| No one on the series
"The War at Home" is capable of understanding how to
properly pull off mean spirited comedy. Take shows
like "Married... with Children," and "Titus," shows
that excelled at show mean-spirited comedy with its
own agenda. The former was pure trash and nothing
more, a forefather of the shit to come from FOX,
while "Titus" was in its roots about a comedian
whose father never treated him as well as yours may
have. And it
was only the beginning with crap like "Grounded for
Life," and the entertaining "Malcolm in the Middle."
But "The War at Home" is so anxious to be ahead of
its time, that it doesn't realize, its formula is
utterly ancient. How many series have
we had in the last eight years that have shown
obnoxious kids undermining and disrespecting their
uncool parents?
Michael Rappaport, a man I once
enjoyed as an actor, really shows he's desperate,
with a sitcom that's been done with its state of
obnoxiousness jacked up to about a thousand.
"The War at Home" is another in a line of modern
comedies from FOX that's lacking in laughs, brains
and originality. And I'm shocked it's managed to
last as long as two seasons. But then again,
"Stacked" lasted a good while, too. It's not
surprising, though. It's only indicative of the
state of television, and why I barely watch it these
days. There are your usual vices with sitcoms
present, and all of them are painfully obvious:
racial jokes, a put upon father unwilling to adjust
to... his daughter dating a black guy (?), an
obnoxious daughter, hell attention Archie Bunker,
someone is stealing your bit. |
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| And of course, there's the running gag about
the possibility of character Dave's son being a
homosexual. Rappaport's character
is a pure SOB from the get go, and he's not someone
viewers will be able to get behind. With people like
Archie Bunker, and Al Bundy, there was a certain
humanity about them, and with Bunker he was
basically a symbol of old America adjusting to
modern times, which excused the fact he was biased,
and often a pure racist. Dave Gold is just a
dick, and one who really shouldn't even have a big
family. The only real consolation is Kaylee Defer
who is a worthy piece of eye candy for the muck that
surrounds the viewer. And Anita Barone is really no
one to sneeze at. Beyond the mild high points of
these two actresses, "The War at Home" is an awful
series, and one I'm glad is gone. It's just sad that
this has to live on in DVD form, it's painful. -
Felix Vasquez Jr.
5/24/07
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