New Sitcom ‘How We Roll’ Strikes Out On CBS

Given my penchant for TV programming, the immediate reaction I had to new CBS comedy How We Roll was to keep the expectations low. Historically, anything the network airs in the Thursday 9:30 p.m. ET half hour is generally the lowest-rated of the quartet of sitcoms on the evening. So, that alone told me this show was not all that good. Had it been better, chances are the Eye net would have scheduled it out of Young Sheldon at 8:30 p.m.

Based on the life of the professional bowler Tom Smallwood, How We Roll from Mark Gross (Man With a Plan) features Pete Holmes (Crashing) as Tom Smallwood, a Midwest husband and dad who gets laid off from a car assembly line and decides to chase his dream of becoming a professional bowler.

The official logline for How We Roll: As a skilled player, Tom knows that in bowling you get two chances; no matter what you do with the first ball, you get another one to make it right — the ultimate second chance. Keeping that in mind, he begins his new career with the loving OK from his wife, Jen (Katie Lowes), and the unfaltering support of Archie (Chi McBride), his mentor and the proud owner of Archie’s Lanes: Home of the Curly Fry. It remains to be seen if Tom will strike it big on the pro bowlers circuit, but right now, the pins are set, he’s taking his second shot, and it’s 300 or bust.

Like any good sitcom, a supporting cast of likable characters is a key ingredient. So, the one piece of positive news is Katie Lowes as Tom’s supportive wife Jen, who has dreams of opening her own salon one day. Stand by your man, I say! But Julie White as Tom’s curmudgeon TV mother Helen, who enjoys criticizing his wife and reminding him of his responsibilities, is just all too familiar, only this time minus any laughs.

Mason White as their young son Sam, meanwhile, is bogged down with typical non-adult sitcom banter. And I am not necessarily sure why the talented Chi McBride is wasting his time conversing amid annoying canned laughter as Archie, Tom’s mentor and the owner of Archie’s Lanes. If there is any chemistry between Tom and Archie, it was not visible in the pilot episode.

Although I am quick to remind anyone that you can’t necessarily judge any new series by the first episode, CBS reducing the episode order from 13 to 11 before it even aired tells me the network has no faith in How Me Roll. Fortunately, this is all the more reason for the former time period occupant, B Positive, to be renewed for the 2022-23 TV season.