I remember earlier in the Fall when this show was about to premier. I was actually a little excited about it, feeling it had some potential. Then Phil and Jordan watched the Pilot and said it was bad, so I never attempted to watch it. I don't remember what they said they didn't like about the show, but I would say the son Henry is the weakest part of the show, both the actor and the character. The actor isn't good and a bit stiff. From my research (wikipedia) a different actor played him originally in the pilot, but was recast with the current actor. At first I thought maybe the actual guy who started the Twitter site was playing himself, which would account for the bad acting, but that is not the case. I don't understand why the show went with this guy if they could cast pretty much anyone they wanted. I've seen performers at the Upright Citizen's Brigade Theater who could do a better job.
Next, the character of Henry isn't very developed. Really the only thing he has going for him is that he's always butting heads with his father, played by William Shatner. I didn't see the pilot during my marathon, so maybe this it's mentioned there, but I really don't get a sense of who this guy is or what his ambitions are. I guess he wants to be a writer. I think he needs to join a bowling league or something. Also, I know the show is about the relationship between him and his father, but I feel like that's preventing Henry from growing. His story-lines are too dependent on the dad and I think that will really wear thin and they'll start to run out of fresh ideas. If the character of Henry were eliminated from the show, I don't think we would miss too much.
The other characters I feel are pretty decently developed for a sitcom. William Shatner is pretty good and I think a wise casting choice. And then there is Henry's brother and sister-in-law played by Mad TV alumni Will Sasso and Nicole Sullivan, respectively. These characters are fairly developed. My criticisms with them is #1) in most episodes they seem have their own separate story and don't really feel part of the cast. They're just a B story. It seems like the writers tried to fix this by having them sell their condo and moving in with the Dad too, making them interact more with the rest of the family. I can see why they did this, but I'm not sure if it was a good idea or not. #2) I've never been a big Mad TV fan, I've always been an SNL man, but I believe Sasso and Sullivan are considered to be two of the best cast members. However, I feel like there's a lot of missed comedy opportunities in having them play these boring characters. The characters should be a bit more wacky to take advantage of that. It's like casting Jim Carrey to play Ben Stein. Why would you do it?
Lastly, my other criticism is the jokes are mostly bad. The writing could be a lot better. But what can you do? Hopefully as the show continues, the writing will pick up.
