If there is one TV trope I will watch again and again and again and never fail to be delighted by, it’s a bunch of messed-up, crazy people coming together against all odds and forming a rag-tag sort of family. I fell for it on The Office. I love it on Leverage. There much isn’t a show I love that doesn’t have this to some extent. (30 Rock? Pushing Daisies? How I Met Your Mother?)
So when I read the summary of Sons of Tucson my response was, “Oh, hell yeah.” Adorable kids! Hilarious shenanigans! What could possibly go wrong?
Honestly, a lot. Kids are tricky on screen. Get them right, and you get them really right, get them wrong, and nothing ruins a show faster. And I am happy to report, after watching the screener of Sons of Tucson, this show has gotten it really, really right.
(Warning! Possible spoilers for the first episode ahead.)
Basically, the pilot goes like the summary on the FOX website. Down-on-his luck Ron Snuffkin (Reaper‘s Tyler Labine) is living in his car, has promised some collectibles owned by his grandmother to a loan shark, works at a sporting goods store and isn’t exactly motivated career-wise. Enter three kids: Brandon, Gary, and Robby Gunderson (played phenomenally by Troy Gentile, Frank Dolce, and Davis Cleveland, respectively) who are living on their own. Their mom is AWOL and their dad is a banker in jail for “something to do with stocks.” The kids don’t want to be split up or sent to foster care, so they hire Ron to “be their dad.”
But it isn’t a one-way street. Ron needs the kids to charm his crazy grandmother Ethel (who I hope to dear God appears again, just so I can hear her rant about her idol, Eisenhower) into giving him the collectibles and put a roof over his head, not to mention it gives him an in with Robby’s hot teacher, Maggie Morales (played by the yet-to-be-determined-in-quality Natalie Martinez).
Normally, I’m not a fan of pilots. They tend to be over-stuffed with background music (like if you hear a song you’ll like, maybe you’ll keep watching! Oh please keep watching!), overly-ambitious, and kind of like that kid you knew in school who you might have liked if only they wouldn’t try so hard. Sons of Tucson is gloriously laid-back, relatively music-free, and doesn’t reach for the stars. Maybe it won’t be the next huge thing, but it is certainly good enough to be worthy of getting a solid fan base. And it’s adorable and has kids and shenanigans. That is enough to satisfy me.
(That’s what she said.)
Clacked by Julia Hass 
on Jun 25, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
they had me at Sock.