SERIES PREMIERE: This series is co-created by Justin Halpern, and based on a comic memoir about his years growing up in a household with an outrageously outspoken father. It’s the second TV series to claim that distinction, and this new one, starring Christopher Meloni as the dad, is infinitely better than the earlier effort, CBS’s horrendous William Shatner sitcom,
$#*! My Dad Says. Actually,
Surviving Jack is surprisingly good, occasionally funny, and even, at times, unexpectedly tender. Rachael Harris adds a lot as the wife, Connor Buckley and Claudia Lee are solid as the young siblings, and the 1991 period setting adds a lot, too. Meloni, after all those years on
Oz and
Law & Order: SVU, is having a great time playing droll in a sitcom – just like former
Homicide: Life on the Street star Andre Braugher on another Fox sitcom,
Brooklyn Nine-Nine. For a full review, see Ed Bark’s
Uncle Barky’s Bytes.