It has been a few years since Malcolm in the Middle
Greg Bratman, Tommy Dewey created the show and will be writers and supervising producers for the series. The duo met at Princeton and have performed improv and two-man shows in New York and LA before turning to television. This is the first major writing credit they have received.
Sons of Tucson is another show that is using the current economic crisis as a jumping off point for the series. In this case three brothers are left home alone when their father is arrested for banking fraud and with their mother out of the picture, the kids are facing going to a foster home. Enter Ron Snuffkin (Tyler Labine), a loser who works in hardware store and lives in his car. The boys pay him to pose as their father so they can be enrolled into school and avoid anyone noticing that they have no parents at home. Of course Ron has troubles of his own and needs the kids for than just money… well almost he needs money, but more money than the kids have to offer. However his estranged mother has always wanted grand kids and now he has them. Ultimately both the kids and Ron realise that they need each other, Ron is allowed to move out of his car and into the shed and remain on the payroll to be their father as and when needed.
As with any pilot there is a lot of information to sift through as the world is set up, so although we get to know Ron we only get a very surface level view of the three kids – smart kid, loud kid, fat kid. Currently scheduled as a mid-season show to break up Fox’s animated Sunday lineup, Sons of Tucson will originally be commissioned for 6-13 episodes. This has the promise of being quite a good show, it is slightly off kilter with definite shades of Malcolm in the Middle and Arrested Development – Season 1 [DVD]
Written by: Greg Bratman, Tommy Dewey
Directed by: Todd Holland
Starring: Natalie Martinez, Jake Busey, Tyler Labine
Date premièred: Spring 2010
UK Details: None available.
This review is based on the pilot and 2 kids are being recast before the show goes to air. Such is the fickle world of TV.
A big thanks to www.malcolminthemiddle.co.uk for the updates and corrections.
struggled on Fox for a couple of seasons before the execs decided that it wasn’t doing well enough and cancelled it. But all was not lost as public outcry got the show back on the air, but it short lived and the show was cancelled again in 2002. For next few years DVDs continued to sell and the show syndicated on Adult Swim was still performing well. Fox said lets have some more and Seth has been the darling of the channel ever since. 
followed shortly after and then began rumours of a spin off show about Peter Griffin’s neighbour Cleveland.
has finally arrived. Cleveland leaves Quahog with son in search of his dream in Hollywood. On the way he passes through his home town and meets the girl he loved in high school who is now a single mother with a teenage daughter and smart alek toddler. Romance blossoms and Cleveland decides stay. While American Dad has a talking fish, Family Guy has a talking dog, The Cleveland Show has a talking bear. Other neighbours include the local racist redneck, a middle aged hipster who lives with his mum.
. Unfortunately there is little here to recommend in The Cleveland Show. The family looks like a black version of the Griffins and you have to wonder how much election of a black president factored into the commissioning of the show (after all the other black sitcom
just got cancelled leaving a gap in the market) but this show plays so heavily on stereotypes it boarders on offensive. They don’t hide this fact and even go as far as hanging a hat on it, “I hate it when white folks make a show they think black folk will watch.” Cleveland is not a character who excites very much, he kinda just goes with the flow, which means the people around him have to be over the top to generate the comedy. Even Stewie comments “What the hell, he’s getting his own show!”
