I have read reviews of FOX's The War At Home that chastise it for being borderline racist, homophobic, and sexist. It is indeed all those things and that doesn't concern me. There is one reason (and only one reason) why I think The War At Home is a terrible show...it's unfunny.
The War At Home stars Michael Rapaport as Dave, a father that will draw comparisons to Archie Bunker. He blames Mary Tyler Moore for ruining women everywhere. He has issues with black men whether it's the boy dating his teenage daughter or the ones that his wife Vicky (played by Anita Barone) once dated. He thinks his son is gay for various reasons that include the fact that his son stays over his best friend's house a lot. Dave is that one person you meet who believes every stereotype is always true. The other characters apart from Dave are just cardboard sitcom cutouts. Vicky is just another smart-alecky wife who is way too good for her husband. Hillary, the teenage daughter, is the typical rebellious (and slutty) teenage girl. Larry, the son Dave thinks is gay, is the outcast middle child and Mike is that preteen boy that likes to play video games and cause trouble. There is nothing distinctive, interesting, or creative about any of these characters.
The War At Home falls into the trap that a lot of comedies fall into. It believes that it's funny because it's offensive. It thinks by making some black jokes or some gay jokes that it's automatically edgy and funny. Sadly, that's not the case. It's pathetic when Dave asks his wife if the myth about black men is true because the joke was done a whole lot better over 20 years ago in Blazing Saddles. And when the show tries to be different by using cutaways where the characters speak to the camera, it fails miserably. Everything about this show is unfunny and uninspired.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - marc
Simply one of the worst shows to come out this year... I expect it to be cancelled soon. I agree with you 100%.. But for me this show is like watching puke dry...
2 - Bob A. Booey
The show is billed in promos now as "in the tradition of Married With Children," so at least it's not deluded about the audience it's aiming for.
They should just cancel this crap already and put Malcolm back on Sundays. The Rapaport show just breaks up the whole animated comedy block. I give it 6 more weeks, tops, and possibly less based on how the ratings are so far. It'll definitely be gone by mid-season.
That is all.
3 - TheCharlie
Agreed. Worst show ever. I always wonder if we've made it to the worst of the worst, and then something like The War At Home comes out.
4 - Bob A. Booey
Boston Legal is worse. As long as David E. Kelley decides he needs to get up in the morning and do something other than bang Michelle Pfeiffer, there'll always be the potential for a new worst worst.
Boston Legal's my pick for the worst show on TV.
That is all.
5 - KaiZen (J. Parker)
The War At Home is one of the most ground breaking socio-cultural shows to hit prime-time television since the Chappelle Show.
However, knowing that the critics believe it's racist, homophobic and sexists let's me know that the overall social intelligence and tolerance of the country is still borderline retarded.
White America cannot handle looking in the mirror and that's exactly what TWAH does. The show tackles interracial dating, homophobia and gender issues in such a raw, candid, politically-incorrect way that I'm not surprised it turned off a few folks. Don't get me wrong, the raw, politically incorrectness of the show is it's greatest attribute.
Nowadays, you have to sugarcoat the truth because people are afraid of it. TWAH does no sugarcoating and, to me, there in lies it's brilliance. Euphemisms might misconstrue meaning/intention and the show is very direct on what issues it's trying to tackle and address.
Those issues just happen to be issues everyone in the country who doesn't experience them is petrified to confront, discuss or even respecognize.
And the fact that Michael Rapaport is so well respected in the African American community through his early work with John Singleton, Spike Lee and various hip-hop artist, his addition to the show gives it that clout it needs to tackle the issues that it does.
It's clear to me that the audience of the show is general market (age 25-54). It's really not a young show, but the audience that Rapaport speaks to is definitely younger African Americans. I commend him for trying to make his own race realize it's own insecurities through witty humor even if it turns their scary asses off before that realization occurs.
6 - jacquel
In response to KaiZen/J. Parker
You love that thesaurus of yours don't you?
