Listen Up

Let's say you own a hot dog stand. You hire this jerk to make hot dogs. He burns them all day long. For every customer, he turns the dog into charcoal when he tries to grill it. This goes on for a while, and nobody buys hot dogs. So you fire the jerk. Next day the jerk comes back, you re-hire him, and he starts burning hot dogs again. You lose a lot of money. The cycle repeats itself. This is how the networks run their business.

The sit com has been dead for years. The genre is just not funny anymore.It has run its course. Yet every year, the networks trot em out again, and lose more money. Jason Alexander was only funny in 'Seinfeld' because he was an unlikeable jerk. In anything else, hes just an....unlikeable jerk not in 'Seinfeld'. Hes got no warmth, no comic talent, no timing, no appeal. Yet this is what, the second or third attempt they've tried to use him to snatch some sort of audience? When are these execs gonna stop burning their dogs?

I watched this show for 30 straight extraordinarily dull minutes and didn't even grin. not once. I didn't smirk. I didn't breathe heavy. It was so dull it wasn't even embarrassing. I give it possibly 2 more weeks. The grill is on fire again.

I've spent some time reading the comments on this site about "Listen Up." The show, although doing well rating wise, does not appear to be a favorite amongst IMDb users.

I think the show is a decent show. There are some great lines (i.e. "I had no idea this little hair could produce this much debris") among others. The show has good jokes. But it does lack something. One thing I can say is that if someone were to tell me what the first two episodes were about I wouldn't be able to provide the answer. The first two episodes haven't really been about anything. The daughter bans her father from her soccer games in episode 1. In episode 2 she defies him and gets more earring holes. These are not story lines with which to base an entire episode on. There's little substance there. The show doesn't have any meaning. Yes, comedies are supposed to be funny and are not to be mistaken for films that are supposed to inspire or deliver some great message. But there needs to be something.

"Seinfeld" didn't really have meaning either but the jokes centered around the little quirky things we do in our lives. This helped us relate. It made us interested. One of the better sitcoms we've had over recent years has been "Frasier" (mostly in its early years) but one thing that "Frasier" managed to do was to blend jokes with substance. Many episodes featured a serious conversation between characters that put life into perspective and revealed some truth. "Listen Up" has yet to provide something for us to grab onto. Each episode needs a conflict - one that can provide some humor but at the same time be resolved in the end such that Tony Kleinman learns something.

As for Jason Alexander and his acting thus far I have to say he's done a fine job. The little things he does is what makes his performance great - His pump of the fist when his son tells him that he's reading a book of zip codes for instance. The only thing I could perhaps fault him for is going into his yell voice too often and always with the same tone. But for the most part I have enjoyed his performance.

Everyone seems to be talking about how he's acting like George Constanza from "Seinfeld" and I'd have to say that he is. But this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Actors aren't generally supposed to act like a million different things. Actors are selling themselves. A director looks for a certain look, a certain quality in the actor's voice, and checks to see if the actor can act. Jason Alexander is Jason Alexander and he's going to be himself when he performs. He was cast to be the character he has always been. He's not a character actor. He's not going to seem like an entirely different person with each show or movie he is in.

I have watched all the "Listen Up" episodes to date. It started, as most TV sitcoms, rather slowly, but now the cast have hit their stride. The teenage son, Mickey, played by Will Rothhaar, has gradually become a main character of the ensemble cast. Rothhaar is a gifted comedian with truly inspired deadpan delivery. He's on his way to becoming a Major Talent, someday! The show's episodes are now well-crafted plots acted out by cast members who are really "clicking" together. In one recent episode, Mickey dated a girlfriend who turned out to be into Civil War Reenactment; she took him to Gettysburg in full 1860's regalia, and when he walked into the room dressed as a Confederate soldier, I nearly fell out of my recliner laughing. The look on his face was perfect! The boyfriend who can't believe he's really doing this for his girlfriend. Every show is a gem, now. Watch "Listen Up!" regularly and you'll find yourself becoming a delighted fan.

This based on the writing of Tony Kornheiser or the Washington Post, ESPN and ESPN Radio. If you have not read his columns or seen his show Pardon the Interruption or had ever listened to his old ESPN radio show you probably will not see the inherent humor. I personally enjoyed the episodes shown so far as I have read, seen and heard the previously mentioned media outlets. The sit com is not dead, just misunderstood, we as a society are taking things too literally and seriously. Keep an open mind and just enjoy a show like this for what it is simple fun and pretty darn clean humor and not try to find some great social meaning or political statement in it.

A TV series treatment of Sportswriter and ESPN commentator Tony Kornheiser's articles and essays is the basis for this show,which pair's Seinfeld's sharp comedic loser extraordinaire Alexander with jovial sitcom vet Malcolm Jamal Warner as very thinly disguised surrogates of Kornheiser and his co-host on ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption" columnist Michael Wilbon,respectively.

There might be fertile room for comedy here,and Alexander seems a little better fit for this than the previous "Bob Patterson",but this show couldn't relay to you enough how completely out of control he was with his family. Sure,his wife(Wendy Makkena)is sweet and basically supportive,but their kids,particularly the daughter(Daniella Motta) but I suppose even the son(Will Rothar)to a lesser degree,seem to regard their dad with an unrelenting source of aggravation. To make matters worse,at work,he is almost constantly falling behind his popular co-star in terms of respect or attention. All of this may not SOUND like bad elements for the show,but the show seemed to kind of hammer away at the same note,episode after episode,and it becomes pretty tiresome in a hurry.

Not a terrible show,but could've been better.It seems like of late,other than "Duckman",he seems to be more comfortable in guest roles("Monk","Friends" to name a few). I honestly believe Mr.Alexander has a pretty good show left in him A.S.(After Seinfeld),but as of yet,I haven't seen it.