- Network: ABC
- Series Premiere Date: Mar 7, 2006
Critic Reviews
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Sons & Daughters offers such a fresh, funny take on family life that it could be a landmark comedy.
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When a new comedy shows up as fresh, original and painfully hilarious as Sons & Daughters, at first I want to cheer. And then I start to worry if it can survive. Call it Arrested Development syndrome.
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This sparkling saga of an extended dysfunctional family has more laughs than regular characters.
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It has a sprawling cast, but even before the pilot is over, because of the clever way it's written, directed and acted, you'll know, and like, every single character.
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There's something terribly real and awfully funny about this engaging little sitcom, which takes the sweetness of Parenthood and adds its own slightly bitter touch.
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It's very well-acted and meanwhile, when it can stand it, kind of tender, although it's far more interested in "Curb"-like moments of uncomfortable confrontation.
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Definitely worth your time.
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The looseness of the interchanges gives the humor an anti-writers’-room freshness without losing the harshness we’ve come to expect in this Everybody Loves Raymond/Arrested Development age of clashing relatives.
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It starts out a little cutesy but quickly finds laughs in crisp writing and really strong (and blessedly not-overblown) acting.
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"Sons & Daughters" is supposed to feel like a heightened version of your own family, and in many ways it succeeds.
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Some viewers, accustomed to less-original TV fare, may miss having stock gags and situations rammed down their throat. "Sons & Daughters" is a savory for more discerning palates.
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The improv style when done well, as it is here, doesn't generate sidesplitting laughter, but it does produce a steady stream of deliciously enjoyable moments.
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"Sons & Daughters" is a sitcom whose method -- a script embellished by actors at play -- celebrates the unexpected comedy that can emerge among talented people.
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This sitcom is a loving embrace of convulsive domestic eccentricity.
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"Sons & Daughters" turns the banalities of family life upside down and inside out and finds something new, and even something cherishable, in many of them.
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The show's conversational improv rhythms and realistic, documentary style make Sons and Daughters worth adopting.
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Compelling, if not quite riveting.
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Crowded, confusing and unafraid to be dull, "Sons & Daughters" also holds tremendous promise.
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Personally, I found "Arrested" funnier, but "Sons & Daughters" has its moments.
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"Sons & Daughters" is a milder, more humane version of Fox's canceled "Arrested Development" -- it milks the humor of absurd people and brutally frank conversation.
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A half-hour firmly ensconced in the "witty" zone that seldom crosses all the way over into funny.
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Those who enjoy Sons & Daughters enjoyed Arrested Development more, and the same viewers put off by the latter's off-the-wall humor will also be put off the new show.
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For a show that's supposed to be all loosey-goosey, too many of S&D's visual and aural cues are rigidly staged. [10 Mar 2006, p.53]
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The improvised dialogue is sometimes smart, but it often leads to scenes where the main characters repeat their intentions over and over again -- you know, like in a really bad improv class.
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Vulgar and incomprehensibly unfunny, "Sons & Daughters" is a clear attempt to be a hip hybrid of "Arrested Development," "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "The Office." Instead, it's just a mostly superb cast being thrown to the wolves with ugly dialogue.
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Most of the cast stammers its way through sentences as if awaiting a lightning strike of inspiration. When it doesn't come, the actors have to say something anyway, and that meandering search for structure is what winds up filling 30 shapeless minutes.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 47 out of 59
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Mixed: 1 out of 59
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Negative: 11 out of 59
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HeatherBDec 11, 2006Loved it because it's candid!
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MarinHOct 30, 2006best show i've ever seen
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[Anonymous]Oct 16, 2006This show is/was great!