But the CBS sitcom is the season's best new entry.
When we started making that observation to various friends -- including some working on the show -- they asked us what we were drinking?
We were especially surprised by that response coming from TGI workers.
But it wasn't that they didn't think their show was funny, it was that they felt their show had been slammed by one critic after another.
The show revolves around 'outdoor' icon Jack (Joel McHale) forced by changing times and trends to stop his silly (our opinion) treks around the world.
Silly?
They sometimes resulted in cover stories for the monthly magazine OUTDOOR LIMITS.
The magazine is doing poorly -- obviously.
It's hard times for all print publications -- especially niche ones revolving around the travels of an 'outdoor man' like Jack.
Roland (Stephen Fry) decides to revamp the magazine as an online publication and hires people he hopes are good at click bait: Clark (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), Emma (Christine Ko) and Mason (Shaun Brown).
Jack's at odds with the three and confused about reporting to Roland's daughter Brooke (Susannah Fielding) who also happens to be Jack's ex-girfriend.
Why do critics hate this show?
They feel Jack is so mean to the millennials.
They don't know enough to speak, they should sit their tired asses down.
Joel McHale hales most recently from COMMUNITY which frequently suffered from an outlook that his Jeff Winger was the most amazing person not just on the show but in the entire world.
We never suffered from that deception.
But apparently a lot of critics did and still do.
Apparently, a lot of male critics get hard ons while watching Joel.
Well good for them.
But they're confusing their lust for McHale with what he's actually playing.
He's not the good guy.
He's not the sweetheart.
McHale's Jack is an asshole.
The millennials are not mocked anymore than Jack is.
What world does a fool like Jack live in that, in the year 2016, he finds it shocking that a monthly print magazine could struggle?
How could anyone not know about this struggle?
NATIONAL LAMPOON and INSIDE SPORTS died in 1998, MUSICIAN in 1999, MELODY MAKER, RAY GUN, SPORT and MIRABELLA in 2000, MADEMOISELLE, OUTDOOR EXPLORER, WORKING WOMAN and BRILL'S CONTENT MAGAZINE in 2001 and TALK, MCCALL'S, RADICAL SOCIETY, SOCIALIST REVIEW and THE LESBIAN REVIEW OF BOOKS in 2002, PARTISAN REVIEW and WHOLE EARTH REVIEW in 2003, YM (YOUNG MISS) stopped published in 2004, CLAMOR, THE NEW LEADER and GIRLFRIENDS died at the end of 2006 while CRACKED, BLACK ISSUES BOOK REVIEW, LiP, PRACTICAL ANARCHY and JANE came to an end in 2007, GOURMET , RADAR, OFF OUR BACKS, HARP and MEN'S VOGUE in 2008, VIBE, PC MAGAZINE, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ADVENTURE, NICKELODEON MAGAZINE, MOVIELINE and BLENDER in 2009, PREMIERE in 2010, LEFT TURN in 2011, SPORTING NEWS in 2012, PRO FOOTBALL WEEKLY in 2013, DETAILS and FITNESS MAGAZINE in 2015 . . .
That's not a full list of magazines that ceased print publication.
And even NEWSWEEK, which stopped print publication at the end of 2012 only to return two years later, is struggling to move the print copies each week.
That Jack is caught surprised by the state of print goes to what a self-involved ass he is.
And that's not a complaint from a viewing stand point.
Watching Joel McHale's Jack get worked up and frustrated repeatedly each episode is very funny.
So is seeing Christopher Mintz-Plasse in a weekly format.
ROLE MODELS, KICK ASS (and the sequel), PITCH PERFECT and NEIGHBORS (and the sequel) have been major comic scores for Mintz-Plasse. As Clark, his worship of Jack is both endearing and hilarious.
Emma and Mason are far less idealistic than Clark and, for example, when they're scheming together against Brooke, they bring a whole devious spin to it.
THE GREAT INDOORS is a work place comedy.
And no one -- not even Brooke -- is sane.
Everyone's working their own angle.
And it's hilarious.
Unless you're watching with a chip on your shoulder.
The review most cited by people with the show -- the review that got it so wrong -- is David Sims' piece for THE ATLANTIC which reads like a COMMUNITY fan boi unable to move forward in life.
If you're also stuck in the past, you might want to avoid THE GREAT INDOORS.
It makes sport of everything, after all, including current trends.
But if you're looking for a genuinely funny show and can accept the fact that Joel McHale can't spend his whole life playing Jeff Winger, CBS has just the sitcom for you.
