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The Michiga rly - Weekend,
,.198 -- The Michigan Daily -WVeekend, Otc. O~agzine -'Thursday, March 23, 20900
'Daddio' treads Keaton's old trails withutmuhfao
IT'S
A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD COLU
By Jennifer Fogel
Daily Arts Writer
First it was Michael Keaton in
"Mr. Mom." Then it was Arnold in
"Junior." Now it's Michael Chiklis
(best remembered from his starring
role on the drama "The Commish.,)
as the 21st Century's pop-culture
model of the stay-at-home dad.
In NBC's newest .Most-See-TV
comedv "Daddio7 Chiklis, as for-
__ mer restaurant suppy salesman
Chris Woods. resi ns in order to stay
at home and raise his four kids whie
his attorney we i Ania B >onej
brings home the bcon. From the
moment his a ife gets the -- got the
job" phone call, the comedy ensues
as Chris realizes he too got the job.
Relishing his new role, Chris has yet
to comprehend the enormous task at
hand. While
making school
lunches (ax ith
litt le fatherly
notes inside, of
course), he
deals with e:e-
m a r k e t e r s ,
d oor-to o-d oor
group, dirty
diapers and not
one but two
xxackv neigh-
bors. It's all in a
Daddio
Grade: C
NBC
oigt a 8:30 pa
tries to convince the viewer its
premise is realistic. It also uses
every stereotypical joke ever done
before to take jab after jab at Chris.
For the most part. the jokes deal
with Chris' manhood and his parent-
ing abilities. Unfortunately. these
jokes get old fast as one begins to
understand why networks use a
laugh track.
Chris' new neighbor Bombeck. an
Army vet with no sense of humor.
draws the first battle lines o;er
Chris' manhood. He assumes Chris'
either wife is dead or he just could
not hold a job, those being the only
reasons a man would stay at home
with his kids. Bombeck's persistnet
-little cracks about axho wears the
pants in the family are just plain
useless.
Chris' next battle involves the
local mommies' group. Here he con-
fronts would-be Dr. Spock Barb,
who aims to be politically correct at
all times. She ends up turning a
game of pretend for five-year-
oldsinto a psychiatric session.
Imme di ately wxe know sh e ax ill
become a constant thorn in Chris'
side, especially when she starts talk-
ing about brcast-fceding. Barb
resists accepting Chris, seeing as
how he is a man and men just cannot
properly raise children. Howexer
pretentious Barb's character is. she
provides a much-needed spice to
this cliched series.
The comic relief actually comes
from two of Chris' kids. 12-year-old
son Max (Martin Spanjers) and
five-year-old Jake (Mitch
Holleman). Max continually tries to
get away with murder by using the
venerable kid excuse "Well, Mom
lets me do it." Max is basically a
younger version of Kirk Cameron's
Mike on "Growing Pains." He will
try whatever scheme will work.
Meanwhile, Jake has taken to wear-
ing a tiara and playing princess.
Trying his best to reason with his
son. Chris chalks it up to a phase.
But little Jake refuses to relent and
wears the tiara throughout the
episode-.,
'Daddio" axorks as a family sit-
com, but its placement in the infa-
mous NBC Thursdyi night lineup
with the likes of 'Friends" and
"Frasier" will cert ainly hinder the
show. Chiklis is the perfect incarna-
tion of a television version of
Keaton. and his snappy comebacks
help keep the show afloat. But how
many times can we hear a stay-at-
home daddy joke? Maybe we can
play our own game of pretend and
hope that "Daddio" comes up with
some new material. or focuses more
on Chris' family disasters instead of
his off the wall neighbQrs.
One minute the sun is shining brightly,
the kids are breaking out the cargo shorts
and the beautiful people all over campus
are coming out of hibernation.
Then the next minute we find our-
selves plunged back into a frosty, over-
cast lethargy. This type of taunting, errat-
ic weather can oni mean that we're right
in the stomach of March. And with this
time of year comes the NCAA basketball
tournament, that phenomenon known
throughout the cia lized world as March
Mladness.
But I have to ask: Is it really all that
mad?
