My Family is a long-running family Britcom
that, based on the episode I saw, shouldn’t have run anywhere near the 11
seasons that it did. Granted, I’ve seen
sitcoms that are far worse, but my main impressions were 1) overly broad
comedy, and 2) way too much reliance on insult humor. Honestly, if a husband and wife can’t make it
more than two or three exchange without one denigrating the other, they
probably shouldn’t be married.
The
show centers around the Harper family:
dentist Ben, tour guide Susan, and the standard 2.5 kids. Again, based on the episode I saw, they
regular get themselves into all manner of typical sitcom troubles, and hijinks
aplenty occur. In “Dentist to the
Stars,” Ben is thrilled when a famous actor patronizes his practice. Though he hopes it’ll lead to more celebrity
clients and more money (you can practically see the dollar signs in his eyes),
his rudeness and general tendency towards putting his foot in his mouth don’t
bode well for him.
PC
plays Colin Judd, the famous actor causing a dentist-office sensation. He’s not just a film star – he’s an
“important actor,” the sort who sticks to period dramas and Shakespeare. Ben can’t mask his distaste for Colin’s body
of work for more than a few seconds at a time, but everyone else he encounters
fawns over him as an artiste/thinking-girl’s heartthrob.
This is
where it’s tricky to tell how far my PC-bias extends. While this episode has me wondering if
there’s any conceivable reason why he took this job (other than the paycheck),
I think the performance is decently good.
The action happening around Colin is broad and over-the-top, but his
reaction to it all is so grounded, which makes him seem like the sane-man
rather than just the straight-man.
Granted, it occasionally feels like he’s acting in a different show than
everyone else, but the dissonance is funny.
Attention
Whovians – Zoë Wanamaker (Lady Cassandra, the Last Human) and Daniela
Denby-Ashe (Mary, Tosh’s short-term flame on Torchwood) also appear in My
Family.
Accent Watch
Sounds
Scottish to me, fairly light.
Recommend?
In
General
– I wouldn’t. Too much of a standard
sitcom.
PC-wise – Not
necessarily. PC makes the most of
uninspiring material, yes, but there’s plenty of better options out there.
Warnings
Nothing
much – a few light sexual references maybe.
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