Allright, fess up. I couldn’t have been the only one to watch this last night. Whad’ja think?
For me it wasn’t as bad as it should have been. The previews has me cringing, but the show had it’s moments.
Of course I’ve always liked Adam Arkin since his Northern Exposure days, and the woman who played the mother was in serious need of some mammary restraint, so that’s another plus.
The baby though, should’ve been the kicker. The whole lip-synching thing was way too reminiscent of the singing belly-button ad, but the voice kinda worked. Maybe it’s because we still have a toddler at home, but some of the jokes I should’ve retro-lunched at actually made me giggle. I guess I’m a sucker for a potty joke.
I think the show won’t last though. How long can you do original material based on the premise that the 'rents are the only ones who knows the baby talks. Sure, they’ll milk several episodes keeping it secret from the grandmother who is always comparing her grandchildren (unfavorably in Bob’s case), but that’ll soon get as stale as Frasier’s current season.
I am still on medication, recovering from the horrors that are “Watching Ellie,” Leap of Faith" and “American Embassy.” No WAY was I going to put myself through THAT.
Anyone else watch the clock ticking on the “Watching Ellie” screen and think, “well, THAT’S how many minutes of my life I’ll never get back?”
I figured it couldn’t be as awful as Yes, Dear and I was still under the influence of Demerol, so I watched. I chuckled a couple of times. Mostly, I found it to be predictable, unimaginative, stereotypical, and not particularly entertaining. Unless the writers have an attack of clever, it’s doomed. I predict its rapid demise.
My children, ages 4 and 7, were wild to see a baby talk, so we watched it. My husband and I were mainly interested in seeing how they would explain such an incredible phenomenon but to our surprise, they don’t. Bob just talks and seems as to have a vocabulary and be as cognizant as an intelligent teenager (which may be an oxymoron, heh-heh-heh).
I think the show would be better if they gave him the ability to talk, yet focused on his intelligence as a baby, like in the Look Who’s Talking movies. (The first one, anyway, was bearable.) There was a glimmer of that last night when Bob admitted he doesn’t quite believe the parents will come back when they leave, also how fascinated he is by peek-a-boo. After all, what could be more interesting than a direct pipeline to the thoughts of those most inscrutable of persons, the baby?
But instead, we have an annoying mother who makes cracks about infidelity. Blah, blah, I know it isn’t necessarily a children’s show but why do sitcom characters have to be so bitter and cynical all the time?
Additionally, I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Adam Arkin, and Joely Fischer should definitely button up. And I have my life-hours intact, having not yet subjected myself to Watching Ellie!
I was amazed throughout at how little effort was put into the whole project. Not one original idea made it onscreen. Every single situation that would be exploited by the series (if it wasn’t doomed to be cancelled) was revealed in the exposition before the first commercial; the wife being a reluctant stay-at-home mom, the husband’s career, the parent’s issues… all revealed without a joke anywhere in sight.
All situation, no comedy.
My other issue is, if you’re going to have a talking baby, shouldn’t the baby have a personality? I kept comparing Bob to Stewie from Family Guy, and let me tell you, Bob is no Stewie.
“And no sprinkles! For every sprinkle that I find, I shall kill you!”
Ah, Alan Arkin, how far you have fallen. If, at the beginning of your acting career, someone had told you that you’d go on to make a lame sitcom starring a talking baby, would you have given up the whole idea and gone on to be a dentist? Sigh.
I think the baby worked better in the freeinternet.com commercials. Within a sitcom it’s too gimmicky and 1960s-ish. (I felt like I was in a timewarp and had just finished watching “Bewitched” and was getting ready to watch “Mr.Ed” or something.) The mom’s breasts were out of control, too…it looked like a giant butt under her chin.
That having been said, it’s at least 50x better than “Yes, Dear.”
(I didn’t care for “Leap of Faith” either. Everyone on that show seemed so whorish, lol.)