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The 'War At Home' Thread
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Author:  Harry Warden [ Sun Sep 11, 2005 7:07 pm ]
Post subject:  The 'War At Home' Thread
This Fox sitcom premieres tonight at 8:30/7:30 central after "The Simpsons." It details a "family man" (Michael Rapaport) who objects to pretty much everything his children and/or wife do. The reviews haven't been pretty but I still plan on checking it out because there isn't anything else to watch until the other networks begin premiering their shows.

Your thoughts?
Author:  Mister Ecks [ Sun Sep 11, 2005 8:07 pm ]
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Sounds like a modern-day Married... With Children. I guess the only real question will be "is it funny?". I wouldn't bet on it entirely, but I won't bet against it, either. Fox has a thing for non-traditional family sitcoms (Married... With Children; Malcolm in the Middle; Quintuplets; Grounded for Life; Titus; Bernie Mac; Arrested Development; probably many more I can't think of right now, along with the other FOX Sunday night cartoons that will try to help The War at Home get good ratings). Probably will do well. At the very worst, a full season. Hey... even Quintuplets got a full season!

Take a look at past FOX shows revolving around dysfunctional families:

The Simpsons (17 seasons and counting)
Married with Children (11 seasons)
Grounded for Life (5 seasons, with the first three on Fox)
Titus (3 seasons)
Malcolm in the Middle (7 seasons and counting)
Family Guy (5 seasons and counting)
American Dad (2 seasons and counting)
King of the Hill (10 seasons and counting)
Bernie Mac (5 seasons and counting)
Arrested Development (3 seasons and counting)
Quintuplets (1 season)

Like I said, it's looking good for The War at Home to do well with that past track record for dysfunctional families on FOX.

Bolded shows are more similar to what The War at Home is aiming for. Italicized shows will be the most easily comparable shows for The War at Home, since the bolded and non-italicized shows are either single-camera (aka without a laugh track) or cartoons.
Author:  Jmart [ Sun Sep 11, 2005 8:40 pm ]
Post subject: 
Maybe it's just my speakers, but does this show have a laugh track?

I'll have more thoughts about the show once it's over, but so far, not so good.

EDIT

The show did have a couple of funny moments ("Days Kids Leave to College" chart), but it was too much like Titus. I'll probably watch it a couple of more weeks just to give it a couple of more tries, but I am not expecting much.
Author:  AgentX [ Sun Sep 11, 2005 9:13 pm ]
Post subject: 
jmart007 wrote:
Maybe it's just my speakers, but does this show have a laugh track?

Yeah I'm pretty sure it does because no one should have been laughing that much (or in my case, at all) at that crap. Seriously it was worse than the season premiere of The Simpsons which preceeded it. And that's saying something.
Author:  Mister Ecks [ Sun Sep 11, 2005 9:20 pm ]
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Yeah, it had a laugh track.
Author:  Spidey [ Sun Sep 11, 2005 10:33 pm ]
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Damn, I missed the premiere. I will tune in next weekend.
Author:  Harry Warden [ Sun Sep 11, 2005 11:47 pm ]
Post subject: 
AgentX wrote:
jmart007 wrote:
Maybe it's just my speakers, but does this show have a laugh track?

Yeah I'm pretty sure it does because no one should have been laughing that much (or in my case, at all) at that crap. Seriously it was worse than the season premiere of The Simpsons which preceeded it. And that's saying something.


What was up with the premiere of "The Simpsons?" I laughed maybe three times (Lemony Licket and a Series of Horny Events was clever and I'm surprised that it isn't a real adult film title.) The season better get better (and it probably will. This is the first season in a while that didn't start with the annual Halloween special).

