 My Wife and Kids (ABC) No one's ever done that before. Oh wait, except for about 6,000 other shows. I assumed this one was simply timeslot filler until I did a little research and discovered that the show is now in its fourth season. I guess that's what I get for being in solitary confinement for the last four years, for murdering a popular film actor (I'm not allowed to say the name … ah, what the hell, it was DeForest Kelly). Apparently I haven't missed much in the way of television. It's just as bad as it was before. If anything, it's more crass and soulless. My Wife and Kids has a rather uncomfortably sexual focus considering it's ostensibly a family show … the episode I saw (incidentally, only because I was waiting for a different show and had nothing better to do) had a subplot about the teenage daughter driving her Bible-freak boyfriend crazy by looking too sexy all the time. The running gag is that he keeps getting a raging boner no matter what she wears, so he has her wear increasingly un-provocative clothing. At one point he falls asleep and dreams about her insisiting that the only way he can get over his dilemma is to see her buck naked, so she opens her bathrobe to give him the full monty. Which is kind of funny, but I kept having to remind myself that these characters were supposed to be, like, 15. Maybe it's realistic to address the sexuality of that age, but I'm not convinced it's all that appropriate for a network TV show. The cast is better than average, with Damon Wayans and Tisha Campbell coming off almost like TV legends since they're so far above the proceedings. To their credit, they don't seem to want to convince the viewer that they're trying to do anything but pad the ol' checking account, and I appreciate the honesty. The episode centered around Tisha running the New York Marathon, and Damon boasting that he can beat her in the race with no training. Of course, he ends up failing miserably, and cheats by taking a cab to the finish line. My sole curiosity was the depiction of marathon running in a sitcom … you don't see that every day. It wasn't very well done, though. There's an Urkel-esque precocious nerd character, too, but younger and more savvy, doling out insults and bad puns like the reincarnation of Henny Youngman (who, incidentally, I also murdered). Again, nothing fresh about it, but not unwatchable either. It's a sad statement that a show this thoroughly lacking in innovation or craft is one of the longer-running sitcoms on current TV. Oh well, I'm sure I don't have to care about it much, as I'm about to go back into prison for the murder of John Ritter. Why is it you weren't aware that these people were murdered? Probably because I have an outstanding publicist. Unfortunately, I have a pretty bad lawyer.
Review by God's Messenger © 2003 |