I’m going to guess that Peacock held off on its premiere of “Hapless” until “Curb Your Enthusiasm” ended its storied run on HBO.
That’s because “Hapless,” premiering April 10 on Peacock, is extremely similar in tone and context to “Curb,” with a few exceptions — and is even described as a “cringe comedy” a la Larry David’s masterpiece.
Season 1 of “Hapless” streamed very briefly on Prime Video in early 2020 (under the title “The Jewish Enquirer”) and is getting a shot now on Peacock (Seasons 1 and 2), hoping to fill the void left in the wake of “Curb’s” final episode, which aired April 7.
The series was created, written and directed by Gary Sinyor; unlike Larry David on “Curb,” our “Hapless” series protagonist/antagonist Paul Green (Tim Downie, “Outlander”) isn’t a celebrity playing an exaggerated version of himself — he’s a reporter for The Jewish Enquirer, described as the “4th biggest Jewish publication” in the UK, who finds himself in awkward situations, most of them of his own making. He relates to others without much of a filter, which usually gets him into trouble.
Paul, who’s single, lives in North London near his divorced sister, Naomi (Lucy Montgomery in Season 1, Jeany Spark in Season 2). She often finds herself implicated in his adventures and isn’t afraid to lace into her brother (a la Susie Essman in “Curb”). Paul’s best friend, Simon (Josh Howie), is a psychiatrist and his sounding board/voice of reason (think Jeff Garlin in “Curb”).
I can only guess that creator Sinyor was heavily influenced by the the work of Larry David; even the incidental music in “Hapless” is reminiscent of those tuba-sounding whimsical notes that followed Larry David around in “Curb” (and “Seinfeld” is referenced early on).
There are “Seinfeld”/”Curb”-type references, too, including a “loud close” vs. a “soft close” toilet lid; Paul invents the term “perfume-possessive” in another episode in which Peter finds himself attracted to a married woman’s perfume — then rubs her coat on his shirt so his sister, Naomi, can identify the scent (there’s much more to that story).
The series can be ribald: in the opener, there’s a plotline revolving around a Jewish delicacy and how it’s prepared that likens that to sexual gratification (that storyline is resolved with a “Curb”-type ending involving an infected finger); in Episode 2, Paul is sent to report on what it’s like to prepare for a wedding from a man’s perspective, and the word “moist” gets him into trouble when he refers to a wedding cake. He takes Naomi, disguised as his wife, to an upscale wedding-dress shop where, as expected, things get out of hand … quickly.
Paul, like Larry David, is tone-deaf and argumentative when it comes to social situations, into which he’s often thrust by the whim of his editor at The Jewish Enquirer.
In the opener, he pivots from general assignment reporter to film critic and is sent to interview a vain actress starring in a movie drama that emphasizes the economic divide in the UK (and which includes many bathroom scenes); told by his editor to compliment the actress, Peter says to her that “it’s amazing what a bit of makeup will do” and asks her if there was an intimacy trainer when she used the toilet in the film — then inquiring what she was paid for a movie about poverty. Like that.
The series is often all over the place, thematically — with several different subplots per episode — but Sinyor manages to connect the dots by the end of each half-hour installment.
If “Hapless” is not a direct extension of Larry David’s “Seinfeld”/”Curb Your Enthusiasm” universe, it is, at least, an homage to those worlds, told through a British lens that can be outrageous, unflinching and funny — but never predictable.
