The success of Fox's "Malcolm in the Middle" meant, inevitably, that there would be imitators. And no show makes a more blatant attempt to mimic "Malcolm" than NBC's "Tucker."
"I think ('Malcolm') certainly paved the way," said "Tucker" creator/executive producer Terri Hughes.
"And without 'Malcolm's' success, I don't know that a network would have been willing to take the chance on this kind of thing," said creator/executive producer Ron Milbauer. "So we love 'Malcolm.' "
But the only thing as certain as the fact that a hit TV show is going to be imitated is that the imitations are not going to live up to the original. "Tucker" has its moments, but, at best, it's an extremely smudged carbon copy.
Eli Marienthal is quite charming as the title character, a 14-year-old boy whose life is turned upside down when his parents divorce and his mother (Noelle Beck) takes him to live with her witchy sister (Kate Sagal of "Married . . . With Children"), his oafish older cousin (Nathan Lawrence) and his quietly sympathetic uncle (Casey Sander).
NBC West Coast President Scott Sassa announced in early 1999 that one of his goals was to return family comedies to his network. Well, "Tucker" is certainly a show about a family — albeit a non-traditional one — but whether it's a show the family can watch is open to interpretation.
"We absolutely see it as a family comedy in that it deals with the family," Hughes said, completely missing the point.
The new sitcom, which debuts Monday at 7:30 p.m. on Ch. 5, opens with an extended "joke" about young Tucker's inability to, um, control a certain, um, part of his anatomy. (It's a great deal more specific than that, but this is a family newspaper.)
"To us, it was a representation of . . . this kid's world and his lack of control over the situation," said Milbauer.
"It was just meant to be an illustration of his lack of control right now over certain areas of his life," agreed Hughes.
The other big plotline has to do with Tucker's aunt claiming the kid tried to ogle her in the bathroom. As to both that and the extended sequence dealing with Tucker's, um, groin, Milbauer maintains that "I don't think we are ever going to go into areas where you, hopefully, wouldn't be comfortable letting your kids watch."
Well . . . I guess . . . depending on the age of your children . . . and whether you care about them watching gratuitous vulgarity. . . .
"Tucker" has some nice, sweet moments, which are almost jarring in their contrast to the vulgarity. And Marienthal is indeed very appealing. Too bad he doesn't have a better show than this one.