Rodney

If you've ever heard any of Carrington's cocksure, edgy comedy CDs, on which it certainly seems as though he's thoroughly loaded, laughing at himself, rolling quite blue, but always with good reason-- the guy is funny as hell-- you're probably also scratching your head at this lame attempt to turn him into the new Andy Griffith. I mean, you can sit through retread of crap after retread of crap, but this man needs a working venue, and this clearly isn't it. The writing is dumb, the pace is slow, the kids are cookie cutter cute and the wife has no presence. But they all stand out when you see what they've done to poor Rodney. If you think I'm being overly severe, go buy a copy of "Morning Wood" and hang on.

'Rodney' (2004) Rodney Carrington, Jennifer Aspen, Amy Pietz, Nick Searcy, Oliver Davis, Matthew Michael Josten. Down-to-earth husband/father in middle America quits his job that he hates and starts doing stand-up comedy, much to the dismay of his wife and kids. Saw the pilot at an ABC Premiere Party @ Times Square on August 22 and although this looks like 2004's answer to Roseanne/The Drew Carey Show, it is a lot better than it has any business being. Some of the jokes fell flat, but that often happens in a pilot episode (especially one on ABC). Several supporting characters are realistic people whom anyone could know. I had never previously heard of Rodney Carrington, but he seems to know what he is doing and delivers one-liners in a swift manner. Certainly promising.

I saw the other comments and the only way I can account for the variance in viewpoint is the differences in expectancy. I had not seen the comedian before to the best of my knowledge so this was just another sitcom with unknown faces to me. It was good family entertainment, story-telling, based on something one could expect to occur in the home. I really appreciate not having to make excuses for poor behavior of actors on screen (and off) to children; there was no risqué content. I hope that wasn't just this one episode by a fluke, I hope there's more like this to come. We need decency back for (at least) family viewing, even if it means some people will call it flat and others call it predictable. I'm old enough to remember Ozzie and Harriet, and by today's sophisticated and earthy world view Ozzie and Harriet would be slaughtered by commentary and then summarily canceled. In America our tastes have become more sophisticated, but that shouldn't be blindly taken as a good thing. Almost nobody blushes at anything any more, and it seems to take more shock and awe (even in family situations) to satiate our appetites. We're like the frog put in water with the temperature slowly raised to where it's boiling before we are aware (if we are ever aware). My opinion is that it's our loss (just like it's the frogs loss); our loss that we think this show is missing anything; what we need back is our appreciation for a simple story-line made up of genuine family situations. In the show I saw someone who looked how I think Mac Davis would have aged to this point in time (after all these years since his variety show). In IMDb Mac wasn't listed in the cast of Rodney, but when I checked under Mac's page he had guested on three episodes. IMDb is wonderful for answering questions that arise. Summary: We need decency back for (at least) family viewing, even if it means some people will call it flat and others call it predictable. Flat and predictable are an element in life, a good one that makes us feel secure, when someone plays that back at us on screen we should call it a good thing. The fastest of the thrill rides at Disneyland is partly appreciated because of its contrast to the other rides, a point we're losing about Disneyland, about stories, and life.

'Rodney' is very much in the 'According to Jim' style of sitcom. It allow the star stand-up performer plenty of leeway to work in bits of their act, while allowing them to 'act' in a situation that is very familiar.

This is an amiable enough show. It provides enough gentle laughs to carry it along, and the situations aren't exactly a stretch for either cast or viewer alike.

It doesn't hurt that you have sitcom veteran Don Reo behind the scenes or the always lovely Amy Pietz ('Caroline in the City') in the cast too.

It's fine enough viewing, and two series was probably about as much as it was ever going to get.

Rodney is the best TV program on abc1 (in UK) ever! I am so disappointed to read that it seems series 2 will be the last. Series 1 was excellent and had me in stitches all the way through every episode. Series 2 has just started on abc1 in the UK. It is excellent but the episodes do not seem to follow a logical order like series 1. For instance, tonight's episode, "Welcome Ho" seemed to logically follow the last episode of series 1 where Rodney leaves for a 2 month tour but instead was shown in the middle of the series after "Sleepover". Series 1 was best but 2 is still great, I want them all on DVD or video but there is no retail release so I am recording them all at the moment onto DVD. I have 4 episodes in order of series 1 on DVD so far but cant do series 2 until its finished because I am not sure what order they should be. If you like the show buy 1 of Rodney Carrington's CDs from US. The Greatest Hits is super, I bought it new on eBay and it was still well under £10 to UK from US!