- Network: NBC
- Series Premiere Date: Oct 11, 2006
Critic Reviews
- Critic score
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- By date
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The pilot for "Twenty Good Years" has some genuinely funny moments even as it makes no apparent effort to reinvent the form.
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The laughs generated are not subtle, but at least they're there.
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The writing could be sharper, the vision less soft-headed.... That aside, there's no mistaking the sense of life and vitality that comes bouncing out of this series, or its cause -- namely, its two stars.
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Even if the material is a trifle slight, pairing of John Lithgow and Jeffrey Tambor brightens matters, serving up smiles if not outright guffaws.
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So far, it's of interest only for watching Lithgow--who likes to shout his lines with quivering urgency, as if he'd just seen a UFO--as he goes over the top to get a laugh. [16 Oct 2006, p.39]
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Without these two, 20 Good Years would be 22 bad minutes of television, but they bring so much skill to their roles, and seem to be having so much fun, you can see the comedy running, if not for 20 years, maybe four or five.
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A perfectly serviceable but utterly forgettable sitcom.
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"Twenty Good Years" is not flat-out awful. It's nowhere close to great, either.
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This show is for people who find Lithgow's shameless shtick uproarious.
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I will be rooting for this series to improve, but not watching it.
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Everything about the show seems designed to misuse its stars and erase our memories of the better work they've done.
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Viewers who like their comedy broad, loud and silly might take a liking to this "Odd Couple"-like sitcom.
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The jokes in "Twenty" are both predictable and telegraphed.
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What's particularly appalling is the way Lithgow is allowed to go way, way over the top in his performance.
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"Twenty Good Years" is based on the premise these two comedy warhorses can make just about anything work, but this tired vehicle proves too much -- or rather, too little -- for even them.
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If "Twenty" proves anything, it's that even gifted performers can't conceal the flaws of a truly uninspired script, though they can distract from them here and there.
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There's nothing inherently wrong with the premise... But what's been done with it, on the evidence of the pilot, is weak, and slightly embarrassing to watch.
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If it weren't for [Lithgow's] shameless bellowing, "20 Good Years" would be excruciating, instead of the (very) occasionally amusing hackfest it's turned out to be.
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It is so ancient - in approach, tone, style and energy - that you can almost see the dust bunnies tumble across the set.
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It is a male version of “The Golden Girls,” but with weaker writing, and older viewers are not saps.
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Despite Lithgow and Tambor's capabilities, the series sags badly amid the moldy excesses of generic, over-the-top slapstick.
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"Twenty Good Years" is so bad, its pilot doesn't contain 20 good seconds.
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This is the same kind of odd-couple pairing that TV has been trying to sell for decades, and, like most every odd-couple concept after the actual Odd Couple, the premise has not even Twenty Good Minutes of humor in it.
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This show just isn't funny. At all. Ever. Under any circumstances.
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If you last through 20 minutes of "Twenty Good Years," NBC's new sit-no-com, you are either a saint, a madman or in a tragic and irreversible coma.
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The show is just awful.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 22 out of 38
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Mixed: 3 out of 38
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Negative: 13 out of 38
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billybFeb 10, 2007When watching this show, I just sat there waiting for a punch line that never came.
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nilmDec 31, 2006Very differend and funny tv show. Must see.
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RhondaBNov 26, 2006Excellent show - love it. I was enjoying it more w/ each episode.