The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret

Todd Margaret review

More than anything else, the pedigree of this comedy pilot is by far the most interesting thing about it. Very much an Anglo-American venture, it finds Anglophiles co-writing and directing a one-off pilot that didn't feel at all deserving of a full series...

This latest pilot has enough comic pedigree to split the funny atom. David Cross (Arrested Development) and Monkey Dust's Shaun Pye write - the cast includes Sharon Horgan, Will Arnett, Russell Tovey and even a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot of Kristen Schaal. Cross is Todd, a desk monkey who's sent to London by Arnett to promote a hideous energy drink. It doesn't quite hold together, and is short a laugh or five, but the talent suggests it could still be worth a series.

This year's series of hit-and-miss comedy show pilots continues with The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, about a US executive (Arrested Development's David Cross) who finds himself out of his depth when he is mistakenly sent to run his company's UK arm. Russell Tovey and Sharon Horgan are among the supporting cast.

David Cross is great. Let's get that out of the way. He's great. This sitcom, where he plays a klutz accidentally sent to the UK to sell energy drinks was never going to be terrible. It was obviously going to be the best of C4's miserable Comedy Showcase run. But no matter who your big name Arrested Development stars are (Cross and Will Arnett - apparently Spike Jonze is in it too but we missed him in the cut we watched), you really shouldn't waste Sharon Horgan in a role as a waitress. Come on. Sharon Horgan is really very, very good. Also, this is supposed to be a chance for new comedies to make their mark. What are the chances of everyone involved in this making an a series for C4? Grow up. Just give them the money to make a one-off.

Another gem of a pilot from C4's Comedy Showcase testing ground. Todd (David Cross) is a brash American sent to London to sell an energy drink to an unsuspecting British public. Trouble is, our culturally narrow-minded protagonist soon finds himself a fish out of water, and hindered further by his unhelpful English assistant (Russell Tovey). It plays out well, and there is enjoyable support from an Anglo-American cast that also includes Will Arnett and Pulling's Sharon Horgan.

Fans of the cult US comedy Arrested Development will recognise David Cross who played Tobias Funke in that series. This pilot for C4's Comedy Showcase series is his first project for the UK, co-written with Shaun Pye who played Greg Lindley-Jones in Extras - the RADA graduate who was Ricky Gervais's bitter enemy.

So what's this all about? It starts in the US with Todd Margaret (Cross) accidentally promoted by his psychotic boss to head up a UK operation selling energy drinks. Overhearing Todd repeating the aggressive patter on a self-help CD convinces him Todd is the right man for the job - despite being a meek office drone who couldn't sell a sandwich to a starving man. His arrival in London unleashes more misadventures - as well as a meeting with comedy star Sharon Horgan who plays a cafe owner.

By the end of this sharply scripted episode you'll be hoping for a full series to find out what happens to him next - and you can't ask any more of a pilot than that.

The premise for Channel 4's latest sitcom pilot is simple enough. Todd Margaret (David Cross from Arrested Development) is a hapless American office drone sent to London to sell energy drinks. It's only because of a nicely worked misunderstanding that he was chosen in the first place, and Todd proves comically inept from the word go. His mission promptly unravels, starting with his fleecing by a cab driver and the controlled explosion of his luggage by a bomb squad. From there, we gather that things will get far worse, because a prologue involves Todd standing in court as a list of charges is read out by a judge, including "funding a terrorist organisation, possession of biological weapons, treason..." before a caption whisks us back "14 days earlier..." No doubt the writers could cheerfully mine enough material from those 14 days to fill a series, but what we get in tonight's pilot feels more like the opening of a quirky indie film than a sitcom. That doesn't mean it's not funny. It is. But you long for the close plotting and farcical twists of, say, The Worst Week of My Life. Also, it seems daft to cast a wonderful comic actress like Sharon Horgan (from Pulling) as a cafe waitress and then give her so little to work with. Even so, there are hints of something good here.

Spreading the laughter

For one hot week in May, Hollywood descends on London's Elephant and Castle for The Increasingly Poor Decisions Of Todd Margaret, a transatlantic experiment orchestrated by RDF for Channel 4's Comedy Showcase season of pilots.