Nothing changes the dynamics in a tight bond between two people quite like an engagement.

This is a premise explored by the new CBS sitcom “Partners,” which premiered Sept. 24. The show concerns a bromance between two guys, but there’s a spin on the bromance concept—besides the two main characters being male and opposites in personality, one guy is straight and the other is gay.

Having gay principal characters is familiar territory for show creators David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, who helmed the popular “Will & Grace,” a sitcom about the friendship between a gay man and a straight woman that ran from the late nineties to 2006. It was the most successful TV series to feature gay characters in its main cast.

Joe (David Krumholtz) and Louis (Michael Urie) have been friends since childhood and both are currently partners at an architecture firm. Joe is practical, and thinks with his head, not the heart. Louis, on the other hand, is big-hearted but impulsive and quick to exaggerate. Joe’s girlfriend is Ali (Sophia Bush), a jewelry designer. Louis’ boyfriend is Wyatt (Brandon Routh), a vegan nurse who Louis insists is a doctor because, “it’s easier to say.”

In the pilot, Joe is faced with a quandary when Ali gives him a relationship ultimatum, telling him of her wishes to get married and have kids. Louis convinces Joe that he shouldn’t get hitched now and should just let Ali go. However, when Ali happily tells Joe she regrets ever pressuring him into marriage, Joe realizes his love for her and decides to propose. During a yoga class with Ali the morning after the surprise engagement, Louis accidentally spills Joe’s initial break up plan, putting the engagement in jeopardy and driving a wedge in his relationship with Joe. By the end of the episode, all four are seated around a table and Ali notes that there are three couples amongst them.

Much of the laughs come from Urie’s character and his snappy lines, such as when he explains to Wyatt why he needed to get a friend out of jury duty: “A woman who wears Cosmic Radiance by Britney Spears should not serve on a jury.” When Wyatt says he does not want to come off as gay, Louis replies, “You’re a male nurse who DVRs everything on Bravo – that ship has sailed.” Urie, who previously played a sassy fashion assistant on “Ugly Betty,” has excellent comedic timing.

In a TV world populated with the colorful “Glee” and traversed by sitcoms like “How I Met Your Mother,” however, the pilot did not feel like it was breaking any new ground. Louis’ flamboyant nature invites comparisons to the memorable character of Jack McFarland on “Will & Grace.” The plot was thin, and it looks as if the show will need to rely on its characters and their chemistry to make audiences take note.

But the concept of the changing dynamics of friendship when romances become intertwined, and when romances escalate to potential marriages, is an interesting one, and if the show is given a chance to develop chemistry amongst its four leads and show why Joe and Louis are such good friends, it has potential.

 

Christine can be reached at: [email protected]