I mean, I like to watch a good college
basketball game evet now and then
(unless, of course, the Unixersity of
Michigan is playing), and it's always fun
to fill out a bracket and foolishly throw
away five dollars in a tournament pool,
but to claim that this whole basketball
championship is akin to madness is
something of an overstatement.
" M a r c h
C o m m ot i o n,"
maybe. "March
Agitation,"' sure.
But do we really
avant to imply
that the elimina-
tion of a hichly
ranked teani s
enou h to induce r
episodes of
psychotic Chris Kula
de ntia? I think u su
not. UU N
In fact, I can Ann Arbor
name several bet-
ter examples of complete and utter luna-
cv. and thev have nothing to do with Dick
Vitale.
U Madness is a beloved children's
story whose main plot involves a shapely
young blonde girl smoking a hookah
with a headwear fetishist and a maniacal-
lv grinning cat, all the while preoccupied
with an untimely rendezvous LLwith some
kind of albino rabbit.
* Madness is the fact that it's MSAt
election time again and the encrable
Sarah Chopp is rowhere to be seen. Alas.
a new popular candidate must be found
and, for what it's worth, I hae to support
that Hideki kid because I think he's qute
cI arly dpa edand tha:'.quaiiie Ilke
in my polticians.
* Madness is the fact that Tom
Berenger is still without his own prime-
time te exision show.
* Madness is the Communist lady
who preaches her proletariat rhetoric at
the Amer's on State Street (I'm not joking
- she actually exists, recruiting young
people for her revolution by tempting
them with the dream of deli-style sand-
wiches for every workin
sacietv).
* Madness is the bellig
of these sub-human creal
disguised as the doormen i
clubs of eerv city in the 1o
* Madness is the way nr
awhen I hear 'Axel F' fron
Hils Cop" soundrack.
* Madness is the real
ax th thousa.nds of dolars
funing, the 'NMichigan
Weckla stillcannot buy a
roax dv "prnger"-e-q
damn" hereJ.
* Madness is the india i~
of wall and sound of mim
American currency to
Willams in "Bicentennial
* Madness is NAS!
refusal to mount an explo
day's work for Daddio.
In the series premiere, 'Daddio"
LUCKY WINNERS WHO REPLIED TO LAST WEEK'S COLUMN
t
After reading through the various
responses I received to last week's pop
culture challenge, there were a few that
stood out above the rest (i.e. made me
laugh out loud). Listed here, along with
some references that definitely
deserved an honorable mention, are
"Kula's Pop Culture All-Stars:"
1.) I went to Meijer to get some food,
but all that they had left was_._
Honorable Mention: Shark Bites,
Hi C Ecto Cooler, Crystal Pepsi, Lite
Brites and Frankenberry cereal (which
is what I had in mind, incidentally).
And the winner?
The Nintendo cereal with the sepa-
rate Mario and Link flavors packaged
in the same box, as independently sub-
mitted by both Erik Mellquist and
Justin Frantz. Video games never tasted
so good. Props to both Mr. Mellquist
and Mr. Frant.
2.) You know it's going to be a good
day when your clock radio wvakes you
up with
Honorable Mention: The Scorpions,
Fine Young Cannibals, the "Fraggle
Rock" theme song and your younger
sibling talking on Mr. Microphone.
And the winner '
Rick Astley's adult-contemporary
hit, "Never Gonna Give You Up," as
suggested by Sally Edger. I guarantee
I'd roll out of bed with a smile on my
face if heralded by pop-lite lyrics like
"Never gonna give you up/never gonna
let you down/never gonna turn around
and hurt you." Props to Ms. Edger.
3.) So I answered the knock at my
front door, and standing on my porch
was none other than_
Honorable Mention: Beverly
D'Angelo, Stanley Spadowski. "that
guy who played Buddy on Charles in
Charge," Pete Thornton from
"MacGyver and Erik Estrada.
And the winner?
It's actually a tie between Becky
Oesch's choice of the cast of "You
Can't Do That on Television" and
Teana Adams,' the cast of "Today's
Special." Either way I went, be it with
Barth the hamburger chef or Jeff the
mannequin, I know I'd be cracking up,
so props to both entrants-- and special
props to all who took the challenge!
I
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