Regarding "The War at Home": It started off as gratingly unfunny. I was tempted to turn it off before the first commercial break. Thankfully, it did get better (I too liked the "Days until they leave for College" chart). The introduction of the daughter's boyfriend was kind of funny in a politically incorrect way ("Booty"). His sexually confused son was odd to say the least. This thread wasn't particularly funny. The main problem with the show is that one quickly gets the format for the jokes (He says something then just the opposite happens). Not helping matters is the fact that Michael Rappaport just isn't very funny. The scene where he swears (It's beeped out) comes across as far too forced to work. "Married...With Children" this is not. Nonetheless, I'm willing to give it another chance next week. I wonder what the ratings will be like?
Author:  Harry Warden [ Mon Sep 12, 2005 12:52 pm ]
Post subject: 
Ratings Info from Zap2it:

The show garnered a 5.2/8, down from the 6.7/11 "The Simpsons" received preceding it. How does this fare compared to "Malcolm in the Middle" does anyone know?
Author:  zingy [ Mon Sep 12, 2005 3:45 pm ]
Post subject: 
The show is decent, though not wildly hilarious. It's clever at times, though, like the "Days Kids Leave College" chart.
Author:  Spidey [ Mon Sep 12, 2005 4:21 pm ]
Post subject: 
Wow. War At Home had a decent premiere, but premiered higher than The O.C. and Reunion.
Author:  zingy [ Mon Sep 12, 2005 4:24 pm ]
Post subject: 
Spider-Man wrote:
Wow. War At Home had a decent premiere, but premiered higher than The O.C. and Reunion.


Well, considering it was in between two popular shows (The Simpsons and Family Guy), I think a lot of people just watched it while waiting for Family Guy to start, kinda like I did.
Author:  Harry Warden [ Tue Sep 20, 2005 2:46 am ]
Post subject: 
Did anyone happen to see the second episode Sunday? It contained some humorous moments but never became anything more than mediocre. I still plan on giving it a few more chances considering there's nothing else to watch and I find myself inexplicably hoping that it'll be able to catch some of that "Married...With Children" magic it's so desperately aiming for.
Author:  Johnny Dollar [ Wed Sep 21, 2005 3:12 am ]
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This was as bad as anything I've ever seen on TV. Somebody needs to tell these assholes that All In The Family was a fucking satire. We weren't supposed to IDENTITY with Archie. Fuck.
Author:  Libs [ Wed Sep 21, 2005 3:12 pm ]
Post subject: 
Yeah, I watched this the other night (friend taped it) and it was just horrible. Michael Rapaport is irritating and obnoxious in movies usually, but his character here is unbearable. The lead character is a total prick and I'm wondering why we're supposed to find such tasteless, offensive jokes to be clever of funny. At least Married With Children was crude without being offensive.
Author:  Harry Warden [ Thu Sep 22, 2005 1:01 am ]
Post subject: 
Libs wrote:
At least Married With Children was crude without being offensive.


Not to mention being one of the funniest, most underrated shows to ever run on network television. It's a crime that Ed O'Neill never was even nominated for an Emmy. That show, along with the never-ending Simpsons, made Fox during its infancy. It's obvious that they're trying to catch lightning in a bottle again with "The War at Home" but it isn't going to happen. While I appear to be more foregiving than others, it is at best a inconsistent show. I'm actually amazed that the ratings are solid thus far, even the second episode (when the drop-off is usually most noticeable) managed to keep a fair share of its audience. The show might go on to be one of those inexplicable successes that seem to happen almost every year (i.e. the long run of shows like "Touched by an Angel", etc.).
Author:  Jmart [ Sun Sep 25, 2005 8:50 pm ]
Post subject: 
Well, tonight is the last time I am going to watch this show. I have maybe laughed once per episode. This isn't a clever show at all.
Author:  zingy [ Sun Sep 25, 2005 9:03 pm ]
Post subject: 
Yepp, this is definitely the last time I'm watching it. I was hoping for a little improvement, but...

Nope.
Author:  Jmart [ Sun Sep 25, 2005 9:08 pm ]
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Maybe it's just me, but did that show even have an ending? It just seemed like they couldn't come up with a concise ending, so they just showed the grandmother and her friend getting high.

Well, who cares? Family Guy is on now.
Author:  Johnny Dollar [ Mon Sep 26, 2005 1:51 am ]
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I caught the second half of the episode tonight. Still pretty bad, but I really liked the handling of the marijuana issue, at least up until the embarrassing "grandma" ending.
Author:  Harry Warden [ Mon Sep 26, 2005 11:03 am ]
Post subject: 
Odd episode to say the least. Still had some funny parts but wildly uneven. I wonder how it'll do in the ratings without a new episode of "The Simpsons" as its lead-in?
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