Tyler Ritter
Joey McIntyre
Jimmy Dunn
Kelen Coleman
Jack McGee
Laurie Metcalf

Created by:
Brian Gallivan

2014-2015
Comedy
CBS
TV-PG

“The McCarthys” raises one question: Why is Laurie Metcalf in this? She brings credibility to a family sitcom that doesn’t deserve it. This is certainly not HBO’s “Getting On.” And it’s certainly not “Roseanne” – a far superior family sitcom.

Once again, we must endure an intrusive laugh track. I would overlook that if the jokes were funny. Most of them aren’t even close. While the first episodes of many sitcoms aren’t funny, they need to show promise. For successful ones, either the characters or the situations themselves have comedic potential. This first episode fails on both counts.

The contrast between sports aficionados and arts (i.e., TV drama) aficionados is tired. The jokes, one of which involves the misuse of titles beginning with “the” (e.g., Good Wife instead of “The Good Wife” and The Miami instead of The Miami Heat), are bad. And Metcalf’s character has a bit about Kyra Sedgwick as The Closer that overstays its welcome.

One of this titular family’s sons, played by Tyler Ritter, is gay. In the pilot, he plans to move to Rhode Island to get away from his family, because he no longer wants to deal with any further meddling in his love life. Of course, this results in gay jokes that are purposely inoffensive. Inoffensive jokes can work as long as they’re not bland, too. Unfortunately, bland is the name of the game here. Back to the son: His father offers him an assistant coaching job to keep him in Boston and, unbeknownst to him at first, to help recruit a player whose mother is gay. That’s the kind of comedic inspiration on display.

Toward the end of the pilot of “The McCarthys,” there’s a suggestion that each of the two sides will learn something from the other throughout the run of the show, if it’s not cancelled sometime soon. They also have a story line involving the daughter/sister who’s pregnant with the child of a recently deceased basketball coach. As you may have guessed, I’m not going to stick around to find out what happens next.

Verdict: Pretty Bad

About: (Source: mccarthys)

THE McCARTHYS is a multi-camera comedy about a close-knit, sports-crazed Boston family whose somewhat athletically challenged son, Ronny, is chosen by his father to be his assistant high school basketball coach, much to the surprise of his more qualified siblings. Ronny wants nothing more than to move away, join the singles scene and find a partner. His distraught mother, Marjorie is not upset that her favorite son is gay, but that he wants to leave Boston and his family. Ronny’s plans change, however, when his politically incorrect and outspoken father, Arthur stuns everyone with his choice for an assistant. Touched by his father’s offer, Ronny embarks on a completely different future and he can be sure that his loving family, including his twin brothers Sean and Gerard and his sister Jackie, are going to have a very vocal opinion about it.