0 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 a Undergrads + Graduate Students * Fulfill a distribution or general education requirement * Accelerate progress towards your degree or minor * Live on campus - 35 milVs south of San Francisco * Over 200 classes offered in more than 50 departments Courses such as: Physics, Economics, Biology, Engineering, Music, Computer Science, Philosophy, Drama, Classics, Athletics, Literature, History, Intensive Languages, Chemistry, Psychology, Mathematics, Anthropology Lt Stanford University Summer Session Building 590, Ground Floor Stanford, CA 94305-3005 (650) 723-3109, Fax: (650) 725-6080 Email: summersession@stanford.edd Web: summersession.stanford.edu For a FREE catalogue, send your Name- Address - City, ST, ZIP Email Circle: Undergrad x Grad _ L...