Snark for the centuries

Something is altering the American Revolution, and it appears to be the fault of time-traveling college custodian Dan (Adam Pally of The Mindy Project) for dating Paul Revere’s daughter.

So begins Fox’s witty new comedy Making History (Sunday nights at 8:30 ET). Creator Julius Sharpe has a background writing for late-night comedy as well as Family Guy. If audiences can get past his chamber-pot humor—and there is plenty of it—the remainder of the show is full of pointed political satire.

In the first two episodes, that means often taking aim at the Founding Fathers, portraying them as sexist and gun-obsessed. At one point, Deborah Revere gushes to Dan, “See, this is why I love you. Who else would talk politics with a woman?”

It’s refreshing to see Pally, who played such a clueless character on The Mindy Project, as the “expert” on time travel, showing his friends around the past. In a moment made particularly funny by co-star Yassir Lester, Dan smashes priceless colonial artifacts in front of the modern-day history teacher in an effort to convince him the time machine works—and there’s plenty more where those came from.

At this point, the premise of the show is still a little confusing, and it’s not totally clear how the “rules” of this universe work. It will also be interesting to see how writers handle Deborah, who will accompany Dan and Chris, the history professor, through their time travels. She’s set up as a women’s rights advocate, frustrated with her role in colonial America—but will the two guys continue to awkwardly mansplain the future to her?

With Dan, Deborah, and Chris, who is black, we can likely expect the trio to encounter many more sexist, racist, or otherwise “backward” characters in other time periods. So far, the show relies heavily on these for its comedic moments, and they are funny, if one-sided.

Will Making History ever be brave enough to make sport of the foibles and blind spots of liberal icons like, say, Margaret Sanger?