.
My recommendation: Pick another brewery. Pick another show.
