The Bill Engvall Show

Bill Engvall is one of my all-time favorite comedians, and this show was a fantastic showcase of his sarcastic down-home humor from his comedy albums (and it was a million times better than his buddy Jeff Foxworthy's self-titled mid-90's sitcom on ABC & NBC). What was great about this show is that it didn't resort to toilet humor, excessive profanity, and sexual innuendo like most modern "sitcoms" that are cluttering the airwaves today, and it was a fantastic alternative to the reality garbage on TV. TBS should be ashamed for pulling the plug on such an awesome show, and hopefully Warner Bros. will put the remaining episodes on DVD soon.

Bill Engvall is one of those comedians that I pause for, whenever I see him. Which is why, when I spotted a television show with him starring, I decided to give it a shot.

From almost the first line, I was not impressed. And things just went from bad to worse. The jokes are not just flat, they're stale. He has problems communicating with his wife ... just like Dick Van Dyke! His kids don't listen to him, but he's proved right in the end ... just like Bill Cosby! His work keeps him away from home ... just like, eh, you get the idea. the jokes are recycled, the story lines are recycled, and the characters are recycled.

Now, I don't necessarily blame Mr. Engvall for most of this. TV after all, has a long history of pulling the teeth from comics to make them palatable for the general public. I was quite looking forward to the George Lopez Show, for example, only to be similarly disappointed. But frankly, based on the utter blandness of this show, I have to wonder, just what did Engvall fight for? Anything? Oh, and I gave this two stars instead of one because Nancy Travis is worth watching.

This show is pretty darn awful. First off, it fails on every level imaginable. The script made me suicidal. Do you recall the pilot? One of the "funny" parts was when the little kid made the remark, "you haven't WASHED your hands in a while." What? The jokes are terrible.

Next, the characters do incredibly dumb things. In one episode, the mom starts selling muffins to people in Bill's office. She is bringing home hundreds of dollars a day when she would normally just be sitting at home. However, this is to Bill's DISMAY. He hates her doing this! He's such a frigging moron! Then, she has to (get this) work HARD! OH NO! And we, the audience, and supposed to feel sorry for her, instead of saying, "heck with you! you need to work hard to make money!" So whats the message of the story? It's even if you make hundreds of dollars a day, if it's hard, then just be a house wife! And of course the episode ends with that dork going back to being a housewife.

This show is repulsive. The "jokes" are delivered badly and they're not funny at all...not even a little bit catchy. The acting is absolutely terrible, not the least bit convincing. And what's up with Bill Engvall stopping the show you're watching for a good thirty seconds so he can try and promote this lame so-called comedy, sitcom...whatever?!. Talk about bad advertising-that has to be the worst! You don't want to irritate your viewers even before they see your show! Whoever thought up that idea must really be a moron.

And also, this show makes me regret ever having grown up in the south because the people on this show (mostly Bill) bring out the worst in southern people. Women must stay home and tend to the man when he gets off work, and God forbid let a black man walk in the house.

Our family REALLY enjoyed this show! It's so hard to find something we can all watch together as a family but this show was GREAT!!!! It's too bad they don't have more shows like it on TV. It was funny and the humor was clean - we didn't have to worry about the teenagers or the younger kids watching. We're all sorry to see that it was canceled. I hope to see more of Bill Engvall, Nancy Travis and the rest of the cast in the very near future. (I don't really have anything else to say but it won't let me send my review until I have a minimum of ten lines so now I'm just trying to write things to fill the space. Sorry - I didn't realize I would have to write so much!)