- Network: FOX
- Series Premiere Date: Mar 27, 2014
Critic Reviews
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A series that’s not as impressive as its lead actor’s performance.
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If only Surviving Jack was more daring. But it falls into TV's sap-trap. Meloni is deliciously derisive, but only for the first 20 minutes of the episode.
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The characters on Surviving Jack, like those on “Growing Up Fisher,” are more appealing and a little more nuanced. But they both are feel-good comedies that seem written to make their creators, more than the audience, feel good. Neither is as funny and durable as "The Middle."
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Mostly, it’s another throwback to the twin notions that writers like tackling what they know, and adolescence--with all its potential for humiliation and exultation--offers fertile if not particularly original ground for comedy.
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What's wrong here are some of the same elements that have made the 2013-14 network comedy crop one of the weakest in memory--not enough laughs, not enough of a show that feels like it has something interesting to say (and wants to say it).
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No one can survive Surviving Jack’s hollow and formulaic dialogue, which is bursting with jokes that are half-funny at best.
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Surviving Jack allows for a smidgen of heartfelt earnestness now and again, but it’s less heartwarming than the steadily-improving “The Goldbergs” because at heart Surviving Jack is the one-joke premise of its title: My dad’s a jerk.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 52 out of 61
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Mixed: 3 out of 61
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Negative: 6 out of 61
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Apr 5, 2014
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Apr 5, 2014
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Mar 31, 2014