Well, gentle readers, I’ve upped stakes and headed for our nation’s capital, mighty edifice of planned streets and dams and not enough pubs that it is, and have been soaking up the local wisdom in order to condense and regurgitate it to you, my nest of flocklings. (Which is to say that in my government funded hotel room while my SO works, I’ve been watching cable and I’m going to gripe about it.)
Let me let you in on Fox’s secret formula for “riotous comedy” this season. Start with a fat guy, preferrably obnoxious, even more preferrably a minor celeb. Add a somewhat neurotic waif to be the wife, couple of cute kids to play bit parts if your budget will stretch to it. Now rip off the Everybody Loves Raymond approach of the useless husband who is continually irritating/offending his wife by just being generally socially clueless and self-absorbed, and you’ve got instant comedy gold! (Although to be fair, not all of them contain offensive, loud, parents… One of them has an annoying sister instead.)
Don’t believe me? Let me run through some of the line-up:
- King of Queens
- According to Jim
- Still standing
- Yes, dear (OK, this one’s a stretch, but at least one of the couples qualifies)
I’ll give according to Jim an extra point just ’cause it’s got Jim Beluschi in it, and he is of the same school of acting as Bill Murray, (unenthusiastic, and amused that anyone would pay them for this) which I respect.
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Posted by BonusWavePilot