2 out of 5

Written by: David Gordon Green

covers season 1 

This is one of the most tonally muddled shows I’ve watched as of late, which is the main reason for the rating docking.  And yet, its lack of overall direction and short, half-hour runtime translate into no-strings-attached TV, and make it an easy view.  Another cursed aspect of the at-your-fingertips streaming model of TV.

In There’s… Johnny, eager, good-hearted small-town Andrew (Ian Nelson) misinterprets a stock response to an autograph request to The Tonight Show as a legit invitation to come and work for the show.  His parents, having raised their son of the same innocent stuff of which they seem to be made, encourage their boy’s travels to LA.  Andrew good fortunes his way into a job and the show accrues its cast of office boss Joy (Jane Levy), production guy Freddie (Tony Danza), and a trio of comedy writers.   Thus begins our dances-through-historical-Johnny-Carson-moments fish-out-of-water sitcom.

Because it is a sitcom – witness episode two’s dog runaround, or episode four’s church kerfluffle – despite also trying to deal with gender oppression, drug addiction, sexual identity, and more.  And that is ‘trying,’ because the way the show just unironically not-transitions from incredibly cheesy cheery music and bright lights and screwball humor to scenes of someone shooting up or inciting violence to cover up their homosexuality is… baffling.  In a way that makes it incredibly unclear if we should be watching this as Andrew’s ongoing story, or just a series of cute tales taking place in old school Hollywood.  This lack of clarity robs those dramatic scenes of their drama, makes the happy scenes questionable in their sincerity, and prevents the screwball stuff from being laugh-out-loudable.

There are a few key decisions that do work in thr show’s favor: mainly, the casting of Andy and Joy.  While everything feels a tad too simplified, both actors find believable balance in their characters so that Andy isn’t embarrassingly ignorant, and Joy isn’t just a taskmaster.  Both characters are likeable.  Secondly: No celebrity impersonators.  It’s a little distracting when a scene involving Johnny has him kept off screen, but overall, keeping the celeb stuff to characters watching archival footage through cameras or over TVs is wise; doing impressions would just draw too much attention to itself, and probably tempt longer storylines with those figures than we should have, as, regardless of the tone issues, the show is about these sidelined characters and not Johnny and his guests.

There’s… Johnny features a lot of talent and some good intentions.  That it’s forever murky as to what exact tone they’re going for prevents it from ever being a “good show,” but the quality and concept burbling beneath that troubled surface, and an overall feel-good vibe, keep it watchable.