From “needing some work” to “a drag in every way” television critics throughout North America have had quite a field day in writing about ABC’s cross dressing comedy WORK IT. And for good reason, it’s not a very good show.
Yet rather than simply pile on to the chorus of criticism that the internet has been heaping upon executive producers Ted Cohen and Andrew Reich (Who we can only hope for the sake of their sanity are sitting on a beautiful beach thousands of miles from the nearest Wi-Fi connection at this very moment) we thought — in the spirit of the New Year and all — we’d do something somewhat uncharacteristic of us: Focus on the positives.
Which is to say, if you can make it past the unbelievable premise that has unemployed friends Lee Standish (BIG LOVE’s Ben Koldyke) and Angel Ortiz (PRISON BREAK’s Amaury Nolasco) successfully pass themselves off as woman in an effort to find employment in what friend Brian (John Caparulo) calls a “Mancession,” the series does have one, actually make that two, redeeming qualities to it.
First and foremost, as office mean-girl and top pharmaceutical sales woman Grace, LOST alum Rebecca Mader makes the most of her all-too-limited screen time. And second, despite a cringe-worthy music montage set to “My Humps” chronicling Lee’s somewhat less than successful initial attempt to become a woman, there is an underlying sweetness to the Extreme Makeover: Gender Edition that the show’s leading men embark upon to help support themselves and their families in these increasingly tough economic time.
Unfortunately for all parties involved both in front and behind the camera, we suspect that said aforementioned positives won’t be nearly enough to combat the show’s single biggest problem. That being, when you strip away all the controversy surrounding the series and comparisons to BOSOM BUDDIES you’re simply left with a half hour comedy that is bare on laughs. 
WORK IT premieres on Tuesday January 3rd at 8:30PM on ABC (CityTV in Canada)