Yes, it really was that bad. Kelsey Grammer’s return to the small screen in Hank was a complete bomb … followed by the creepy sounds of a laugh track.
Actually, that kind of killed it from the start. When Hank and his wife, Tilly (Melinda McGraw), walk outside of their (presumably) New York apartment building, and Hank tells kids Maddie (Jordan Hinson) and Henry (Nathan Gamble) not to go anywhere, they scatter, and the laughter begins…. Wow. Real crappy.
The family’s return to Virginia allowed for the introduction of Tilly’s brother, Grady (David Koechner, who’s still trying to regain his Anchorman funny). That’s who Grammer got to replace Niles (David Hyde Pierce)?
Seriously, the only thing that I laughed at during the half hour was Hank’s inferred insult of Yoda, when he asked Tilly why Henry was talking like the “kung fu frog from Star Wars.” Then Hank went back to being sad.
Whether Hank makes it (unlikely), or not (Back to You was far superior, and it got cut short), I certainly won’t be around to witness it. So, the question really becomes: why did Kelsey Grammer sign on to this stinker of a series? Let’s count the possibilities.
None of those reasons excuses his performance: with the personality of Frasier, and the crashed-and-burned smell of former high-flyer Chuck Darling, all Grammer’s done is meld his former work (the latter of which also relied heavily on Frasier) together to portray his latest incarnation. I think Grammer also just works better in a thinker’s comedy, not this type of physical and one-liner nonsense.
So, yeah, wow. I’ll catch him in his next project (which, based on the pilot of Hank, isn’t far off), but Grammer will have to do this one without me. See ya!
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Oct 01, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
I agree, it was pretty terrible. I feel bad for Melinda McGraw who was outstanding in season 2 of Mad Men. Nice to see her getting work, but she deserves better.
Did anyone else find it slightly offensive? The thought that these people had to suffer being “poor,” which meant a giant beautiful house in the middle of a quiet suburb, was pretty obnoxious. If that was supposed to be part of the comedy, I wasn’t laughing.
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Which explains why she looked familiar to my wife but not to me. Thanks for that inadvertent assist. :-) I do have to imagine that it’s something to work with Kelsey Grammer, no matter how bad the product … so at least she has that?
I thought that part was confusing. At first I assumed they were returning to a family home, or something along those lines, but then when it was clear that they’d just bought it…. It also doesn’t appear as if Hank plans to job hunt, so they must have something left in the bank. Right?
She was also commisioner Gordon’s wife in a blink-and-you-might-miss it appearance in The Dark Knight.
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I didn’t blink … I just never saw it! Shhhh….
Oh come on… Let’s be honest: You really remember her as Jane Braun, who took over Vinick’s campaign on the West Wing after Patricia Richardson’s character was fired.
And she did a couple of episodes of Journeyman, too.
*POST AUTHOR*
Right…. ;)
Watch Bill Maher’s Real Time from last week, they make fun of how TV shows have “poor” people. They used The King of Queens, the guy would make next to nothing and lives in this rather nice house in NYC!
I didn’t watch it, the previewers were horrible. I simply don’t understand why ABC just didn’t pick up Back to You. Where it ended was a perfect start for a “relaunch” season on another network.
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I’d adamantly agree with you, if The Middle and Modern Family weren’t as good as they are. However….
I TiVo’ed this because I like Grammer as Frasier, and I think he’s very talented at both physical comedy and vocal delivery. But I couldn’t stand more than 2 episodes of “Back to You”, and based on the UNIVERSALLY bad reviews of “Hank”, I think I’ll be deleting it without watching. Really, has anyone run across even a middling review of this show? I’ve never seen such total agreement from all reviewers.
horrible horrible horrible… and that’s just the ten minutes i watched. the run down dirty house they were forced to move into??? totally offensive, bob, that place was certainly upper middle class – my wife pointed out that it probably would have been a better show if they were forced to live in central park (some bad joke about it was in there).
the laugh track has got to go the way of the dodo. the show lost me right there (and a few others, it seems).
even watching classic seinfelds with the laugh track makes me cringe sometimes – i wish the dvd’s had an option to turn it off.
“i wish the dvd’s had an option to turn it off”
That, my friend, is pure brilliance. Has anyone tried to take a classic show and attempt removing the laugh track from an episode?
Actually, someone did it for Friends. I’m not sure if it’s creepy or hilarious just because we know the laugh track was removed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLvB_ybcKt0
I agree, laugh tracks are so lame now. However, on the MASH DVDs you have the option of turning off the laugh track and I tried it for a few episodes and it was odd not having it. For some reason I’m OK with laugh tracks on old shows, maybe it’s a comfort thing but anything made past ’95 needs to kill the track. I also kind of feel the same way about four camera shows.
#1 reason… Acting alongside Jimmy Barrett’s wife!