
Dads
By Joyce Slaton,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Painfully unfunny comedy rife with stereotypes.
Add your rating
A Lot or a Little?
What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Dads
Community Reviews
Based on 1 parent review
Your kids may want to eat pot brownies before they get creative......
What's the Story?
From the same comic minds who brought you Ted, DADS focuses on two thirtysomething pals: Warner (Giovanni Ribisi) and Eli (Seth Green), who run a successful video game company, but who are less successful in their personal lives. Both of them have overinvolved fathers who live with them. David (Peter Riegert) has lost all his money and his condo, while Crawford (Martin Mull) has moved in with his son, his wife Camilla (Vanessa Minnillo Lachey), and two small kids. Now Eli and Warner have to keep their business chugging along and their family and dating lives on track, which would be simple without the bumbling influence of their DADS.
Is It Any Good?
Oh dear, does the talented cast of Dads deserve better material to work with. For every joke that lands, such as when the always charming Seth-Green-as-Eli asks a video game voice actor to try reading a line again with "a more wizardlike quality," there is a joke that will make most wince, such as when Eli demonstrates to a female employee how he wants her to cover her mouth and giggle when she dresses up as a "sexy Asian schoolgirl" for a pair of Chinese clients. Said clients later send the female employee a picture of his "tiny China penis" and the whole cast bonds by gathering around the computer and offering up deeply unfunny jokes about said penis: "It looks like something you'd pick out of a salad," says David, while Crawford offers "I see an inchworm in a little tiny fireman's hat."
Worst of all, unlike other shows that offer up less cringeworthy racist/sexist/homophobic/ageist humor, none of the characters onscreen object to the jokes. Veronica, the character who dresses up as Sailor Moon in Dads' pilot, makes a joke about her (presumably Asian) dad beating her "with a math book." Ha ha, racist jokes about Asian people are funny, you see, because she's Asian. That makes it okay! Not so much. All in the Family made that old racist Archie Bunker acceptable because everyone else onscreen argued with his offensive tirades. Having the characters on Dads not just accepting the casual racism and sexism, but also playing along with it, renders this show positively painful to watch.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about whether Dads is funny. Is it ever OK to use stereotypes for the sake of humor? Do you think the actors saying the lines in this sitcom seem comfortable?
The showrunners behind Dads were asked by an Asian advocacy group to reshoot the show's pilot because it contained so many jokes offensive to Asian people. Showrunners refused. Does this change your feeling about the show? Why or why not?
What type of people do you think writes Dads? Old, young? Rich, poor? Male or female? What race do you think most of the writers are? What brings you to this conclusion?
TV Details
- Premiere date: September 17, 2013
- Cast: Giovanni Ribisi , Martin Mull , Peter Riegert , Seth Green
- Network: Fox
- Genre: Comedy
- TV rating: NR
- Last updated: December 15, 2022
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.
Suggest an Update
Where to Watch
Our Editors Recommend
Family TV Shows to Watch Together
TV Shows for the Modern Family
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate