A sitcom from comedian Steve Byrne and writer-producer Rob Long (“Cheers”), “Sullivan & Son” follows a New York lawyer who decides to buy and run his dad’s bar in Pittsburgh. It stars Byrne, Dan Lauria (“The Wonder Years”), Jodi Long (“All-American Girl”), Vivian Bang, Owen Benjamin, Valerie Azlynn (“Tropic Thunder”), and SNL vets Brian Doyle-Murray (“Caddyshack”) and Christine Ebersole (“Grey Gardens”).
... Mr. Byrne is playing an Asian-American paragon: socially skilled, well behaved, relatively tall and attractive enough to have not one but two sexy love interests. Now if only he were funny. …
... "Sullivan & Son" is where everybody plays a cliché. … with pat and predictable jokes leeching whatever hope might be had from a racially diverse cast and a promising enough setup. …
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
... The jokes may get a solid B - no more, no less - but the populous cast is able, especially Long and Ebersole. …
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
... certainly more watchable than TBS's earlier summer effort, the desultory "Men at Work." … no instant TV classic, but its reinterpretation of a place where everyone knows your name is outrageous enough to bear watching.
... polished and fairly funny … I did eat up this show, and I did keep it down. And when it comes to cable sitcoms, that could be taken as praise.
The hilarity of racism. The appeal of one-dimensional characters. The delight of punchlines and plot turns that signal themselves far in advance. All that, plus a laugh track await in "Sullivan & Son," a graceless sitcom …
... such terrible slop. … Think of it as a cheerless Cheers, with a gang of regulars — including Broadway great Christine Ebersole as a good-time girl — who sit around spouting things that are supposed to be funny but aren't. Were Son merely terrible, one might forgive TBS its transgressions. But the real sin is that it's yet another TV show wasting the talents of Ebersole
... a contrived sitcom with nothing original or new to offer. It’s one of those half-hours manufactured from used material that has no reason to exist except as a vehicle for easy, predictable one-liners and hackneyed characters. …
... the show's stock assortment of characters does save time by telegraphing practically every joke. After viewing three episodes, last call couldn't come soon enough. …
... Two episodes of Sullivan & Son were like watching caricatures of characters you’d seen before (and were equally unfunny then). …
10 p.m. Thursday. TBS.
