Kevin James stars as Kevin Gibson, the snarky and experienced crew chief of Bobby Spencer Racing, who manages to punch way above his respectable weight and also manages a talented professional NASCAR crew. Kevin is the driving force of the show’s otherwise comparably unknown cast, but they have strong chemistry on screen and all do a fantastic job in their given roles.

The Crew sports a unique setting for a sitcom, that of a NASCAR racing company, focusing moreso on the team that manages the vehicle rather than the drivers and races themselves, with all races occurring off screen to further the plot. This setting is aesthetically colourful, sleek, affluent and modern, a nice change from the drab apartments of the likes of Friends and The Big Bang Theory. Film techniques are rather typical however, going with the old motto “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. While watching The Crew it’s easy to see similarities to Gabriel Iglesias’ (aka Fluffy) recent sitcom Mr. Iglesias, though if enjoy the style, this isn’t an issue.

Where The Crew struggles is with its humour. It’s just not that funny. Sure there are laughs sprinkled throughout, but rarely do the onscreen gags and Kevin’s relentless bullying of coworkers for our amusement elicit more than a nasal snort. These jokes have all been made many many times before in some form, and switching out sections of them for more modern topics does not necessarily breathe new life into them.

However, this flaw is easily ignored for the chemistry of the characters. The Crew’s crew work well together, with no characters feeling particularly out of place or boring, and the drama between them maintaining a solid balance between engaging and hopeful without ever becoming stressful.

While The Crew comes together well, an aspect that becomes less palatable under scrutiny is the harshness of some of the character interactions. Played in the sitcom setting it’s easy to miss how unrealistically nasty some of the things said between characters are. This contributes to the show’s aforementioned lacking humour, and adds the occasional awkward aftertaste to a scene in the viewer’s eye.

Ultimately I found The Crew to be enjoyable. I happily watched it start to finish and am glad of the experience. It’s not as fresh and unique as you might like, but it is comfortable and familiar while being new enough that it doesn’t feel like you’re just watching reruns of another sitcom. If you haven’t gotten around to watching The Office, Community or Parks and Rec yet, go watch them first, but if you’re just looking for something to watch that you haven’t seen yet and which isn’t going to make you regret it, The Crew will do fine.