Monday, February 22, 2021

On The Air: Kenan (2021)

 NBC's new Tuesday sitcom, Kenan, has been compared to an old ABC series, Full House, except there's two fewer kids at the start of the series.

Kenan Williams (Kenan Thompson, Saturday Night Live) is a widower raising his two daughters with the help of his brother, Gary (Chris Redd, Saturday Night Live), and his father-in-law (Don Johnson, ex-Miami Vice, Nash Bridges). But because the loss of his wife is still fresh in his memory, it's threatening to tear Kenan's life apart both at home and at work, where he hosts a morning show.

NBC is hoping that Kenan, coupled with Young Rock, will give them a formidible 1-2 punch in their Tuesday block, ahead of This Is Us, which, oh, by the way, gets referenced in the opener.

Now in his 18th season on SNL, Thompson is branching out, as he doubles as executive producer for the new series, along with SNL frontman Lorne Michaels, whose production company, Broadway Video, produces both SNL & Kenan, along with the outgoing Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Let's take a look at a trailer:


With modern comedies eschewing the laugh track, it's hard to gauge if a gag works on this show. You tend to feel some sympathy for Kenan as he struggles to adjust to life as a single father.

After more than 25 years on television, starting with Nickelodeon's All That, we've watched Kenan Thompson grow up before our eyes. What we're seeing now is a demonstration that the modern sitcom dad is human, after all.

Rating: B.

2 comments:

Silverstar said...

Meh. I like Kenan Thompson, I've always found him funny, but this show smacks too much of Full House, which was never my cup of tea. Also, the Dead/Absent Mother trope is one of my all-time least favorite premises in fiction; any show or movie which employs that trope is automatically starting off on the wrong foot with me. At least FOX's The Great North turns this tired trope on its' ear by imply that the mother was a terrible person and everyone in the cast agrees that they're better off without her.

So I wish Mr. Thompson success because he's definitely earned it, but I'm gonna pass on this one.

hobbyfan said...

And tonight, CW's Superman & Lois debuts, so that's where I'll be.