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Published on Tuesday, September 9, 2003 - 2:19am |
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Herc
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I am – Hercules!!
If this is not the worst show of the season, I believe I’ll be reviewing mostly comic books this year. Even leaving aside its star’s considerable and well-documented limitations, “Whoopi” remains jaw-droppingly awful.
But by all means, give “Whoopi” a gander. You’ll know by the first minute of the teaser just how determinedly you will be driven to avoid it henceforth. “Whoopi” traffics in jokes that were threadbare and hackneyed when the Ritz Bros. were tots. A sample of said teaser:
- NASIM THE HANDYMAN: When are you leaving?
- MAVIS’ OFFICIOUS ATTORNEY BROTHER, COURTNEY: I won’t be here long, because today I have an interview with none other than Abrams & Marshall.
- MAVIS THE HOTEL OWNER: Abrams & Marshall! Get out of here! Oh my God! Did you hear that, Nasim? He just got an interview with Abrams & Marshall! Oh my God!! Abrams & Marshall!!
- COURTNEY: You’ve heard of them?
- MAVIS & NASIM (in unison): No.
- MAVIS: Listen, you did remember to take Enron off of your resume, right?
- COURTNEY: I can’t. How will I explain where I’ve been for he last five years?
- MAVIS: Just tell ‘em you have amnesia! That’s what they do on “Days of Our Lives”!
In the argot of the Continental, “Wowee wowee wow wow!” This show will not only tank, it may take every other laugh-track and studio-audience sitcom with it!
How does it end, spoiler-boy?
“You BETTER get little Eminem sister and get out of my face?”
Herc’s rating for “Whoopi” 1.1?
*
The Hercules T. Strong Rating System:
- ***** better than we deserve
- **** better than most motion pictures
- *** actually worth your valuable time
- ** as horrible as most stuff on TV
- * makes you quietly pray for bulletins
Now? More opinions, on both “Whoopi” and its new companion show, “Happy Family”:
Whoopi
Will it survive to 1.4? It’s from the folks who bring you “3rd Rock From the Sun,” “That ‘70s Show,” “That ‘80s Show” and “Normal, Ohio”!
”frustratingly unfunny … How can a show with 16 executive producers, co-executive producers, producers and supervising producers fall so flat? … Part of the problem is the frequent limp gags and the scenes that are either too shrill or too predictable. Part of the problem is an overreliance on the running gag in which Nasim continues to take offense because he is a Persian, not Arab. And part of the problem is an inability to precisely define the characters.
“… a winner straight out of the gate, loaded with humor that should have the PC police getting their handcuffs ready. … “
“Is it possible for a series to jump the shark in its very first episode? … With her grumpy insouciance, Whoopi seems to be channeling Redd Foxx, but the sitcom is less like Sandford and Son than a low-rent Fawlty Towers.”
“… the WORST show that will be on television this decade … This is the type of show that people of all colors, creeds, and classes can hate together … By the end of the half hour I was already tired of these people. I can’t imagine watching them and their adventures week after week. … If it lasts more than 3 episodes I’ll be shocked and pretty depressed.
8 p.m. Tuesday. NBC.
Happy Family
The second leads from the sitcoms “Night Court” and “Cybill” get their own show, from some latter-day “Just Shoot Me” writer-producers.
”… it's hard not to like and root for ‘Happy Family.’ … there is a nice balance to the oddball situations, resulting in a comedy that is fluid and funny. … To some extent, the above-average writing and solid comic delivery mask what may be the show's greatest weakness, a seeming lack of strong chemistry between the co-stars.
“Pilot stumbles early and often, but there's some redemption in the second episode as the Brennan family - likable people who do stupid things - gains focus. … While not a laugh riot out of the box, series will either sink or swim by bringing greater definition to the parental roles. There's deviousness lurking, and should it manifest in later scripts, "Family" may be onto something.”
“The two talented stars know how to make something funny, but they’re stuck in a show that de-emphasizes them in favor of their less appearling costars.”
8:30 p.m. Tuesday. NBC.
I am – Hercules!!

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Reader Talkback
Don't want to be first, but by wolfman911 | Sep 9th, 2003 02:26:04 AM | I look forward to the racist
jokes in that show...the media
reac by aceattorney | Sep 9th, 2003 02:39:31 AM | Wouldn't it be wonderful if... by Harry Weinstein | Sep 9th, 2003 02:53:42 AM | Maybe Ted Danson will show up
in blackface for episode
two... by jalora | Sep 9th, 2003 03:12:58 AM | Hmph. by radio1_mike | Sep 9th, 2003 07:32:59 AM | Whoopi, Whoopi, Whoopi by eau hellz gnaw | Sep 9th, 2003 07:37:03 AM | No heart at all by KingOfTheFools | Sep 9th, 2003 07:57:18 AM | Just goes to show you by HailDaHypnoToad | Sep 9th, 2003 08:53:24 AM | Of course it sucks -- It's
WHOOPI! by SpyGuy | Sep 9th, 2003 09:20:21 AM | Surely the question "How can a
show with 16 producers...fall
so by Psychonaut | Sep 9th, 2003 09:32:23 AM | This woman is so annoyingly
self-righteous... by Stephen Dedalus | Sep 9th, 2003 10:05:09 AM | No one yet has pointed out
that Happy Family also stars
that shr by Big Bad Clone | Sep 9th, 2003 10:12:40 AM | All in the Family did it the
best by Terry_1978 | Sep 9th, 2003 10:18:28 AM | That shrill pixie from the
Glad commercials is the
hottest babe by Fred | Sep 9th, 2003 10:35:49 AM | The modern-era Archie Bunker
is Eric Cartman, not Whoopi
Goldber by SpyGuy | Sep 9th, 2003 10:46:06 AM | Fred by Big Bad Clone | Sep 9th, 2003 10:47:23 AM | Herc hates it because he is a
Republican by alvinsimadeer | Sep 9th, 2003 10:59:33 AM | Forget about Whoopi, who saw
the 24 sneak peek during
Crouching by mortsleam | Sep 9th, 2003 11:47:32 AM | I, too, was underwhelmed by
the 24 commercial by Big Bad Clone | Sep 9th, 2003 12:02:41 PM | I agree with Fred!!! by Han Ol' Buddy | Sep 9th, 2003 01:40:08 PM | Fred's Obsession by FrankCobretti | Sep 9th, 2003 03:25:07 PM | Whoopi is..... by MechaniFerret | Sep 9th, 2003 03:57:10 PM | I feel sorry for Larroquette by RenoNevada2000 | Sep 9th, 2003 05:42:14 PM | Wow, even worse than THREAT
MATRIX? Than COUPLING? by Charles Grady | Sep 9th, 2003 07:42:47 PM | Is it just me... by j-rock | Sep 9th, 2003 10:45:30 PM | No more whoopie by CapitalistPig | Sep 10th, 2003 12:09:25 AM | "has she done anything funny
since SISTER ACT?" by MiltonWaddams | Sep 10th, 2003 02:23:33 AM | You're all wrong by Mindbender | Sep 10th, 2003 03:02:40 AM | Whoopi needs silver halide
bullets to cunter the critic's
UV gun by homerJ72 | Sep 10th, 2003 03:23:06 AM | Apparently the coveted Center
Square no longer pays the
bills by Trav McGee | Sep 10th, 2003 10:39:50 AM | What if Ted McGinley jumped
over a shark? by Spikes Brain | Sep 10th, 2003 10:59:38 AM | Whoopi by BuggerOff | Sep 10th, 2003 02:54:18 PM | Oh and... by BuggerOff | Sep 10th, 2003 02:56:07 PM |
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