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Lukewarm on “The Goode Family”
By Kyle | May 27, 2009
My esteemed colleague Linda Stasi, who isn’t particularly PC, says “The Goode Family” is good but not great. She says Mike Judge makes an awkward fit with a mainstream network like ABC.
I just watched the pilot and thought it very funny though it does kind of step on the same pedal over and over again. There are literally dozens of great lines — and they all lead to the same place. In the last couple of minutes, when there is a traditional sitcom “moment” — you know, the bit at the end of “Family Ties” or “Happy Days” where a little lesson is learned — the show actually catches its breath and works very nicely. The point is that this actually is a loving family that is trying to do the right thing in a world where, for instance at a Whole Foods-style grocery store, a giant signboard lists what’s good and what’s bad — and phrases like “farm-raised” keep switching sides. At one summing-up point, the mother, who has been trying to teach her teen daughter about birth control but is horrified to learn the girl is considering abstinence (not that mom minds abstinence per se — it’s just the people associated with it, who actually believe in God and where American flag pins) says, “I just want to be close to my daughter. And buy organic apples and call minorities by their right name.” Good stuff.
As for the argument that satire is what closes on Saturday (was that the right day?), the bar for a hit has been lowered, hasn’t it? If this show draws even seven million viewers — out of 300 million of us!– it’ll be doing nicely. Watch it tonight at 9 on ABC.
Topics: Barack Obama, Comedy, Politics, TV |
May 27th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
I had read that the mother was accepting and interested in people of all cultures and beliefs so long as they weren’t Christians or “flag wavers”. It sounds like he has the left pegged, they love everybody so long as they stay on the plantation and keep harvesting the masa’s crops.