Are You There, Chelsea? (NBC) - Series Premiere: Synopsis and Review

‘Are You There, Chelsea?’ is a new NBC comedy series that is based on the 2008 best selling book by Chelsea Handler (‘Chelsea Lately’). The show revolves around Chelsea Newman (Laura Prepon, ‘That 70’s Show’), a fictionalized version of Handler during the early days of her career. Chelsea Handler herself guest stars as Sloane, Chelsea’s sister. Co-starring are many comedians, including Lauren Lapkus as Dee Dee, Ali Wong as Olivia and Lenny Clarke as Chelsea’s father.

When Chelsea is in jail for a DUI and her pregnant sister Sloane has to bail her out, she prays to ‘vodka’ to help her change her life around. She works at a bar, and to be able to drink and still get home safely, she moves in with Dee Dee, who lives one block away from the bar. Dee Dee is quite a weird girl, and Chelsea and her best friend Olivia decide they should help Dee Dee get laid.

In the mean time Sloane is criticizing Chelsea’s life and her unreliability, therefore Chelsea isn’t allowed to be at the birth of her child. However, since their mother is dead, Sloane’s husband is in Afghanistan and their father doesn’t know what to do, Chelsea rushes to the hospital. This way, she gets to be at the birth of her niece after all.

‘Are You There, Chelsea?’ is quite a funny show, the actors really make the characters come to life. I especially like Lauren Lapkus, who portrays Dee Dee in a very convincing way. However, the show doesn’t really have a story line. As far as I’m concerned, this episode could have been a season finale as well. It felt like the story ended right there, and that the next episode would be the start of a new season with a new story. In the end, a comedy series needs to be either really, really funny, or backed by an interesting story line to keep the viewers attentive. At the moment, ‘Are You There, Chelsea?’ is neither.