Are We There Yet?

This family sitcom, adapted from Ice Cube's hit 2005 movie, is a modestly conceived, somewhat blandly executed story about a stepdad (Terry Crews from Everybody Hates Chris), his new wife (Essence Atkins) and her two kids. [7 Jun 2010, p.50]

If you think sitcoms these days try way too hard for shock and awe, Are We There Yet? provides a rather nice alternative.

The series' overall sweetness makes up for a number of its failings.

The alleged comedy follows this blended family's attempts to get along. The laugh track works harder than anyone here.

While the story feels thin and forced, it does let the show dig into Nick and Suzanne's real feelings toward each other, and reminds us that we like them both.

While smart comedies have certainly been built on less, there is something so contrived about Nick's obstinacy that you feel as if you were watching a lesson in feminism that would be more sophisticated if it were rendered as children's puppet theater.

For a piece of old-school sitcom traditionalism, Are We There Yet? gets the concepts of family and marriage all wrong.