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comfort food
No great yuks but shrewd Wednesday fit for ABC
By Elizabeth White
ABC’s "According to Jim," which airs tonight, is more of a sleeper pickup than a sleeper hit.
After a tepid critical reception and minimal promotional buzz, the new show’s ratings have been decent, but mostly as a result of its hammocked position between "My Wife and Kids" and "Drew Carey."
But that’s exactly what ABC expected of the show, and it's reason enough for a full-season order.
"My Wife and Kids" was last season’s midseason hit, and ABC desperately needed to find a suitable companion show to hang onto its youthful audience--a show that would keep the same feel and attract the same audience but not seem too much like the same show.
That's no easy task for any network. We need look no further than NBC and its continued sitcom troubles on Tuesdays and Thursdays to see what a difficult and time-consuming task that can be.
Yet so far "My Wife and Kids" and "According to Jim" appear to be forming a potent family-oriented sitcom hour, stealing the 8 p.m. hour away from NBC’s "Ed" among adults 18-49.
During the last two weeks, "According to Jim" has retained over 90 percent of "My Wife and Kids’" lead-in household audience and built slightly on its adult 18-49 audience. The show’s four broadcasts have averaged a 5.2 rating among adults 18-49.
But "According to Jim" is not a stand-alone hit, and it never will be. There’s not much reason to seek out the show on its own.
The show’s comedy isn’t particularly fresh or original, and its setup seems so old-fashioned that ABC should consider repurposing the show on TV Land.
Jim Belushi is the title character, Jim, a father with a stay-at-home wife (Courtney Thorne-Smith) and three young daughters. The show derives most of its comedy from how this man’s man, a contractor who plays in a blues band, deals with his feminine wife and cute-as-button little girls.
Yet "According to Jim" does fairly well with its predictable formula. It is not as innovative as Fox’s "Malcolm in the Middle" or as out there as "My Wife and Kids," nor does it attempt to be.
It’s comfort humor. It’s like watching Charlie Brown try to kick a football or Lucy’s attempts to get into Ricky’s show.
At the end of each episode, Belushi is revealed as a big softie under a rough exterior, but the situations he gets into along the way are still funny because of his inevitable comeuppance.
The show suffers some because Thorne-Smith is grossly underused as a second banana, and Belushi sometimes lamely mugs for the camera as if he were in a skit on "Saturday Night Live."
But after the family antics on "My Wife and Kids," "According to Jim" is good enough and familiar enough for viewers not to change the channel.
October 31, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-Elizabeth White is a staff writer for Media Life.
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