Shows that will never make you laugh
“The Real O’Neals” and “Truth Be Told”
TV executives are having a harder time than ever figuring out what will make an audience chuckle these days. One only has to look at the list of comedies that bit the dust last year (like “Selfie,” “Marry Me” and “A to Z”) to realize that humor is a tough sell. So how did shows as dated as “Truth Be Told” and as offensive as “The Real O’Neals” make it past the execs and onto the schedule? “Truth” is an old-fashioned comedy about two couples who are friends. The guys (Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Tone Bell) try to figure out what their wives (Vanessa Lachey and Bresha Webb) are up to and vice versa. Doesn’t this sound like Fred and Ricky from “I Love Lucy”?
The characters on “The Real O’Neals” are introduced as “your typical Irish-Catholic family.” Right there you know you’re in trouble, as there is no such thing, but let’s see what generalizations the writers have to offer. So, Jesus Christ himself shows up in a scene when the family is out to dinner. Not too offensive, but wait. Mrs. O’Neal (Martha Plimpton) puts a statue of the Virgin Mary over the toilet to make sure the men in the family put the seat down. OK, really offensive. There isn’t a stereotype the writers don’t milk, from bingo games in the church auditorium to the campaign to send the eldest son to Notre Dame. The best thing to hope for is divine intervention to keep this one from airing. “Truth Be Told” premiere: Oct. 16, 8:30 p.m, NBC
“The Real O’Neals” premieres midseason (date not yet announced), ABC