What’s the name of the show? A to Z

When does it premiere? Thursday 2 October at 9:30pm on NBC. But you can stream it now online. Or watch it right here in this very article! You don’t even have to watch commercials.

Why are they releasing it so early? Because it is August and there is nothing else to do but watch pilots for shows that are two months away. The networks have been doing this the past several years to get their shows to stand out. So far, I’m not mad at it.

What is this show? Let’s let the show’s narrator tell you. “Andrew and Zelda dated for eight months, three weeks, five days, and one hour. This television program is the comprehensive account of their relationship.” That was handy. Every show should have one of these.

What’s the show’s pedigree? It was written and created by Ben Queen, best known for writing the screenplay for the abysmal Cars 2 and creating the short-lived Fox TV show Drive. But don’t let that scare you away. The always delightful Rashida Jones is one of the show’s executive producers.

What happens in the premiere? Andrew (Ben Feldman), who works at an online dating site, meets and goes out with Zelda (Cristin Milioti), a buttoned-up lawyer. They almost never get together because the romantic Andrew believes in destiny and the pragmatic Zelda thinks that’s all hooey. They’re less like a reverse Dharma and Greg and more like Mulder and Scully, except the mysteries they explore are about the heart (awwwww). After some usual rom-com-plications (I just made that word up) they kiss under the stars and all is well.

Where do I know these two from? Feldman went crazy on Mad Men playing copywriter Ginsberg and Milioti was the titular “Mother” in the final season of How I Met Your Mother.

Click here to watch the pilot episode of A to Z

Which characters will you love? Both Andrew and Zelda are winsome and likeable (and also adorable in just the right way). Even in 23 minutes they seem more like well-formed, modern people and less like types. The show wouldn’t work without them. I was also a big fan of Andrew’s maniacally cynical boss Lydia (Christina Kirk), who has a way of stealing every scene.

Which characters will you hate? Andrew’s best friend and roommate Stu (Henry Zebrowski) is supposed to be adorably irritating. Someone forgot to tell him to bring the adorable.

Is this show any good? The show, as a whole, I am skeptical about, but the pilot is wonderful. The show is narrated by Katey Sagal and is the most similar in tone to the late, great Pushing Daisies, which died before its time on ABC way back in 2009. It’s just the right touch of quirky and magical and you really care about the romance between the main characters. However, the (500) Days of Summer tweeness of it all could go totally off the charts and make it into a smarmy sappy mess.

But what makes the show great is that that never happens. A to Z’s structure is very modern, with silly flashbacks, asides, and meta jokes, but it uses it to deepen the characters rather than prove a distraction or mine it for cheap laughs in a Family Guy kinda way. The humor is sly and sharp and come in the most unexpected places (like a sign hanging above the copy machine in Andrew’s office). That Queen is crafty enough to set up and deliver a joke on the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon shows that this is leagues smarter than your average network sitcom.

What is the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon? Trust me, once you know, you’ll see it everywhere.

What’s the best thing about it? The chemistry between Milioti and Feldman is infectious. Oh, and Lea Thompson (who could use more work) makes an amazing cameo.

What’s the worst thing about it? The high-concept premise is an interesting idea for a show but, like How I Met Your Mother, it raises questions of how it will sustain itself. If they only date for eight months, does that mean they eventually break up (doubtful if season two gets ordered) or do they get engaged so that the show can carry on, which is an annoyingly semantic way around the proclamation at the beginning of the show. And if they stay together, are we going to get bored of these two having a problem and then resolving it in time for the credits to roll? I hope that this show is really daring and they go through an acrimonious breakup, but this is network TV. We’re lucky we got a Baader-Meinhof joke. (See, there it is again!)

Wait, following the rom-com formula, shouldn’t Zelda have a best friend too? Yeah, but I don’t like her.

Should you watch this show? You should watch the pilot right this very second. Don’t worry, you’re boss won’t mind. As for the series, the jury is still out, but I’m so in love with these two that I’m at least going to give it until mid-season before I decide if we want to go steady.