Mr. Mayor is a tone-deaf jab at progressive politics: review

Mr. Mayor

It’s so sad that Mr. Mayor doesn’t live up to any expectations. The combination of Ted Danson and Tina Fey should be a slam dunk. But rather, the show’s writing and “jokes” often rely on half-baked Coronavirus parody, ‘cancel culture,’ and anything else Generation Z is mildly interested in.

Ted Danson plays Neil Bremer — the cheerfully unqualified and newly-elected mayor of Los Angeles. On his first day as mayor, Bremer exclaims, “let’s ban something that sucks,” and proceeds to ban plastic straws. What results is a liberal councilperson protesting the straw ban in defense of disabled people who need to use straws. The logic here makes sense, but as a joke for television, it’s just not funny.

A major dialogue focus is millennials and gen z’s obsession with “cancelling” politicians and celebrities, feminism, and Twitter trends. While there’s obvious room to parody some of these conversations — adult comedies such as South Park and BoJack Horseman have done this well — it’s not good here and it feels…bad.

At 22 minutes, the ready-for-network sitcom slugs itself to the finish line. It’s hard to watch, disappointing, and unpleasant. The jokes and writing are no better than Kevin Hart’s reliance on homophobia to crack a laugh. It’s a reminder that the media is often so out of touch with progressive politics and sometimes it’s hard not to ask why the show’s creators even bothered with this at all.