Ah, September, the month when the world of television blossoms as the new season begins. Which shows will viewers be watching five years from now? I don't know, but I can make a prediction on a show that viewers will probably not be watching five weeks from now: Fox's horrible The War At Home.
It's sort of like Grounded for Life combined with Arrested Development AND Malcolm in The Middle. And I didn't laugh once. I don't think I even smiled, although I'm pretty sure I made a few rude gestures in the television's general direction. I think there were some funny commercials. I'm smelling...flop! Worst of all the show appears to be using a laugh track. Not "recorded in front of a studio audience" laugh track but the old-fashioned kind, canned laughter, the fake laughter you hear on The Flintstones or The Brady Bunch (and sounding like the same friggin' laugh tracks used by those two shows). What is it, 1967? I dunno, I might be wrong, but I can't imagine a real studio audience laughing so hard and so often at The War At Home, unless said audience was drugged/drunk/forced to laugh at gun point/fake. I mean, right at the very beginning Rapaport says three words and the laugh track comes on so loud that my subwoofer killed itself in protest.
Anyway, the show bored me to tears and I'm just too lazy to write anything in-depth about it, so I'll let the IMDB do my work for me. First of all, to the man who wrote the script for the pilot episode, Rob Lotterstein, I say this: I want my 30 minutes of life back!
So, the show stars Michael Rapaport as the father, Anita Barone as the mother, there were some kids, I dunno, some stuff happened, like one of the kids possibly being gay (funny!) and the 16-year-old daughter as a "born again" virgin (friggin' hilarious) and I think there might have been several other kids, or maybe just one, and they also had this sub-plot where Peter broke Carol's favorite vase and then he glued it back together and Greg and Bobby didn't say anything so Peter could go on a camping trip...wait a minute, that's The Brady Bunch. Gotta think here, The War At Home...well, all I can say is that war is indeed hell. At least next week we get The Apprentice and The Apprentice 2.0 with Martha Stewart.
ed: JH
.jpg?t=20120209092158)
Article comments
1 - Sterfish
Yes, I agree with you wholeheartedly. This show is putrid. Damn, I should have used that adjective in my review.
2 - Victor Lana
So we have another bad show. How many have come and gone since the start of TV?
All I care about is THE SHIELD and 24 anyway. When the hell are they coming back?
3 - Bob A. Booey
I didn't even bother watching it because I knew it'd suck. It breaks up the whole Fox Sunday comedy block with suckiness and it won't last long. If I had to guess, it'll be gone within 6 weeks for King of the Hill's return.
Once football season is over, maybe they'll put Malcolm back on Sundays during the 6 pm hour or maybe move Bernie Mac there as well.
That is all.
4 - Chris Beaumont
It was awful.
It's a shame, I like Rapaport, but this is not the right vehicle for him, or anyone for that matter...
5 - Ben Miraski
This is disappointing. I was looking forward to that show because I do like Rapaport.
I guess I have another 30 minutes on Sunday to watch Cold Case and football...
6 - Brent McKee
There were one or two moments - hey I liked the daughter's explanation of her technical vriginity in terms of not being the first choice sacrificed to a volcano - but on the whole this thing was a mess. Rappaport should stick to drama.
7 - Bob A. Booey
Rapaport seems like a cool guy and he's Spike Lee's #1 wigga, but I knew it'd be bad from the commercials. And his unique delivery, the way he reads EVERY line, isn't suited well for a sitcom.
That is all.
8 - Hardcore
Its not meant to be Arrested Development, and people forget how long Married with Children was on the air. I wasn't too impressed at the first episode, but tonight's episode (9/25) was flat-out hilarious, well-written from a comedic POV and a little bit more reflective of the American family than Arrest Development.