Oliver Beene

It's got heart, and that says a lot. I mean the first episode wasn't a stellar premiere, I'll give you that. But the acting is great! The comedy is more family oriented, and it does a great job at accomplishing what it's set out to do. Isn't that what it's all about? I thought the second episode was very funny, and it's so strange that you can't help but love the way the jokes just seem to just fall out of the scene. It's truly a good-hearted show with some serious moments and real chemistry between these actors. Great job!

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.

Ok, it DOES seem like 'Oliver Beene' is 'Malcolm' meets 'The Wonder Years', but so what? In a world of scarily crappy reality shows, and 50+ years of TV history, isn't better to venture 2 GOOD TV shows, rather than extend ideas from bad ones?

I agree that this show will probably be canned shortly, only because producers don't give shows enough of a chance to improve ratings anymore. I loved Family Guy, and wish it was still on, but it is like the original Star Trek was 35 years ago: a mass cult following formed, but not enough of an overall appeal, like American Idol (joy).

Comedies are a dying breed outside of FOX. CBS focuses on dramas, ABC invokes reality shows and 'family comedies' (which is producer slang for targeted middle-aged audience). WB wants the teenagers, and NBC rounds up the 'intellectual 18-29 who live in New York' (Is Fraiser even funny anymore, or was it REALLY EVER? I mean if you're gonna spin-off Cheers, get George Wendt or John Ratzenberger, not Fraiser Crane). Friends is still funny, but not fresh. And their 'target' audience is not ethnic, so we don't see any NBC leading roles filled by etnicity, only supporting. What happened to Cosby, Fresh Prince, Different World?

Is UPN still even a prime-time station??

But at least FOX, albeit focusing on the dyfunctional slice-of-life, has funny comedies. The Simpsons. Malcolm. That 70's Show. Bernie Mac. King Of The Hill. Family Guy (defunct). Futurama (soon-to-be defunct). Oliver Beene.

And hey, we'd be able to give all these new shows half a fighting chance if they weren't being filled with reality shows (which producers LOVE because they're short, and by now, a guaranteed lock in viewership) like Married By America (the most degrading yet) or until Mr. Personality airs. One day, reality shows will be so ugly, we'll see a televised version of Russian Roulette. I swear we will.

And while Grant Rosenmeyer is no Frankie Muniz, he tries to be real. After all, we all can't be scary bullsh*t like V.I.C.I. in Small Wonder can we?

So to sum up, Oliver Beene is cool. Cherish it now, because you might miss it when it's gone, kinda like Family Guy. And for whoever earlier said Family Guy is much better than The Simpsons, he obviously haven't seen more than 2 episodes. Simpsons still rule.

Oliver Beene was a great, funny show. It upsets me that they went to Fox though. Fox isn't exactly the best network to go to for new shows. If they had gone to CBS this show would have probably been successful. Fox doesn't even give the shows a chance. Oliver Beene, The Pitts, The Jury, Quituplets..... Anyway, what I liked about this show was the time setting and also I have always seemed to like shows with weird or goofy families. Jerry was my favorite. Hes always mad at someone and trying to get even with them or coming up with some strange idea. My all time favorite episode was the parking space episode where Jerry was fighting Mr. Novogroder to get the best space out in front of the building. It was funny at the end where Novogoder won and kept that old Ford Galaxie there for eternity.

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.