Title: Family Affair
Stars: Tim Curry,
Gary Cole, Caitlin Wachs, Jimmy “Jax” Pinchak, and Sasha Pieterse
Executive Producers: Bob Young, Gavin Palone, Sid & Marty Krofft, and Randy Pope
Running Time: 40 minutes without
commercials
Media: The WB Television Series Pilot (NTSC
VHS Screener)
World Premiere Thursday, September 12,
2002, at 8pm (ET/PT)
Network: The Warner Brothers Network
(Check your local cable/satellite listings for channel)
Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera
This update of the 1966-1971 family
sitcom stars Tim Curry as the proper English Butler to Bill Davis (Gary Cole), a
wealthy Bachelor who becomes the reluctant guardian of his brother’s orphaned
children in this one-hour series premiere. Subsequent episodes will be
30-minutes in length. All of the elements are here to make those who may vaguely
remember the original series during it’s broadcast run or in syndicated reruns
immediately become comfortable with the show’s familiarity while the series
modernizes a few elements to make this family sitcom a crossover for all ages.
When I first starting watching the
series pilot I was little alarmed by the laugh track because it seemed so
generic and I did not really find anything very funny about the what they were
saying for the first few minutes until the kids show up and then we are able to
see Curry use his charm to deal with these ragamuffins and their older teenage
sister. Curry makes the series and the second half is much better than the first
since we get to see him interact more with the kids. Gary Cole has proven to be
a versatile actor who is no stranger to nostalgia inspired programming given his
turn as “Mr. Brady” in the two “Brady Bunch” feature films. He also has
appeared in leading roles for television programs as diverse as “American
Gothic” and “Crusade.” In the pilot he is more or less the straight man to
Curry’s befuddled butler, but it would be interesting to see if they can
incorporate his diverse talents into the series more as the show develops. As it
stands now I think “Family Affair” is well worth catching and shows
potential, but like anything else, we’ll have to wait and see how the show
develops from there.
“Family Affair” will premiere with
an hour-long episode on Thursday, September 12, 2002, at 8pm (ET/PT) and there
after the series will run a standard 30-minute sitcom on The WB.
© Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.