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2 • January 3 - 9, 2016 • Brainerd Dispatch By Jacqueline Spendlove TV Media E very spring, countless wide- eyed 20-somethings cross a stage, pick up a diploma and shake the Dean's hand, envisioning what they're going to do, what es- teemed and high-paying position they'll soon hold now that college is finally behind them and real life is about to begin. Of course, reality soon sets in. There are loans to repay and the economy stinks and no one's hir- ing and what the heck job does an Arts degree get you anyway? You're flat broke, you still can't cook and not once, in the count- less hours you spent in classrooms and lecture halls, did anyone teach you how to produce a well-crafted resumé. True adulthood, as it turns out, is still a long way off. The coming-of-age story has long been explored on screen, and now Fox is presenting its own look at life after college in "Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life," premiering Sunday, Jan. 3 on Fox. Fox is really delivering on the comedies this season. The Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" just wrapped its third successful sea- son, while the ever-popular "New Girl" is about to kick off its fifth. "Grandfathered" and "The Grind- er," two sitcoms new to the fall lineup, have secured full-season orders, while "Scream Queens," which debuted in September, won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Most Exciting New Se- ries. Clearly, "Cooper Barrett," al- ready extended from six episodes to 13, is in good company. When we meet the titular Coo- per Barrett, played by blue-eyed Brit Jack Cutmore-Scott ("Kings- man: The Secret Service," 2014), he's graduating college, moving into a new apartment with his friends and getting ready for life as a learned adult. As the series progresses, however, it becomes clear that he's still got an awful lot to learn. The show is a frank and funny celebration of the types of idiotic mistakes and absurd misadven- tures that many of us encounter in that half-adult period of our 20s, when we're no longer students but not yet in a position to settle down. As Cooper says in the pilot: "No one has ever bothered to properly prepare anyone for this next decade of your life ... until now." The premise of the show is that, through his own mistakes, embar- rassments and dubious exploits, Cooper serves as a guide for his fellow 20-something Americans who struggle to navigate life and love during this transitory phase of life. "Your 20s feel like one decade- long practical joke that everyone over the age of 30 is playing on you," said Cutmore-Scott in a pro- mo. "Cooper is essentially your lens of 'don't do what I did' — all the while, kind of clueing us into the fact that the joke is actually pretty funny.'" He also compares his character to famed goof-offer Ferris Bueller: "You go with [Cooper] on the jour- ney, no matter what happens." His equally goofy pals help with all of that. Barry (James Earl, "Ground Floor") is, as Cutmore- Scott describes him, the show's "disaster waiting to happen." He's huge, loud and completely over- the-top, but loveable despite his clownish destructiveness. Naive, bespectacled and decidedly un- suave Neal (Charlie Saxton, "Hung") would like to see himself as the group's voice of reason (try- ing in vain to get his roommates to look over the lease instead of throwing a housewarming rager, for instance) but he's acutely aware that he's every bit as lost and unsure of himself as the rest of them. The token gal pal of the group is Kelly (Meaghan Rath, "Being Hu- man"), their sharp and free-spirit- ed new neighbor who, while so far just friends with Cooper and his buddies, is plainly being set up as a potential love interest for the show's lead. After all, no sitcom would be complete without the will-they-won't-they scenario that's practically a staple in the genre. Cooper's older brother, Josh (Justin Bartha, "The Hangover," 2009), is a clear foil for the rowdy and wayward trio. Having opened his own law firm at 22 and mar- ried at 23, Josh is a perfect exam- ple of how you're "supposed" to do things after graduating college. He's aware now, however, that he missed a lot of opportunities and failed to live his young years to the fullest. In taking up with Cooper and his friends, Josh sees the op- portunity for a second chance at his 20s — to let loose, be irrespon- sible and make some bad deci- sions, despite being 37 and mar- ried with a baby on the way. Rounding off the group is Josh's wife, Leslie, a suc- cessful lawyer who, as actress Liza Lapira ("Crazy, Stupid, Love," 2011) de- scribes her char- acter, is, of the six of them, the closest to having it all to- gether. Indeed, she's at the oppo- site end of the spec- trum from the rest of the gang and Josh, though he loves her dearly, refers to her as a "fun suck- er." She symbolizes all the things Josh is trying to es- cape as he joins his much-younger cohorts in their carefree antics. Whether or not viewers can tru- ly learn anything from the gang's exploits is de- batable, but the show is sure to entertain and provide a laugh and perhaps, for those on the other side of their 20s, a little nostalgia. "Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviv- ing Life" joins a roster of solid prime-time comedies when it pre- mieres Sunday, Jan. 3, on Fox. Jack Cutmore-Scott stars in "Cooper Barrett's Guide to Surviving Life" Live and learn New Fox comedy celebrates the post-college struggle Cover Story this week Like us on Facebook to receive info and specials at Baxter Country Kitchen www.BAXTERcountrykitchen.com 7788 Fairview Rd, Baxter 218-829-1739 Guest Check on guest checks totaling $18.00 or more (Before Tax) Coupon Exp. 1/17/16 Not valid with any other offers or discounts. One coupon per table, per person, per visit. No cash value. Customer pays all applicable sales tax. Valid at Baxter location only. Off $ 3.00 One coupon per table, per person, per visit. One coupon per table, per person, per visit. $ 1.00 CAFÈ STYLE BEVERAGES REAL EXPRESSO ICED COFFEE & ICED LATTES Not valid with any other offers or discounts. One coupon per table, per person, per visit. No cash value. Customer pays all applicable sales tax. Valid at Baxter location only. One coupon per table, per person, per visit. One coupon per table, per person, per visit. 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