This show was released in a a quaint era when our political landscape (at least here in the US) wasn't so trauma-inducing that we can enjoy something politics adjacent as lightweight sitcom fare.
This was also a coming out vehicle of sorts for Josh Gad who wrote the show and fashioned himself as a Chris Farleyesque figure (they're both plus sized and Gad was probably aware of this) who's a lovable oaf.
Gad's character, Skip Gilchrest, the first son to President Dale Gilchrest (Bill Pullman looking as presidential as ever) has zero malicious bones in his body but exists in a social climate that's politicized to a microscopic degree, so he's a ticking time bomb for social disaster which is a great recipe for comedy.
Rounding out the ensemble are a couple precocious kids, a goody-two-shoes daughter (Martha MacIsaac) whose clean-cut image is derailed by an unplanned pregnancy, and a beautiful step-wife (Jenna Elfman) who spends many of the episodes overcompensating for the "trophy wife" image. The pregnant first daughter and the step-mother readjusting to expectations are a couple fine wrenches to throw into the machinery, and things get particularly juicy when the baby daddy shows up (Robbie Amell) in the fourth episode. A great comedy of errors ensues in which Rebecca discovers that her one night stand wasn't a navy man but an dim-witted Old Navy employee who has no idea why he's being called to the Oval Office as the president berates him. This is the series at its high point and why this wasn't the pilot is part of why this show didn't get renewed, I suspect.
The writing was pretty decent the first time around but when I watched the show a lot more recently, I found myself appreciating it more. Perhaps the show is so digestible nowadays is because it's fairly removed from politics. At the same time, it's a little soft, but it's good comfort food in a Nick-at-Nite kind of way.
Because it was so digestible.
This was also a coming out vehicle of sorts for Josh Gad who wrote the show and fashioned himself as a Chris Farleyesque figure (they're both plus sized and Gad was probably aware of this) who's a lovable oaf.
Gad's character, Skip Gilchrest, the first son to President Dale Gilchrest (Bill Pullman looking as presidential as ever) has zero malicious bones in his body but exists in a social climate that's politicized to a microscopic degree, so he's a ticking time bomb for social disaster which is a great recipe for comedy.
Rounding out the ensemble are a couple precocious kids, a goody-two-shoes daughter (Martha MacIsaac) whose clean-cut image is derailed by an unplanned pregnancy, and a beautiful step-wife (Jenna Elfman) who spends many of the episodes overcompensating for the "trophy wife" image. The pregnant first daughter and the step-mother readjusting to expectations are a couple fine wrenches to throw into the machinery, and things get particularly juicy when the baby daddy shows up (Robbie Amell) in the fourth episode. A great comedy of errors ensues in which Rebecca discovers that her one night stand wasn't a navy man but an dim-witted Old Navy employee who has no idea why he's being called to the Oval Office as the president berates him. This is the series at its high point and why this wasn't the pilot is part of why this show didn't get renewed, I suspect.
The writing was pretty decent the first time around but when I watched the show a lot more recently, I found myself appreciating it more. Perhaps the show is so digestible nowadays is because it's fairly removed from politics. At the same time, it's a little soft, but it's good comfort food in a Nick-at-Nite kind of way.
Because it was so digestible.