Dave Chapelle is funny, Carlos Mencia is funny, Archis Bunker, funny. The War at Home is a disgrace to comics and comedies that know how to perform racially/politically charged comedy.
I personally find it offensive, not because Rappaport's character is supposed to be racist or sexist (because he isn't) or because it's crude (i LOVE south park) but because it insults my intelligence.
All of the jokes are stale, the characters are completely unoriginal. Give me something that's truly shocking.
I thought a smart actor like Mike Rappaport would have better sense than to think this script was worth something.
It's tough for actors to find work... perhaps he's just caught up in his own struggle.
The show stinks.... it will be off the air very soon.
And if this is what young African-Americans are watching, I'm sorry for the direction my people are headed.
7 - Bob A. Booey
Carlos Mencia's really not very funny. His career's doing OK, but he's like an unfunny, younger George Lopez.
I don't think any young black kids know their main wigga Rappaport. A lot of them probably don't even know Spike Lee since his career has slowed down somewhat, if only because he doesn't make films that frequently anymore.
That is all.
8 - Bill
What really makes my blood boil about this show is that the network that espouses right wing values in it's news bias puts forth a show that glorifies the use of marijuana, treats teen sex casually, and trivializes the apparent conflict of a teenage boy's sexual identity.
I realize this is supposed to be "cutting edge" comedy, but it is not, nor can it become, anything like "All in the Family," or any other classic comedy which dealt with sensitive and breakthrough issues in a mature, thoughtful, and ironic manner.
That is the main problem with the writing and production of this garbage (accurately likened to vomit by another reviewer) is that it is childish, thoughless, insensitive and unfunny.
9 - Patrick
At the risk of being stoned to death by an angry mob of critics, I believe that "The War at Home" is far superior to "Arrested Development." On a typical episode of "Arrested Development," I might laugh a few times during the entire half-hour. On the other hand, "The War at Home" keeps me entertained every minute. While not as good as "Family Guy" or "The Simpsons," it is still a worthy show that deserves to remain on the air.
10 - Bob A. Booey
Wow, just wow.
I guess it's cool that you're proud to be low-brow, but yeah.
That is all.
11 - Scott
Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor, which is where it fell after reading Patrick's comment.
The War at Home = Unfunny sitcom trash at it's worse
Arrested Development = Gift from sitcom heaven
But I won't stone you to death. Others may though...
12 - CapnBob
Absolutely the worst sitcom in recent years. Formulaic, insultingly unfunny, the most grating and inappropriate laugh track ever. I sat through 1 episode and want Murdoch to give me my 22 minutes back. Holy crap. I doubt Rappaport can sleep at night. As for Patrick - sorry dude. And KaiZen - clearly a writer on the show. Stop posting on blogcritic and start typing up the resume.
13 - The Anti-Puritan
KaiZen got it right. The show has a humane cynicism that is very rare in sitcoms about families with teenagers. This enables it to be brutally honest about certain issues"like race relations, teen sex, teen homosexuality, and marijuana"for which those other sitcoms only offer politically correct bromides. Comparisons to All in the Family may not be unjustified. Good news for the minority of fans here: The War at Home is getting good ratings despite fierce competition from Desperate Housewives.
By the way, hasn’t anybody noticed that the Amazon link above is to a different War at Home?
14 - The Anti-Puritan
For some reason, the “good news” link in my last comment doesn’t work. Here it is.
15 - Chris Beaumont
Well the current show is not available on disk, and there had to be something there....
I hope this show goes away soon.
16 - Shawn Berkly
The War at Home: The story of a meathead father obsessed with his daughter's vagina and his vapid wife who tolerates his idiocy and completely boring perversions. Absolute garbage.
17 - rob
1. the thing that's sort of weird and off-putting about "the war at home" (besides not being funny) is that it really doesn't wink at the audience at all. south park and arrested development are much clearer in their satire, but i could very easily envision someone watching "the war at home" and finding it funny on a purely "it's so true" level. and since the satirical level is so abysmally unfunny, one can't help but worry that really the only demographic they could expect to capture is the bigot and retard demographic.
