• SumoMe

Staying ever vigilant in my attempts to monitor “guy-oriented” pop culture, I thought I would watch the Pilot episode for NBC’s new sitcom, “Guys With Kids.” Within the first minute of the show, I knew I was going to hate it. Yet, I continued on throughout the entire episode, just for the sake of writing a fair review (the things I do for y’all). Needless to say, I could  have written this entire article from my imagination after watching only the first minute of the show, only because the premise is so tired and boring.

You have some guys. These guys have kids. They have no ascertainable lives. Their wives/ex-wives think they are bad with kids. They disagree. Hilarity ensues?

Hardly.

The series is co-created by Jimmy Fallon, who is much funnier than this show would lead one to believe. Not only are the jokes the same old “my baby is ruling my life” routine, it’s another show about dimwitted men trying to either stand up to, or make up with, their wives. Remember “Home Improvement,” with Tim Allen? Do you also remember how every show was the same: Tim messes up, and Jill gets mad? Well, I see this show going in a similar direction–guys mess up with their kids, and they get in trouble. The premise is beaten, old, and frankly uninteresting.

Not to mention that the show is filmed in front of a live studio audience, which means the sitcom is inherently annoying because you have the directors telling you when to laugh. If you look at the best sitcoms out there now (I’m referring to “Louie,” explicitly) they probably aren’t accompanied by a backdrop of people laughing. This trend of matter-of-fact sitcoms needs to continue, because I personally find it demeaning when sitcom directors need to have people laugh so we laugh along. I’ll laugh if something is funny, and if I can’t tell where your jokes are, then they probably aren’t good anyways.

“Guys With Kids” will last one season, maximum. There’s no traction for the show, the acting is lame, the kids will grow up and need to be constantly replaced or they will lose their role-based cute innocence, and people can only take so many shows about people living in wildly unrealistic large New York apartments.

We get it, NBC. You like New York. You liked “Seinfeld.” However, that show has come and gone, and you need to stop bringing up the past with these new attempts to create a 21st Century “Seinfeld.” It can’t be done, and trying only makes you look bad.

Grade: D

Have you seen this show? What do you think? Leave your comments below.