‘Dads’ premiere review: Brenda Song brave, but Seth MacFarlane’s sitcom a dud
One episode into “Dads,” and we can honestly say the following. It’s annoying, offensive, and really uncomfortable to watch. Basically, all Asian-Americans should be throwing tomatoes at their TV right now. We imagine that the show is old-school in that it is shocking at times and would make people upset. (Just watch “Married … with Children” and you’ll see that this is a part of the network’s history.) However, it is not the early 1990s anymore, and we have to say that times have changed.
We will at least start by saying that there are some redeeming qualities to the show, which suggest to us that it could actually turn it around. Seth Green is a genuinely funny actor, as is Martin Mull. Brenda Song is also clearly game enough to trust the writers to do shocking things like dress more or less like Sailor Moon. But to have a whole show based around racial and bathroom humor is something that gets old after a minute or a half. The writers are going to need to drastically change what they want to do with the show to make it work.
Story-wise, this played out like the vast majority of comedy pilots do. The episode started off by introducing us to ridiculous characters, conflict (over-intrusive dads who get themselves involved in everything, and who even ruin a business deal), and then things escalating to a point where it seems like even the nuisances realize that they have made a mistake. However, by the end everything is seemingly patched-up for the time being, but you know in your heart of hearts that nothing has really changed.
The way that we are going to be looking at dads for the next little while is simple. For the next few weeks, we’ll ignore it entirely and hope it improves. Then, we’ll come back around midseason (if it is not canceled), and try to figure out whether or not there is any improvement.
What did you think about the “Dads” premiere, and do you think that we are dead-wrong with our take on the show? If you want to read some more news related to some other new fall series, be sure to visit the link here.
Photo: Fox