This season's standout new half-hour comedy, The Knights of Prosperity, finally arrives tonight at 9 on ABC. It's a smart, single camera show about a group of blue collar guys (and one attractive woman) who decide to improve their status by robbing a celebrity. In the pilot they set their sites on Mick Jagger (who plays himself in very funny segments throughout tonight's episode).
If the series had premiered last year as originally planned it would've been one of my top picks for Fall TV, but the network decided to hold off until midseason. At the time I thought that might be a good move, but it's possible Knights could've benefited from the Dancing with the Stars lead in that Ted Danson's Help Me Help You squandered. Now Knights goes out with According to Jim as a lead-in...the differences couldn't be more striking.
Knights stars vaguely familiar TV faces like Donal Logue, Sofia Vergara and Lenny Venito but their credits are not as important as the chemistry they develop as an ensemble. Each of the six characters is well defined, unique and smartly cast. One of the show's most immediately appealing traits is the lack of cookie-cutter casting.
The writing and direction for the pilot are equally sharp. It's impossible to say if the show will sustain its heist-driven concept, but the writing and cast chemistry should make Knights a welcome addition to the quality TV comedy landscape.
If you miss tonight's premiere you can still catch it on ABC.com tomorrow.
Knights is paired with another new comedy, In Case of Emergency. I haven't seen it, but I hear it's not so good.
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