The Ranch

Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson from That ‘70s Show are reunited as siblings in The Ranch, which turned up on April Fool’s Day with the 10 episodes that make up “Part One” of Season 1. It’s a decent vehicle for both of them.

Netflix’s new multicamera sitcom, The Ranch, will seem familiar enough for fans of the genre, but it’s enjoyable and inventive enough to make you think there is still life left in the well-worn TV staple.

The Ranch is a red-state sitcom, though it takes place in the swing state of Colorado, and is good enough to be watched by people of any political affiliation. The goodness sneaks up on you. It is a sitcom that is meatier than it is funny, unusually in touch with the painful, disappointing aspects of life.

Though much of The Ranch feels familiar, and an odd fit for Netflix, that doesn't mean it's terrible. For all the crude jokes (the premiere, for example, goes on and on about how Uggs are girly footwear, not suitable for a real man), Kutcher and Masterson have an easy, unforced brotherly rapport.

Beau resents his son for abandoning the family homestead. Rooster enjoys egging them on. The war of words can sometimes feel brutal. The work gives Kutcher a chance to truly act, to bring some pathos to the fore, but The Ranch is a slog.

It’s not clever, or witty, or trying to be either. It’s just another dirt-level mediocre sitcom about a dysfunctional family that can say “fuck” all it wants.

A borderline unbearable and patently unfunny attempt at the straight-laced sitcom, complete with a no-kidding laugh track, from two long-time producers of Two and a Half Men, easily the most unforgivable and inexcusable of the long-running sitcoms.