Laurie here portrays Dr. Paul Slippery (you already know you're in trouble with that surname), who awakes shortly before his 45th birthday to discover his life is in disarray, plus (in one of many fantasy elements), he can occasionally hear people's thoughts. Was this a discarded character from the pilot of Heroes, per chance? Oh well, never mind, as we are soon caught up in the supposed hilarity of watching Laurie's wife Estelle (a beguiling and nicely understated Anna Chancellor) leave for a job that never materializes, Laurie's two oldest sons arguing over who is going to have sex with the same girl, and the youngest building a tower out of orange traffic cones that he dubs "My Penis." Laughing yet? I thought not.

Things don't get demonstrably better over the course of the series, with Slippery's doctor colleague first pretty much killing a patient and then making moves on Estelle, Estelle herself finding employment with a "designer lesbian," the kids continuing to fight over sex (with or without traffic cone sculptures) and so on and so on.

There are occasional moments of humor (the dead patient's girlfriend, who wishes everyone "lots and lots and lots of love" for example), but they are scattered few and far between, and the entire enterprise is just defeated by the amped up style of the piece, which is noisy, cluttered and chaotic. There's also a pizzicati-laden underscore which is more or less a direct clone of Desperate Housewives, a series this show perhaps emulates but can't find the tone to consistently reproduce.

Laurie, as he always is, is affable and reasonably effective in what is basically a pretty silly role. Chancellor makes for an able foil and actually provides the most consistent laughs of the series, simply because she isn't, like some of the other characters, broadcasting the punchlines from miles away. Stephen Fry, Laurie's Jeeves and Wooster co-star, does turn up here in a guest appearance, but even the reteaming of these old comrades can't elevate this effort to "must see television" status.

The DVD

Video:
The series is in an enhanced 1.78:1 format and looks great for television. Excellent color, contrast and saturation help to at least make this easy on the eyes.

Sound:
Likewise, the standard stereo soundtrack is just fine for these proceedings.

Extras:
None are offered.

Final Thoughts:
Laurie has such a deep resume at this point there are scores of shows you can turn to if you need an extra-House fix. This show will most likely fail to satisfy anyone but the most ardent Laurie fan. Rent it if you're that interested.

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"G-d made stars galore" & "Hey, what kind of a crappy fortune is this?" ZMK, modern prophet