The Kennedys

There seems to be several comedies started on the BBC based on memoirs about growing up in 1970s Britain.

Cradle to Grave based loosely on the autobiography of Danny Baker is much better and funnier.

This is based on the memoirs of writer and actress Emma Kennedy who is played by Lucy Hutchison. She is a 10 year old obsessed with Star Wars. Her parents are Brenda and Tony Kennedy played by Katherine Parkinson and Dan Skinner. The Kennedys have moved into a new estate in Stevenage and pleased that they are social climbing and on the verge of being considered middle class meaning dinners parties and being part of the new town community.

The Kennedys make friends to a couple who only live together. Tim is the typical 1970s Lothario looking type and Jenny is more traditional girlfriend who is also pregnant. They also have African neighbours who seemed to be confused by everyone's antics.

With the focus being on young Emma and her school friends lends the sitcom some similarities with Outnumbered and also allows it to insert pop references such as Stars Wars or the latest heartthrobs or pop groups. One of the episodes had the young girls in distress as Donny Osmond got engaged.

The adults get into their own misadventures usually based on confusion of some sort. One of the episodes had both couples pretending to be gay as they wanted to impress their new lesbian neighbours from Denmark.

The sitcom has no laughter track. If it did then the audience never bothered laughing. It is a mirth free zone. I thought the first episode was very bad and although it slightly improved, this lacks the heart, warmth and insight of Cradle to Grave.

The 1970s setting seems to be all over the place. It just went for some kind of generic 70s nostalgia. There was a good touch when showing those scary public information films which they used to show at school, because I saw them at school then.

The whole show wants to rely on just nostalgia but the script is poor. There is not much laughter in 'look bad women drivers' when it featured Brenda trying to pass her driving test and she was a horrible driver or Tim trying to get ready for parenthood by building a cot. Even the episode where they went on a disastrous camping holiday was rather predictable.

Some of the language is jarring as its too modern. They really did not speak like that in the 1970s. Having a black couple in the show and then sort of dismissing them just looks like casual racism even if the Kennedys actually may had treated their neighbours like that 40 years ago.

It's simple silly lighthearted family fun, I just don't get why something like this gets just one season and some trashy mind-numbing junk gets more playtime. There should be a rule where a minimum of two seasons are commissioned, this series leaves off with a bit of a cliff-hanger that will never see the light of day, just a bit frustrating. I really like Katherine Parkinson so I'm biased, but I liked the other characters as well, they all had their own quirks, and were fun to watch, maybe just the little girls role was a bit too side-lined for a show that was supposedly based around her life. Watching some episodes it's almost like I forget she's even part of the plot. Her character twist is she loves Star Wars and is a tomboy, I guess it was odd for a girl at that time to be so enthusiastic about Sci-Fi, but with modern tastes it doesn't seam so odd or out of the ordinary. And anytime it's brought up in the series it's like a "so what" moment. Since it was just loosely based on a life story, it really did have a fairly blank slate to work with, so in the end it was a waste of a good setting and pliable characters. I did really like it overall and if anything fans of Katherine Parkinson should enjoy seeing more of her.

I felt the need to write this comedy after reading reviews which were extremely negative.

This new comedy from the BBC has been extremely funny from start to finish. It is refreshing to have a comedy without a laugh track.

Set in the 70's The Kennedy's offers an extremely funny and witty slice of 1970's England.

The cast of the Kennedy's is brilliant with Katherine Parkinson shinning as Brenda.

I really hope it will return for an equally comedic second series.And that we see more comedies of equal quality.

Terrific show that deserved a much better fate than it got. Parkinson and Peacock(real-life husband and wife) are outstanding as is the entire cast. If only the BBC would have given this gem another time slot or moved it to BBC 2. Such a shame we only have six episodes.

I stumbled on this HILARIOUS British Sitcom... Didn't check how many Seasons/Episodes.. AGAIN... I watched them ALL.. WHY IS THERE JUST 1 Season/6 Episodes!!!?? This show is AWESOME! I feel like I did when TV/ABC Cancelled "OUAT Alice in Wonderland"!