Married to the Kellys

It was funny, the characters were likable as well as memorable, and ever though it was on for only a short amount of time, I miss watching it. perhaps what killed this show was probably the time slot. I know I had a hard time remembering what time it came on. Also, the way the networks throw in reality shows now really screws with how many episodes one show might have.

This show and NBC's Committed were two shows that I just can't understand being canceled. It's a shame. I'd like to see it come back. Perhaps after all the reality shows die out, the networks will get a clue.

Married to the Kellys is rather a charming show. The main couple are from New York City who move to Kansas City to live near her family. This is admirable for network to actually have a character who is not that arrogant for a New Yorker. He was born and raised as an only child and married a Kansas girl who loves her family. Her parents are played by Nancy Lenehan and Sam Anderson who both have several guest television spots for as long as I can remember. Finally, Nancy and Sam have their own show where they can act rather than guest appearances. The New York couple have rather adjusted easily to a slower pace of life and socializing regularly with a loving family. Sure, the Kellys can be corny but they are not naive or crazy about their New York relatives who have moved to the same town. I love Lewis Kelly as the oddball brother with an insect collection and studying it in college. The good sister, Mary Kelly is wonderfully played and her sister, Susan, the New Yorker turned Kansan, have a solid silly rivalry with their husbands. Of course, I enjoyed the Christmas episode and other episodes of the show. Thank God, the network has allowed this show to grow and expand. Maybe Susan and Mary will have children next. If you want good light family comedy without politics or preaching, this is it for now.

This show actually required people to have a sense of humor. It really played well to those of us who can see the humor in some of the simplest of life's situations. It was not all about sex so I'm sure those who can think of nothing else in their life probably didn't like it. It had a cleanness to it, with its Kansas setting. "Married to the Kellys certainly appeals to those of us with a "dry" sense of humor as well. I thought the transplanting of a New Yorker to a much simpler life made a lot of sense for a sitcom and still do. Is it reality? Certainly not, but that's why I watch TV sitcoms. If I want reality, I turn on the news. As for me, if this were to come out on DVD, I would be the first in line!

This show isn't the Worldly New Yorker Moves to Hicksville show like its preseason publicity led us to think. Given the usual showbiz snobbery about the parts of the U.S. between the two coasts, the misdirection wasn't surprising. The conflict is more Self vs. Family than it is Sophisticate vs. Rube. For one thing, the show is set in Kansas City--hardly a one-horse town. Breckin Meyer is generally affable as the self-centered New Yorker who doesn't dislike his wife's family so much as he doesn't want his life to be centered around it. His major nemeses are his wife's bitter sister (Emily Rutherfurd) and mother (Nancy Lenehan, who could patent her uniquely cutting brand of astringent, passive-aggressive authority). Some of the minor characters need more development, and I don't find the character of the idiot son (so dysfunctional he seems brain-damaged) particularly funny. The various schemes Tom uses to thwart the attempts of his wife's family to indoctrinate him it its ways and the often surprising ways those schemes boomerang on him could make for an entertaining show if it lasts and can manage to work the kinks out.

I watched the first one because a friend was in the show. I watched the second episode, on the chance that the first one was not as good as it should have been. I taped the third one out of courtesy, and watched it at 5:30 AM cause the cat woke me up to get fed. Someone do me a favor and send the writers off to school. I really feel sorry for the actors, and hope they got their money up front.