2. to the person who was upset that the "right wing" fox corporation would put this show on....i think they're only as right wing as their ratings will allow. considering how much money the simpsons has made for them, i imagine they were more than happy to drop their "values."
3. to the "war at home is better than arrested development" person. i would imagine that the show is difficult to watch if you haven't seen all the episodes. there are alot of in-jokes and character-based jokes and soap-operaesqe plot twists and turns, so i could see it being weird and nonsensical (although still much better than twah) to the casual viewer. but if you have seen all the episodes, and still think it's not as good, then yeah...we probably won't ever be friends.
18 - Paul
This movie is entertaining and people who see different should be looking elsewhere to critizie. This is whats wrong with the world today. Like the old saying goes "If you don't like it don't watch it but do not let the ones who do enjoy it suffer from the few aholes who do not"!!! I am not racist homophobe or any of the other phases that or on the agenda. But I do like comedies that attack what so called rightous people call wrong. Go for it FOX I'm behind you. Thank you for being daring!!!
19 - Elizabeth
Forget what network the show is on, forget about racism, sexism, and outdated ideas. Forget how crude it may or may not be. Look away from all of that, and listen to the jokes.
Listen, because there are none.
Admittedly, I've seen worse shows come and go, but this? This is what shows like King of the Hill, Malcolm in the Middle, and Arrested Development are being replaced with? This? Really?
And Head Cases, a show that was actually funny, was cancelled after two episodes.
20 - Al Barger
I'm not entirely sure what to think having watched one episode. I suspect it just needs a little space to develop.
As it is, I found it pretty funny largely just on grounds of where it was willing to go. You can't talk about that on network television!
In fact, I don't see how the Rapaport character is particularly offensive or bigoted, just unusually willing to openly discuss things. After watching a whole episode, the worst thing I could get from him was that he was somewhat less than thrilled that his nice Jewish daughter was dating a black guy.
You might say that's not the best proper response, but is it really that bad? At that, playing golf with the kid's dad at an exclusive country club was enough to neutralize his already only very light protestations against the relationship.
There's a lot going on here, and it simply is not mindless sitcom junk. I'll be interested in seeing more.
21 - Bill
I like this show a lot. Although, any show that can have fun with racism or masturbation is a good show in my view.
22 - Giles Corry
Kaizen wrote, "I comend him for trying to make his own race realize its own insecurites through witty humor even if it turns their scary asses off before that realization occurs." Just what Jewish insecuritites does he tackle in his show?
23 - Pete
Methinks Patrick needs the world's second anaylist/therapist. Or Bob Loblaw.
24 - Scott C. Smith
Fox seems to be the home of horrible shows. "The War at Home" is awful, as is the new reality series, Unan1mous. Did "The War at Home" stop using a laugh track? I remember the pilot episode and they had that canned laughter cranked up to 11. God awful. Could the WB's "Twins" be even worse?
25 - Peter Long
I saw this show once on 4/9/06 and I think FOX has fallen one more step downwards, which I almost thought was impossible. The War At Home is an insult to African Americans, Catholics, Jews, and just about anybody who's advanced beyond a junior high school education.
For people who are not living in a self-contained ghetto with a racially/financially homogeneous population, this sitcom is embarassing. Ghettos are places that very few of it's residents are permitted to go outside of. This would cause many of the ghetto residents to feel scared of people who are not like them. The writers of the script I listened to probably do live in an elitist self-contained ghetto.
Having everyone in the show look like a moron is not enough to make it interesting. I can't picture anyone laughing at the -so called- jokes I witnessed in my viewing.
Obviously FOX exec's have no concept of what life is like for the average people in this world.
Fortunatly, I won't vomit since I've already been over-exposed to speeches in D.C.