(premieres 9/26)
What's it about?
GUYS WITH KIDS is a new comedy from Emmy Award-winning executive producer Jimmy Fallon about three 30-something dads who try to hold on to their youth as they face the responsibilities of having kids. Thankfully, Gary, Chris and Nick have each other to help navigate the highs and lows of fatherhood - while still trying to remain dudes.
(from NBC.com)
You should watch if...
• you're a 30-something dad trying to hold on to your youth as you face the responsibilities of having kids.
• you're a huuuuuge Jimmy Fallon fan.
• you're feeling nostalgic for the 90s.
So, how was it?
Where to begin? Anyone who knows me knows that I am in no way a fan of multi-cam sitcoms with live audiences and/or laugh tracks. Comedy has evolved so much since the era of live studio audiences, I don't understand why every TV season at least one network thinks it's a brilliant idea to try to recapture the magic of that bygone era of clearly fake sets and broad humor. Usually it's CBS, but this year NBC has decided to branch out of its critically-lauded, low-rated niche comedies like COMMUNITY and PARKS AND RECREATION and aim for a wider audience (read: broader comedy). Thusly, the network has now given us such gems as ANIMAL PRACTICE and now GUYS WITH KIDS.
Truth be told, GUYS WITH KIDS is nowhere near as awful as that dead-on-arrival atrocity, ANIMAL PRACTICE. Neither is it as soul-suckingly horrendous as last year's WORK IT! or HOW TO BE A GENTLEMAN. But neither is it worth wasting my time to tune in for again. It's just not my cup of tea. But if you are a fan of a studio audience telling you when to laugh, then this is the show for you.
Everyone is serviceable in their roles, though there are no earth-shattering performances or multi-dimensional portraits of complex characters. Anthony Anderson (TRANSFORMERS) plays Gary, the loud-mouthed stay-at-home dad. Zach Cregger (THE WHITEST KIDS U'KNOW) is Nick, the goofy oddball of the bunch. And Jesse Bradford (ROMEO + JULIET, BRING IT ON, SWIMFAN) is the handsome and intelligent yet inexplicably inept Chris. All three fill their roles fine while not bringing anything particularly special or new or exciting to them.
The show as a whole feels like a throwback to a bygone era of television: the live studio audience, the characters drinking Capri Sun, the Titanic-themed parties, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar guest-starring and, of course, 90s It-guy Jesse Bradford. Several times I found myself thinking, "Which decade are we in?" Maybe this show will go down in history as a period piece. You know, DOWNTON ABBEY, BOARDWALK EMPIRE, GUYS WITH KIDS. They're all the same, really.
And the verdict is:
** Meh. Not the worst but not for me.
I actually had to invent a new category for this show because I can't in good conscience give this the same rating as I gave ANIMAL PRACTICE and WORK IT!, but I can also tell you right now that I will never be tuning in again. So now there's a category between Atrocious and Okay. If you like 90's nostalgia and laugh tracks, there's no better show out there for you right now. I would normally predict a quick cancellation for this show, but with Jimmy Fallon on board as executive producer, I can see this one sticking around a bit longer than I would otherwise assume.
What about you, Fellow Addicts? Were you surprised by how un-atrocious GUYS WITH KIDS was? Or did you find it just plain awful? Or did you actually like it? Vote in the poll below and then hit the comments!
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