TV networks, in the face of a poorly reviewed sitcom, will do whatever it takes to avoid addressing early critical negativity, hoping that by airing said sitcom that the court of public opinion will justify its existence. Typically, it’s a risk worth taking: lots of money is invested in these shows, and critical claims like “just not funny” or “uninspired” are often at odds with viewers at home (case in point: the critically ravaged Yes, Dear).
It takes a true abomination of air time for a network to have to address heavily negative criticism before a single episode is even aired, and truly moronic to try and put a positive spin on it. Surely, no network can possibly be that daft, right? To that, Shirley, I present to you 2013’s one-season debacle Dads, a sitcom that stands as the perfect warning sign for what not to do on network TV.
Dads (stylized as dads) features Giovanni Ribisi as Warner and Seth Green as Eli, two friends and business partners who launched a successful video game company, for which they are developers, together. The neurotic Warner maintains the business side of the company, while the more casual Eli focuses on the creative side. Sure, they have their differences (Warner wears a shirt and tie, Eli wears T-shirts and blue jeans) but a lifelong friendship and mutual respect ensures smooth sailing.
Yes, life is good for Warner and Eli. Make that life was good for Warner and Eli… until their respective fathers move in with them. Eli’s father David (Peter Riegert), who left Eli as a child, comes back into his life and moves into Eli’s apartment, spending his days sitting on the couch, eating on the couch, watching television from the couch, and arguing with Edna (Tonita Castro), Eli’s maid, from – you guessed it – the couch. Warner’s dad Crawford (Martin Mull), meanwhile, is an unsuccessful businessman, making bad investment after bad investment in a never-ending vicious cycle to restart his failed career.
Gosh, if you think that’s “funny” just reading about it, there’s more. Warner has two children with his estranged wife, Camila (Vanessa Lachey), and he’s afraid of sex. Eli has no children, is unmarried and a perpetual horndog. David’s a lazy, grumpy jerk who farts. A lot. And Crawford spouts racial slurs like they’re going out of style, but appears to be ignorant of the fact that what he’s saying is racist. Yikes.
‘Dads’ Stirs Controversy Before Airing a Single Episode
Executive producer Seth MacFarlane is certainly no stranger to controversy, but the pilot episode of Dads may very well be the pinnacle (or make that the rock bottom) of his infamy in that regard. One of those critics who reviewed the sitcom before it aired, Maggie Furlong of Huffpost TV, summed up the feelings of many by saying, “It’s racist, homophobic, sexist, ageist. You name it, (producers) were just piling on the many, many offenses.” John Doyle of The Globe and Mailwas more succinct: “It was an epic session of hate.”
Is it a fair assessment? Yes, and if anything, it might be too kind. In that pilot episode, Eli and Warner force Veronica (Brenda Song), their Asian-American assistant, to dress as a sexy Asian schoolgirl in an effort to appeal to potential Chinese investors. The stunt prompts Crawford to assert that, “You can’t trust (Chinese people). There’s a reason ‘Shanghai’ is a verb.” It was enough to catch the attention of Guy Aoki, founder of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans (per CNN), who asked Fox to reshoot the pilot to cut out the most offensive material. They didn’t. “It’s incredibly racist toward Asian people. We’re really surprised. I mean, how can you have an episode which is so ‘anti’ any one group?”
Asian-Americans aren’t the only identifiable group that Dads attacks in the pilot either, with gays and Latinos also serving as targets for Dads‘ offensive attempts at humor: Edna is Latina and speaks in broken English; Warner’s estranged Latina wife is mistaken for a maid; a boxing match on TV spurs the comment that it should be called “Punch the Puerto Rican.” And on, and on. What made it worse, in Furlong’s eyes, is that the cast is full of people who are respected industry veterans, and hearing such hateful words coming from them, per CNN, is “100 percent cringeworthy.”
Fox Tries (and Fails) To Put a Positive Spin on ‘Dads’ Negative Publicity
That’s not just bad publicity. That is publicity from the depths of Hell, determined to drag Dads down to a fiery eternal damnation. You can’t spin that, but it doesn’t mean that Fox didn’t try. Their brilliant idea was to use the overwhelming bad press to its benefit, so they began airing a new promo for the series, one that urged viewers to ignore the bad press. During the 30-second spot, review blurbs like “offensive” and “morally wrong” are followed by shots of a screening of the pilot, where the audience is seen laughing (one woman says, “I don’t see how you could be offended by this: you just laugh.”).
Needless to say, it didn’t work, and Fox had to eat some humble pie. Fox Entertainment Chief Kevin Reilly told critics in August 2013, “Do I think all the jokes right now are in calibration in the pilot? I don’t.” Co-creator Wellesley Wild, in the same presentation, added, “We want to keep [“Dads”] insulting and irreverent, but the most important thing is that it’s funny. If we missed the mark in the pilot, we’re shooting to hit it better in upcoming shows.” To their credit, the second episode, which also aired for critics, wasn’t nearly as racist, but, asCollider notes in its review of the show, it commits the sin of “just being boring.” Dads would mercifully come to an end on May 7, 2014, earning a notoriety that few others have achieved: a perfectly round zero percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
- Release Date
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2013 – 2013
- Network
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FOX
- Directors
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Bob Koherr
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Ewan Chung
Chinese Translator
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