I didn’t see a thread for this, so I’ll start it
This show was High-Sterical! I cannot recall the last time I laughed out loud at a prime time sitcom, but when John Lithgow shed the trenchcoat and posed - man oh man, I just about peed myself
Two great actors and some great lines - I hope Judith Light sticks around, even tho there’s no need for her character. But the two 20-something actors - you can really tell what years of experience can do for the craft when you compare those tow to John and Jeffrey (Geoffrey?)
Well. That was possibly the worst show I have ever seen. Bad laugh track, bad jokes, bad acting, bad writing…but I could be wrong. I never thought that Conan O’Brien would last out the month…I’ve been wrong before.
But that was really bad.
I just asked the mods to combine our threads - we must have simulposted. And it should spark some good debates since I thought the show was fantastic (tell me, what did you think of 30 Rock?)
Dueling threads!
I only saw the last half of 30 Rock, and I thought it had some potential…but Tina Fey didn’t look like herself. I think the juxtaposition of the two shows is what made the laugh track in 20 Good Years so jarring…it started before the joke even finished, and it seemed out of place to have a laughtrack that loud while they were playing raquetball. I love John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambour, but the acting was so over-the-top, and the jokes were just…not there! And as soon as I saw him sitting there in the trenchcoat I knew he was (nearly) nekkid under there…so there was no surprise. Knew he would dump Gina, too.
Done.
I nearly turned off the TV when I heard the laughtrack cut in, but I decided to ride it out. I don’t see myself going out of the way to catch episodes of the show, but as its’ sandwiched between 30 Rock and my guilty pleasure, The Biggest Loser, I’d probably catch more than I miss.
It has potential for some amazing moments, but that damn laughtrack totally takes me out of it.
This will be my first and last thread on this putrid show. What a waste of two talented actors. 22 minutes and one laugh (when they mentioned that Lithgow grew up one block away from Tambor, yet he still had a British accent - now you don’t have to watch to hear the one joke). They must’ve had a summer intern or NBC’s CEO’s young nephew handling the canned laughter, because it was jarring. After decades of watching sitcoms, good and bad, I’ve gotten to where I don’t usually notice the laugh track, but this was so bad that when I heard the obviously fake laughter, it dragged the show down even further.
Plus, they got the racquetball wrong. You don’t stand side-by-side when serving.
This show shouldn’t make it through November. However, given my track record on predicting bad shows, it will run for 20 years.
Ohhhh I barely made it through 7 minutes of this. Something told me that this was a bad show and watching confirmed it.
Two Comedic talents like Tambor and Lithgow are wasted on this crap. And yeah the first thing I noticed was the horrible canned laughter. I thought they had finally ditched that old crap.
Something tells me the Network pinheads realized they had a dud and decided to “funny” it up by adding the digital recordings of other people laughing to drown out the sounds of the crickets and remotes clicking away from this turkey.
If there is any mercy it will be gone in two weeks and only be a trivia question.
I think you are an optimist! If it’s back next week I’ll be surprised. It was so bad on so many levels.
Thank Og I’m not the only one who felt this way. I wonder what Jeff and John were thinking when they watched the final product - other than hoping they received payment up-front.
Wow. Three threads started, merged into two, and ours sunk so fast no one else saw it! But I think, anyrose, that you will have to concede defeat on this one…you are apparently the only person on the planet who liked the show.
By the overwhelming majority of 2-1?
I didn’t see it, I had work to do, but my roommate liked it
Oh, I see, the other thread was 3-0 against.
I actually thought it was a little bit funnier than 30 Rock… not saying all that much, but it had a few good laughs. The laugh track was pretty bad, though.
Eh. The laugh track has to go. But it was nice to watch two pros work off of each other. Kill the writers, fire the director, destroy the laugh track, and we might have something here.
It’s even worse when you compare it to both Tambor’s and Lithgow’s previous efforts (Arrested Development, Gary Shandling’s Show and Third Rock from the Sun). It’s like coming off the summit of Everest and going straight to some neighborhood ballpark pitcher’s mound…
I didn’t notice the laugh track because I was too busy laughing myself. This is the first show since Two And A Half Men that has actually made me laugh out loud. This, and reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond.
So that’s one more for. Am I beyond help? 
If some of the posts are a little jangled, it’s because I merged the third thread with the two previously merged threads.
Yes. My powers are awesome.
Another one for “20 more years.” I love John Lithgow in just about anything, and while it isn’t a must-see for me yet, I plan to tune in again. Strange, but I didn’t even notice the laugh track, and normally laugh tracks bug me. I liked it, yet it seemed that they were trying too hard; I’m hoping they’ll settle in and maybe laughs will come more easily with Lithgow moving in with Tambour. A lot of potential there, but it can be overdone.