The Devil’s Advocate: Hang In There, Sullivan and Son
I will preface this article with that l’ve been a huge fan of Steve Byrne for awhile.
It led me to want to watch this show because he mixes the witty with the tasteless adding generous amounts of excitable energy and let’s face it, funny Asian people, especially hapas [half-Asians] aren’t exactly lighting up the screen. Hell the only current show l can think of starring someone with Asian ancestry in America is a public access cooking show. Not great.
Second preface (that isn’t grammatically correct, but forgive me, because I don’t care), at least 90% of television pilots are absolutely miserable. They’re trying to be generic as possible as not to alienate future viewers while presenting a giant summary of a whole series crammed into one episode. It doesn’t help in this day and age when people are about instant gratification and short attention span so they already slam something months before it even airs. That’s how sitcoms with potential often get cancelled to be filled by some inane reality show about a teen with an addiction to friendship bracelets and Nicki Minaj’s twitter.
That giant parenthesis of a thought before l officially started, the pilot wasn’t so hot but stay with me, the show has potential if you grant it time and don’t be a huge snob about it, l mean this is TBS.
Let’s dive into the issues:
The premise, if you don’t know, is about a corporate lawyer played by Steve Byrne, who returns with his girlfriend to his hometown in Pittsburgh for his father’s birthday party at his bar, Sullivan and Son [duh]. Korean mom, Irish dad, a younger sis, love interest, old bonehead friends, barflies. He decides to buy the bar from his dad and quit his job in NYC.
Jodi Long [the mom] is a great actress, in fact l think she’s the one who will really tie the show together, but l am worried.
Part of it is her last character on a sitcom, if you can remember, called All American Girl. Ring any bells? Margaret Cho’s based-on-herself sitcom with the first Korean American family in the history of television, to which of course only Ms. Cho was actually Korean. Considering it was the 90s, that’s remarkably depressing that it took that long to have a show with an Asian family. And it bombed [you can get the back story in this amazing stand up special]
Though the show had much more severe writing structure issues (and an inability to trust Margaret Cho with any of it), there are similar demons at work. Whether you’d prefer to pretend racism is something people keep bitching about so Tyler Perry movies can sell discounted DVDs at WalMart, it still has a profound effect on our culture. This is the second show since ever to star an Asian family and Jodi Long is still playing the exact same role she did over a decade ago. Also, girlfriend, your Korean accent? Err, it needs work.
Blah blah blah we’ll hook up if we ever get past 10 episodes!
To be frank, all the female characters kind of blow.
- They picked up the annoying spoiled mom from 2 Broke Girls and just made her date Steve Byrne as I hopefully assume, as a one time cameo.
- Some old alike mom of one of the friends that could become a one-liner Cloris Leachman type, though she came off stale and I don’t mean the smell of jaguar shots.
- An inferiority complex stricken younger sister played by Vivian Bang who can actually be quite the pistol as an actress (she is Korean as well), who whines like one of those girls who never got over high school. I mean l’ve seen first hand what it’s like for a girl to be cast aside because they got their baby boy in an Asian household, but she’s an adult with a child. It’s not charming or humorous, it’s mega sad.
- Boring TBS-style generic love interest. l’m sure she’ll be “cool” and “kind of a hot tomboy”.
- Not a character but Vince Vaughn is an executive producer. No thanx.
But here’s what spoke to a promising possibility:
The same stuff that l mentioned as problems! But the flipside account.
- Steve Byrne. l mean his acting is funky but he can write jokes and some of these worked in this episode. He can also keep the show on track from sliding into too many tired Asian stereotypes as he’s proven in his stand up career. A few themes are inevitable, as sometimes those conventions are true, but essentially you won’t see a kid doing algebra homework on an abacus or a lady returning from a long day at the nail salon. Pat Morita can rest comfortably.
- Jodi Long. She might be a character she’s played before, but she’s also being a character she’s played before. Jodi Long has the experience to know what works and her chemistry with Steve Byrne was quite sweet.
(Image via TBS.com)
- Uh, did l mention DAN LAURIA? Yeah, someone who played a tough yet loving father on the infamous The Wonder Years is Steve Byrne’s dad. Talk about added experience. He’s more a pushover in this but that’s because in Korean families, it’s mom who’s boss.
(Image via TBS.com)
- Vivian Bang really carries a surly demeanor and a bitchy glare that will be worth catching.
- Aside from whatever My Boys style constraints TBS may lay down on the writers’ shoulders, a story about a guy pursuing something other than corporate greed, even if he’s unsure of the outcome, is something that people deserve to see.
- As I keep reiterating, we need some kind of show representing a different ethnic background, especially since bi-racial families are the growing norm, with Asian and white being the dominant combination. I hate when a show is arbitrarily critiqued about not having a Benetton assembly of cast (i.e. Girls) that has to represent everyone, but it doesn’t erase the need for representation in one form or another. Sullivan and Son might try too hard to get their quota in there but they aren’t trying in a way that too many ingredients are spoiling the broth completely.
- Rob Long is also an executive producer and has more of a contribution in the process than Vince Vaughn (I gather this statement based on his name shows up more than once in the credits.)
Give the show a chance to find it’s groove. Please don’t let this be Cheers meets whatever in hell this is. Let this be Cheers meets… well Sullivan and Son because l can’t think of anything else. And that’s unfortunate.
A lovelier, shorter AND illustrated review worth seeing (though I don’t fully agree with the “tiger mom” assertion):
http://www.sassquach.com/journal/2011/11/16/sassquach-goes-to-sullivan-and-son.html
