Oliver Beene

"Oliver Beene" was one of the very, VERY rare family sitcoms that was actually funny, and often hilarious. Well-acted, well-written, and almost entirely anachronism-free. Plus, Andrew Lawrence had to be the cutest thing to appear on TV since George Clooney.

Although Fox's animated programming is mainly daring, high-quality product, they don't support live action sitcoms the same way -- if they did, "Oliver Beene" and "Get a Life" would have run a lot longer.

Rupert Murdoch must have handed down a memo to the effect that Fox's non-cartoon comedies must be all-junk-all-the-time, in order to reach that huge demographic comprised of those who find tired sex jokes ("The War at Home," et. al) and/or people incessantly screaming at one another ("Malcolm in the Middle") to be hilarious.

I totally disagree with the other user comment. I think this show is great. Yes it is a mix of "Malcolm In The Middle" and "Wonder Years" (in fact, the narrator sounds exactly just like Daniel Stern, the narrator from WY), but it's still funny as hell. The characters are fun to watch and the actors seem to have a great time with them. I say take a look.

Oliver Beane is simply the freshest, funniest show to hit the tube in 2003. It's almost a surreal parody of Leave it to Beaver, with straight clueless parents, an older brother and weird little friends. Every episode yields delicious absurdity and quotable punchlines. Predictably, it won't be lasting long. C'mon Fox, do the right thing and renew Oliver.

I like to rewatch this show every so often. It's really funny and there are clever little touches peppered throughout the series. Season two's "Kissing Babies" is a standout.

It is a real shame the show didn't get to continue. It is amazing the amount of pure dreck that seems to get to last 10 seasons and quality stuff like Oliver Beene gets cut.

I like all the characters on this show except the mom. She's too much of a whiney dimbulb. Oliver is chubby & likable. The dad is a big, lovable dolt in a crass, enjoyable way. Andy Lawrence is adorable. He's more of a dizzy himbo (male bimbo) than a monster like the older brother on "The Wonder Years". Oliver's pals (effeminate boy & nerdie girl) are also fun to watch. The colorful, 1960's setting is very nostalgic, but producers should pay more attention to details. In many ways it is a hybrid of "The Wonder Years" (which took itself too seriously) & "Malcom In The Middle" but I was never crazy about either of those shows, but I like this one.