“The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret” is a show starring David Cross that aired on IFC in America. I first heard of it after I had watched “Arrested Development” for the first time last year (I know, late to the party) and loved it. So I saw a show with Cross and Will Arnett and thought it would be amazing. They’re both funny and Cross was the creator. So I set my DVR to record all the episodes. I watched the first two, and forgot all about it. Fast forward to March of this year, and both seasons were still sitting there and I didn’t really want to watch them. The show is pretty okay. I just didn’t care. I normally like slower pacing, but this was “Peanuts” level slow. Perhaps I’m wrong, but the cancellation seems to support my thoughts. It just doesn’t seem to be all that interesting. Todd Margaret (played by Cross) gets sent to England to sell some kind of energy drink but since he’s less qualified than Jayson Blair was at the New York Times, he failed horribly in business and life. He makes funny faux pas about English customs and things and strikes out with women. His job is in jeopardy fairly often and his bosses are just as dumb as he is. I would like to say this is worth a viewing, it just drags so much. The best part has Todd’s dad visit from AMERICA!
Sage advice from any father.
More specifically, Todd goes to London to sell Thunder Muscle. He knows nothing of where he is or what he’s doing. It’s a fish out of water kind of deal. Todd though has a good way around his gross incompetence; he lies at every opportunity. Todd has a crush on a café girl named Alice, who really dislikes him. She does continue to hang out with him though, mainly because he’s just so damn stupid.
The only other really important people are Todd’s Thunder Muscle peers. Will Arnett plays his idiot boss that promoted Todd. He wants Todd to do well to help him support his drug and hooker habits. Spike Jonze plays their boss, who it turns out promoted Will Arnett because he wanted to watch an idiot squirm in a position that he wasn’t ready for? Sense a pattern. That leads us to the best character on the show, which happens to have a great name: Dave.
He is Todd’s only employee. Throughout the series he pulls pranks on Todd and generally makes his life worse. This all is made more fun when it is revealed that Dave is a crazy billionaire that actually owns Thunder Muscle. He did all this to watch an idiot fail in a job he had no right having. All this happens because Todd snaked a girl from him in the states on accident.
The story is really ridiculous. It’s was hard for me to follow only because I’ve my lack of interest. All I know is that a Turkish terrorist kills Alice and Todd is a hero in North Korea for blowing up something after being in trial for his life in England. It just gets exponentially more crazy, hence the name of the show. The storyline and progression can only be described as the increasingly awful decision of David Cross. He’s funny almost all the time, but maybe he should stick to having lines written for him off stage. I leave you with a scene from the show:
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