TV Reviews - Dads

So Dads is the other sitcom to begin this season that I've paid regular attention to (I sadly haven't seen more than the pilot of The Crazy Ones, but I do intend to catch up). From the people who brought us Family Guy, Dad's is a live action sitcom marketed as the funny interactions between two young men and their oddball fathers. This is really well set up in the Pilot, where one of our lead characters, Seth Green (I know he has a name, but he's Seth Green to me now and always) has to deal with his lazy, too-open father coming to town and eventually moving in with him. Meanwhile our other lead, Phoebe from Friends' Brother (I genuinely don't remember this character's name, or the actor's for that matter), has to put up with his quirky wannabe businessman father who already lives with him and his wife.

I wanna say first off: I don't like the Pilot much at all. Yeah it follows the premise of the show to a t, but it just isn't very good. Seth Green's father ruins it for me. He is just too unlikeable in this episode. The best thing about this episode is the best thing about the series so far by a wide margin: our third lead, Brenda Song, who has probably been in other stuff, but who I know as London Tipton from The Suite Life of Zach and Cody, where she was also usually the best thing. Whereas I often find the father's unremarkable and unmemorable (Phoebe's Brother's father being worlds better than his counterpart), Brenda Song, and her interactions with Seth and Phoebe's Brother are memorable and enjoyable. Seth Green and Brenda Song are both great deadpan actors with really good comedic timing, and their obvious future potential romantic relationship is credibly set up.

The two characters are both very cynical, but despite the similarities between the two, there are enough differences that their interactions are always very interesting. This is the kind of show that I like, but that I don't like enough to give my full attention to in every scene. It's the kind of show that I put on in the background while surfing the web, or writing, or building a deck for one of the Trading Card Games I enjoy, but I always pay attention to the scenes where Seth Green and Phoebe's Brother are being irresponsible at their video game creation job, and Brenda Song steps in the put things back on track, or where Seth Green says something horribly inappropriate, and Brenda Song steps in to put him in his place. These scenes are great, with plenty of variation. In fact, I really wish that the show were about these three, and kept the fathers in reserve for guest roles, like other sitcoms do. The interactions between the fathers and their sons aren't bad, but they aren't great either, and I really question if the show can even survive under it's original premise. Still, I think it is decent overall, with some great dialogues, and deserves a shot. I give Dad's 6 out of 10.