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Thirty-four-year-old Joel Larsen (newcomer Penn Badgley) is an unmarried, unfulfilled paper salesman with the nagging feeling that he has missed out on life. A freak accident jettisons him 20 years into the past to his freshman year of high school. Now, back in the early 1980s with his 34-year-old mind trapped in his 14-year-old body, Joel has the unique opportunity to do things differently, both for himself and his dysfunctional family.
Arriving unexpectedly in his own past, Joel realizes that the 1980s were a pivotal decade for everyone in his family. His bright and ambitious mother Karen (Gigi Rice, The John Larroquette Show) is full of new ideas that are way ahead of their time, but Joel's dad Bill (Michael Milhoan, Tin Cup) is completely resistant to change. Joel's sister Cheryl (Angela Goethals, Jerry Maguire) is a rebellious cheerleader, poised on the edge of some disastrous decisions. Add to the mix Joel's two best friends, Pat Brody (newcomer Josh Wise) and Isabelle Meyers (Natasha Melnick, Freaks and Geeks), and the suddenly young-again Joel realizes that he is in the rare position of being able to put his 20/20 hindsight to practical use. Though he will often have to choose between helping himself and helping others, Joel knows he has no choice but to take a deep breath and live his youth over again.
This show has a lot in common with That Was Then, however in this show we don't get to revisit the future and truly see the consequences of the changes the lead character is attempting to make in his own life and in his future.
Do Over is a 30 minute comedy, looking at the funny and embarrassing situations from high school that so many people wish they could go back in time and change. Striking out at the biggest baseball game of the season (which gives that pitcher the confidence to end up in the major leagues) and such. But That Was Then showed us the future, and let us figure out what made things go wrong and how -- Do Over simply tells us through the enthusiastic monologues of a teenage boy and being told is never as much fun as being shown.
If Do Over would show a bit more plot wise (though they show plenty when it comes to the cross-dressing principal who is a lot of fun to watch) and tell a bit less I'd enjoy it a lot more, but as is the episodes are easy enough to sit through -- they just don't prompt me to kick myself if I miss one.
