Tesoro, mi si sono ristretti i ragazzi: La serie

This is a television show that for its three season run consistently had some of the best writing ever seen on television. Comedies are rarely given much recognition and commercial shows for kids, never, but Honey, I Shrunk the Kids episodes are really well-crafted, witty spoofs that stand up over time. The best episode I feel is about Morpheus who rules the dream world. In this show, Nick is worried about dissecting frogs and keeps having nightmares. His sister, Amy, is worried about taking her SAT's. The plot weaves together their fears and their personal strengths and weakness (nick is logical/Amy is intuitive) in a humorous, dramatic and meaningful way. If there were any justice in the world, this script should have won an emmy and be discussed in film and English classes. If this show ever comes out on DVD, it is definitely worth purchasing.

"Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" is the rare film-to-TV series that beats its source material. While the movies are often plodding, cumbersome messes with anonymous characters, "HISTK" the TV series is firmly grounded in Matheson, Colorado, a sort of Anytown U.S.A. where anything can happen. Realistic science is, thankfully, tossed out the window: it's supposed to be a silly romp through suburbia fueled by wild creations from the Szalinskis.

I dare say the casting and acting is better than all the movies. Peter Scolari replaces the recognizable Rick Moranis, and actually does an even better job at the character. Scolari's Szalinski is a family man who invents things that go wrong, but he still has enough charm to make his relationship with his wife and kids reasonable. Barbara Alyn Woods makes what could have been a typical "Mom" character into an interesting, intelligent, and active co-conspirator/victim/commentator on the happenings in the household. Hillary Tuck and Thomas Dekker play the Szalinski kids, with Amy being a witty, sarcastic-but-never-irritating rival to Nick's sensible, science-minded personality. They form a believable family, more believable than most "normal" sitcoms on primetime.

Created by Kevin Murphy (he also created the brilliant "Weird Science" TV show on USA with Vanessa Angel), the show's stories are often breezy, sometimes predictable, but never boring. Unfortunately, HISTK is over (it had a three-season run), but, for my money, it remains a memorable comedy/scifi with truly likable characters.

Let's recap. The first "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" movie was the best of the series and the special effects used in it have held up extremely well since 1989. "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid" was mediocre at best. "Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves" was just plain stupid. Now we have a T.V. series? What the hell? I mean, since the last two sequels to the original "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" movie bombed, what made the writers think they could possibly do a T.V. show without having disastrous results? The story lines for the series are incredibly stupid and range from Wayne getting trapped inside the T.V. to getting sent back in time. Please, just quit now. What is it with Wayne anyway? Why does he keep getting himself and his family into these chaotic situations? Besides, if I remember correctly, in "Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves", didn't Diane Szalinski say that the state had strictly forbidden Wayne from ever using his machine for any reason and he used it anyway? In either case, he broke the law and should have been arrested for endangering the lives of himself, his family, as well as everyone around him.

There were two things I enjoyed about this show. The first was the actors who actually did a better job than those in the movies. The second was how the show used (odd) science and magic to put a new spin on the problems facing the cast of countless other family sitcoms.

The boy wishes he was an adult, no problem, drink a potion and he becomes an adult. The girl has a stalker, but here he is an alien. The dad doesn't get the credit he deserves at work, but why should he when his invention turns the future into a dystopia.

But while the cast was great, and the action even greater. The one thing I did not like about it was that despite being a comedy show the dialog simply wasn't funny. I cannot remember a single time I laughed watching this.

The kids are well casted, the parents are loving and humorous. They are truly better casted than the movie. The characters do a fantastic job, and they work. They're compatable, they have loving moments. Even though the fathers problematic inventions can make plans go awry, they make it through and with pleasantly funny moments. The best episode is the one where the father joins a Canadian spy mission, and so does the family. They actually shrunk the moon.