Sunday, March 14, 2010

Sons of Tucson: I watched so you don't have to

Back in the fall, when there were too many shows debuting for me to have the time, energy, or newspaper column inches to review, I did some triage and decided not to even bother with the likes of "Accidentally on Purpose." We're going through another busy stretch right now - and a particularly busy night tonight, with the debut of HBO's "The Pacific" and the return of ESPN's "30 for 30" - that I again had to skip over a show: Fox's "Sons of Tucson."

The short version: Tyler Labine (Sock from "Reaper") is a complete loser hired by three boys to pose as their father while the genuine article is in prison for white-collar crime. It's directed by Todd Holland from "Malcolm in the Middle," and one of the producers is Justin Berfeld, who played Malcolm's older brother Reese, and of course it has three unruly brothers, so the "Malcolm" comparisons are both inevitable and unflattering. The premise is creepy, the brothers not funny, and Labine not very well-used - unless you enjoy watching him crash into things over and over and over.

Pass.

8 comments:

Peter said...

Damn I miss reaper.

Allison said...

Damn I miss reaper.

You took the words right out of my mouth. Well, the first year, more than the second.

But the review of "Tucson" saved me from trying this one.

Craig Ranapia said...

Damn I miss reaper.

Meh... that's another show I never really got into, beyond Ray Wise obviously having the time of his life getting His Satanic Insanity on. I really really want to like Tyler Labine, but you know something? How many times do I really want to see him play essentially the same character: The slacker-stoner man-child you call when Seth Rogan is otherwise engaged?

jcpdiesel21 said...

I was on the fence about whether I should check this out or not, so thanks for saving me a half hour, Alan. I like Tyler Labine, but not enough to watch this.

Jack said...

Perhaps 'I watched so you don't have to' should be a new blog entry tag/label for shows like these.

JTM said...

Inconceivable premise, too much going on in the episode. That guy is like the poor man version of Jack Black.

Unknown said...

I mostly agree with Alan. I watched the first episode and the kids were horrible. Such little brats. The only one I wasn't annoyed by was the older looking one and he just played the dumb kid. The middle kid who was bossing everyone around was completely unlikable and the little kid is too quirky and odd. Not funny quirky, either.

Tyler Labine was passable. He was pretty good and the parts I loved were when he was scrambling around the house looking for those toy soldiers. Walking into the room full of wigs and just being utterly shocked and scared, until slowly exiting was pretty funny. I also liked that we don't see what happens to the guy he owes money but whatever did happen clearly freaked Tyler and the kids out.

Overall though....they'll have to do some work with the kids or something to make me like it. I've seen Joe Lo Truglio in upcoming commercials so at least there will be someone else who is comedic. I'll give it a few more but I'm not holding out much hope.

Anonymous said...

This lousy review kept a lot of people from enjoying a belly full of laughs! Sons of Tucson is hilarious!...the freshest show to come to TV!