Review: THE INCREASINGLY POOR DECISIONS OF TODD MARGARET: SERIES ONE (DVD)

Todd Margaret is, not to put too fine a point on it, an asshole. David Cross's character in this six-episode BBC/U.S. co-production isn't a bad person necessarily, but he is stupid and a compulsive liar and unwilling or unable to admit when he's well in over his head. But then, that's kind of the joke of the series, isn't it? Cross created this series where Portland resident and temp employee Todd Margaret is drafted to lead the U.K. sales of the potentially toxic energy drink Thunder Muscle by his obnoxious, foul-mouthed, possibly deranged boss Will Arnett, and upon his arrival Margaret continuously alienates, pisses off, or is subsequently abused by the London locals who aren't really sure what to make of this little man for whom the term "schlub" was certainly invented.

Now here's the thing about this show and Cross and company cop to it in the special features: Todd Margaret as a series is afflicted with the Meet the Parents syndrome whereby the lead could easily, cleanly extricate him or herself from their own, well, increasingly poor decisions by simply admitting their mistake(s) or confessing their ignorance. The difference here and what possibly keeps Todd Margaret from grating the way the Meet the Parents films did is that Ben Stiller was playing an essentially decent and smart guy and it was baffling why he never spoke up to save himself pain and/or embarrassment. With Todd Margaret, well, see the first paragraph re: stupidity.

If you can get past that, there's quite a lot to like about this half-hour comedy's first season. Each episode is framed with the title on trial, a series of increasingly dire charges being read out against him as the gallery hows for his blood. Form there each episode follows his attempts to sell the hundreds of cases of the radioactive, as it turns out, Thunder Muscle while trying to bond with/command the loyalty of his mysterious employee Dave (Blake Harrison, all insinuation and suspicion himself), and in the midst of his often bungled attempts to court a local cafe owner named Alice (Sharon Hogan) who sees sweetness in Todd where everyone else rightly sees an asshole. Todd--in no certain order--soils himself, has his apartment soiled, possibly enables a terrorist plot, inadvertently embraces white power philosophy and so on. Again, you just simply have to be prepared to go for the ride as Todd digs himself in deeper and deeper.

Of course, the choicest role in the series is Arnett's. The Arrested Development star Brent Wilts is a whirlwind of vulgarity with a deep, dark secret hinted at in the fifth episode. It's very, very important to him that Margaret unload those cases of Thunder Muscle but other than that, his primary concerns seem to be finding a way of securing an endless stream of sex from what he charmingly refers to as the local "talent."

The first season ends on a cliffhanger based on sheer mortification and there's a big question mark about where the series can possibly go in the second season (which conveniently airs in the U.S. starting next week). And based on this first season, I can happily say that I'm curious about what terrible, disastrous, increasingly poor decisions Todd Margaret will make.

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret: Series One is on DVD and VOD now. Season two begins Friday, January 6th at 10:30 ET on the IFC.