IFC and The Mary Van Note Show

A once-weekly series about a comedian’s fictional quest to date San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, IFC.com’s The Mary Van Note Show stars the eponymous Mary — an SF-based “alternative comedian” who mixes puerile humor with sexual and scatological imagery.

The MVN Show doesn’t rise much higher in concept than the initial joke. Mary’s faux quest is the stage for a series of skits (job interviews, conversation lessons) in which Mary assumes the earnest demeanor of the average girl, somehow oblivious to the idea that the image-conscious Mayor Newsom would never, ever be seen near her.

Unfortunately, since Mary’s not really trying to meet Newsom, the skits lack narrative inertia and rely solely on Mary’s tepid one-liners, among them, “Gavin really wants to bone me.”

Though uninspired, The MVN Show’s shock-value humor is somewhat representative of IFC.com’s admirable promotion of alternative fare — a breath of fresh air in comparison to other networks’ antiseptic online content (hi, ABC’s Squeegees).

Unfortunately, The MVN Show’s also indicative of the hit-and-miss quality of content at IFC. The site’s scripted dramedies (Getting Away with Murder and Young American Bodies) are excellent series, benefiting from extensive production and character development. But more recent releases, such as the skit-based Good Morning, Internet! fall flat, the victim of uninspired content (a faux morning news show? Really?) and shoddy production. What’s more, both GMI and The MVN Show rely on a single joke, i.e. the earnest underachiever trope. That’s thin material to on which to hang a daily series. But as is, the comedy doesn’t stand out to merit repeat viewing. For whatever naive reason, I was expecting MVN to actually pursue Gavin Newsome, in the same way that Brian pursued Drew Barrymore.

The sheer quantity of IFC’s online programming (eight shows in total) suggests the site’s accomplished at acquiring talent — Van Note’s a successful comedian in San Francisco, and has had some small success on YouTube — but not so much at developing the shows. If it hopes to compete in a market of ever-increasing viewer expectations, IFC needs to up its game.