"Guys With Kids" Comes Up Short

Editors Note: We’re huge fans of Jimmy Fallon so we were pumped to discover a few months ago that he was the executive producer behind the new TV sitcom, “Guys With Kids.” You know, the show with the huge posters displaying three macho dads sporting sunglasses & wearing their babies in carriers. An awesome visual! While we think Fallon has a ripe opportunity to display what it means to be a “good dad” while still being hilarious, we were sorely disappointed with show. If he’s looking for plot ideas, we’ve got 650 local NYC Dads who would be willing to share their experiences. Below is a guest post by NYC Dads Group member, Seth Leibowitz, as he shares his opinions about the new show, “Guys With Kids.” And, check out this clip of Jimmy Fallon & the co-stars on the Today Show discussing how he conceived of the idea for the show.

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Remember in the movie Total Recall (the original with Arnold Schwarzenegger and not the eyesore of a remake with Colin Farrell) when the cab driver Benny says “Man… I’ve got five kids to feed!”

That was funny.

Remember, when he said it the second time?

That wasn’t as funny.

Remember when he said it a third time?

It was downright overkill.

There’s a scene in new NBC comedy “Guys With Kids” executive produced by late-night host Jimmy Fallon, where a flustered father of four (Anthony Anderson) proclaimed, “I’ve got four kids!”

That was funny.

Similar to the movie this line was repeated three more times through the half-hour show and it just fell flat.

The new comedy features three main characters, a stay-at-home-dad, Gary (Anderson), working dad, Nick (Zach Cregger), and divorced dad, Chris (Jesse Bradford) who all live in the same apartment building. The tree of comedic opportunity is downright ripe for this scenario, but the pilot episode served up a plate of rotten tomatoes.

The plot around the 1st episode revolves around Chris meeting an attractive girl at a bar (of course). The episode opens with all three fathers with their little ones strapped to their Baby Bjorns and sipping beer. Funny? Yes. Realistic. Not so much.

Thanks to Chris’ friend Nick (who for some reason is constantly drinking juice boxes through the show), Chris ends up getting a date with this lady to the Knicks game that night. The only problem is, Chris’ controlling ex Sheila (Erinn Hayes) who uses the “I carried him inside me” excuse to shut down every argument won’t allow him to get a babysitter. So, the rest of the episode is pretty predictable as Chris leaves his son with Gary and his brood of wild children.

The supporting cast is so one-dimensional consider the talent that is there. Nick’s wife, Emily (Jamie-Lynn Sigler aka Meadow Soprano) had minimal lines. Gary’s wife, Marny (Tempestt Bledsoe from The Cosby Show) was funny but visibly taking a note from her TV dad’s book of humor. Sheila was so horrible that the viewer is baffled as to why Chris would even marry her in the first place.

As an avid television sitcom viewer and a former television marketer, I understand it takes a few episodes for a show to finds it groove. However, the portrayal of dads in this first episode was more stereotypical than a Jewish lawyer. There is no defining moment that shows the trials and tribulations of fatherhood. The SAHD in the show is downright exhausted (he actually says, “I haven’t slept in seven years!”) and finds his friend’s working television with a Wii to be heaven-sent for him and his kids.

I think Jimmy Fallon is hysterical. I also know that he doesn’t have any children of his own (yet). While writer-producer Charlie Grandy (“The Office”) is an established Hollywood figure, I feel that this comedy may only be taken for what it is… a poor attempt at showing the television world what bumbling idiots fathers are with children.

“Guys With Kids” Comes Up Short

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