‘Angel From Hell’ review: Jane Lynch’s not-so-divine comedy

Jane Lynch, right, plays Amy, a brassy woman who insinuates herself into the organized and seemingly perfect life of Allison (Maggie Lawson, left), claiming to be her guardian angel, in "Angel From Hell." Credit: CBS / Cliff Lipson
WHEN|WHERE Premieres Thursday night at 9:30 on CBS/2
GRADE C
WHAT IT’S ABOUT Jane Lynch is this show’s star, title character and co-executive producer. That’s her head plopped atop the cherub in the series logo. And her on-screen guiding spirit is equally inescapable. Arriving unannounced one day to “improve” the life of co-star Maggie Lawson’s character, she prods the uptight young dermatologist to live life fuller — by which she means downing margaritas while chit-chatting about “degrading role play.”
Stalker? Nut job? Or the guardian angel she claims to be?
If Lynch’s “Glee” cheer coach seemed controlling, her new oddball is an exuberant steamroller of unsought advice, not to mention a fusillade confessor of everything from drunken driving arrests to being “banned from Instagram for creating the hashtag #bodypartordelimeat.” The eccentricity onslaught extends to nonverbal quirks — magic tricks, clown makeup, her ubiquitous flask of crème de menthe.
MY SAY Through the first two episodes, Lawson’s blindsided babe is reduced to a lot of putting-up-with — not that she isn’t good at that. (Witness her work on “Psych” and James Caan’s “Back in the Game” sitcom.) There isn’t much left for Kevin Pollak’s derm partner/dad and Kyle Bornheimer’s live-in brother. But theytalktoofast doing it.
Lynch can be as goofy-delightful here as in the ensembles of “Party Down” and “Glee.” But she’s all over everything, all the time, in a show that just won’t let up.
BOTTOM LINE The title’s third word begins to feel apt.
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