Gary Brooks (Jay Mohr) is a recently divorced man who spends his days sharing custody of his two kids with his wife Allison (Paula Marshall), dealing with her new fiance, Dr. Walter Krandall (Ed Begley Jr.) and trying to run his house painting business. Most episodes revolve around the issues he has dealing with his wife's approaching marriage (which just happens to be with their former marriage counselor) and making his home a suitable place for little Tommy (Ryan Malgarini) and Louise (Kathryn Newton).
Gary Unmarried starts off with Gary finding himself in a new relationship, and for quite a while, the situations involving the newly divorced man trying to manage both his ex-wife and new girlfriend, Vanessa (Jamie King) make for quite a lot of comedic situations. As you would expect, the two ladies butt heads quite a bit early on, and much to Gary's chagrin, that initial rivalry eventually turns into a friendship. Of course, with their friendship, Gary is scared that Allison will tell Vanessa all the bad things he has done over the past 15 years and scare her away.
Oddly enough, the show evolves quite a lot during this first season. I think a lot of it is the show simply trying to find its groove, but in the process of trying to figure out exactly what it needs to do, a couple of characters just disappear from the set, while others show up without warning and become more than simple walk-on roles. Among these mid-season regulars are Gary's dad, Jack (Max Gail) and later, Gary's half-brother Mitch (Rob Riggle). A couple of other characters are introduced in the middle of the season, but remain walk-on roles like Allison's mother (Jane Curtin) and father (Martin Mull).
In fact, one of my favorite episodes from this season is "Gary Gives Thanks" where these three parents are first introduced. While the divorce agreement says that Gary gets this particular Thanksgiving with the kids, Allison insists that he can't do the job and does everything she can to get Gary to move the dinner to her place. These tactics include everything from stealing Gary's turkey to kidnapping his father with the promise of a soft bed, strong shower, and a blind eye to the incense-smells that will come from his room. Of course, Gary doesn't take anything laying down and does his own bit of parental-stealing.
Other good episodes include the one where Gary meets Vanessa's friends, one where Gary learns that Louise is a golf prodigy, but knows Allison will never let her take lessons and another where Mitch first comes into the picture. There are plenty of other good episodes though. In "Gary's Ex-Brother-In-Law," Gary's company is being audited and Allison convinces him to bring in her highly successful brother (Matthew Lillard), only to find out he has lost everything and doesn't want to go back to the wall-street life.
"The Chemistry of Comedy" is a great featurette that you don't normally see in sit-com DVD's. Not only does it talk about the chemistry between Mohr and Marshall, but it goes into aspects like the different guest actors, performing in front of a live audience, working with kids and how much of comedy is science and precision. Another featurette interviews Ed Begley Jr. and his green and eco-friendly living. The final featurette follows Mohr around the set as he gives viewers a tour of the locations.
While Gary Unmarried starts off a little stiff, it finds its stride after a few episodes and becomes a really amusing comedy. Some of the cast changes that happen throughout the season are a little odd, but chalking that up to the show finding its stride makes that easily excusable. Gary Unmarried is just a fun family-friendly sit-com that seems rare these days.
