I was going to give Sons & ...
Dee Wallace-Stone and Fred Goss, Sons & Daughters
Question: I was going to give
Sons & Daughters a pass. The ads for it did not look too appealing. However, after reading your
review I decided to give it a shot. Thanks! It was thoroughly enjoyable, all the way down to the opening music (
Grateful Dead's "Althea" — thus stressing the improvisational nature of the show). The question is: Is this too quirky for network TV? My gut says low ratings will lead to a quick cancellation, although I hope I'm wrong. What's your take?
Answer: That is the several-million-dollar question, isn't it? The show doesn't clip or promo well, as you noted. It's going to have to survive, at least at first, on critical buzz and the network's patience. I'll consider it a triumph if ABC just lets it stay on the air for the allotted six weeks until
Commander in Chief is scheduled to return to its old time period. The early ratings weren't great, but it put ABC in third place against powerhouse
House and the expected strong launch for
The Unit behind
NCIS (a very compatible duo there, and
Unit actually built on
NCIS' numbers, no doubt affected a bit by
American Idol at 8 pm/ET), so it could be worse. Plus, ABC found a way to spin the fact that it delivered younger demographics into the time period, which is a positive. (Though
Commander in Chief was an early hit, its demos had begun to drop precipitously before its extended hiatus.) The fact that
Sons & Daughters outdrew
Scrubs (which had a dreadful lead-in with back-to-back
Joey episodes) is not wonderful news for comedy fans, because it means these two wonderfully offbeat shows are cannibalizing that niche audience. But if
Sons can capitalize on any perception of good news, ABC might conceivably consider the show a minor player. Not the kind of show that should be expected to anchor a night, and airing episodes back-to-back may do more harm than good, but given the pathetic state of ABC's comedy slate, maybe for the first time this calendar year, a quirky little show will be given a chance to breathe and maybe even thrive.
But most speculation is cynical, to be sure. Like this from Jim H.: "After watching just five minutes of Sons & Daughters, I could tell that the show is funny, complex, edgy, original and WBC5 (will be canceled within five episodes). Why does ABC even bother? Why can't an edgier cable network piece together shows like this and Arrested Development?"
I'm glad ABC bothers, even if it doesn't ultimately or often work. And while cable is a more fertile ground for innovation these days, and expectations are lower so struggling shows tend to last a little longer, I'm glad to see the big boys stepping up once in a while with a quality show that doesn't pander. You may remember that Sons & Daughters' star Fred Goss was involved with an experimental Bravo comedy series called Significant Others. That died a pretty quick death, so you can't even always count on cable to stand behind distinctive work like this.
