Dinner with the Parents

Looks like yet another failed attempt by us Americans to remake a British comedy. And this is like the third or fourth attempt at remaking Friday Night Dinner for American audiences. I didn't laugh once during the first episode. Cringed and rolled my eyes the whole time. People should just watch Friday Night Dinner instead. Damn shame Paul Ritter died and there won't be any more episodes.

This show just not funny. It was a chore to get through the first episode. The characters are more like caricatures, there is no real humor, and there is nothing promising better times to come in future episode. Harder than hard pass.

I love Michelle Watkins as the mother but I feel she needs to play the part 15% more serious. The father is to much of a goofball and mis cast, the dad should be more aloof then silly. I normally love Carol Kane but her character is an odd fit for the show, this is a case of less is more.

The show obviously has some big shoes to fill from the British version, I just hope they can fix it before it dies on the vine. I'm ok if they have to recast and slim down, and give the characters some more depth, they don't feel real they way they are being played. I truly hope they can make this work because there is nothing else on tv.

I would say friday night dinner (FND) is one of my fave sitcoms ever.

So naturally i heard of this and wanted to see what it was about - now i admit i have a low expectation of US remakes of UK shows. They are generally not good and don't translate well (ahem, the inbetweeners, IT crowd and more).

I got 5 mins into the first ep and was crushed. The characters have nothing like the chemistry of the original and the casting is diabolical - eg the ages are all over the place.

Also the neighbour character is plain not funny and you wouldnt notice if he werent there.

The grandma, adds no charm to the family and in fact is worse off for it.

All in all (i've took one for the uk / fans of the show) and watched them all.. and frankly i feel glad to never see it again.

This is based off of the brilliant Friday night dinner but lacks any of what makes Friday night dinner a great show. The original is one of my favorite shows and one I've watched several times and this version is criminal. Some things don't need to be remade especially if not done right and this is one of them. It lacks the dry humor and fun of what the original one was. Also there's no way either of the boys are anywhere in their 20s or pass for 20s whoever did the casting needs a career change. All this made me do was wish that prime hadn't taken the original off their free streaming. Nothing good I can really say about it.

The first episode started off kind of awkward and unfunny, but halfway through it started coming together and the characters started clicking. We laughed a few times. The second episode was definitely better. It's definitely not as good as the original Friday Night Dinner, but I knew it was going to be hard to recreate those characters. Carol Kane is pretty funny as the grandma and I like the actor who plays the father. I wasn't sure he could pull off what Paul Ritter could, and while he isn't as funny and cringy as Paul, he is still pretty funny. The actress playing the mother started growing on me in the 2nd episode. We enjoyed it and it's better than I expected.

I definitely recommend watching the original series, especially if you find this one enjoyable. The original is definitely irreplaceable but this is a decent attempt.