Exit
TV
fied with reaching for the easy,
stupid, obvious, tired ones. Why?
Because we can. Here’s the deal:
We’re just not going to try that
hard. Our priority is enabling our
own laziness.”
It’s entirely appropriate to go
after Dads for its racist and sexist elements, and many critics
have done that extremely well.
But those two elements are just
symptoms of a much deeper
problem with the show: It’s not
just willing, but determined to
take the easy way out at almost
every turn. It’s like a cook preparing every single dish in the
deep-fryer, no matter what ingredients are on hand.
The second episode of Dads is
less overtly racist than the first,
but what becomes even more clear
is that the premise — which revolves around two dads coming to
live with their less-than-enthusiastic sons — results in stories
and situations that are plodding
and strained. A show about family members who don’t actually
like each other could be funny, but
this is not that show. Creatively
speaking, Dads comes off as if it
were a much-resented homework
assignment for all involved.
Fair enough, Dads: You can
HUFFINGTON
09.29.13
settle into the rut you created for
yourself in the first two episodes,
and I won’t give the show any
more coverage. We both win.
But because critics live to
destroy and attack everything
that is good, let’s not stop there.
These aren’t all the new comedies
coming down the pipe, however. I
enjoyed Trophy Wife and Brook-
It’s 1995, and a bunch
of Caroline in the City
writers got too much
money to make the kind
of semi-crappy sitcom
that used to be slotted
into those gaps between
Friends and Will & Grace or
attached to Frasier like an
awkward barnacle.”
lyn Nine-Nine. I’m mixed on Back
in the Game, The Crazy Ones,
Mom and The Michael J. Fox
Show, but I’ll be tackling them a
little later this fall.
Until then, onward
with the parade of
non-awesomeness!
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