Parents' Guide to

Partners

By Joyce Slaton, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Coarse humor in old-fashioned laugh-track sitcom.

TV FX Comedy 2014
Partners Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

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What's the Story?

After being ejected from the family law firm, Allen Braddock (Kelsey Grammer) is looking for a soft place to land. He finds it in the firm headed by for-the-people lawyer Marcus Jackson (Martin Lawrence), where together the two become unlikely PARTNERS, thanks to an unorthodox court sanction. The state of Illinois is hoping Jackson's ethics will rub off on Braddock. Instead, the two start to work together to create their own brand of legal justice, with Braddock's nose for big-money cases meeting Jackson's weakness for a hard-luck story.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

How annoying this near-miss is to watch, stuffed as it is with charming, compelling actors with great comic timing plus not-bad cracks from the writers.

The problem is primarily in the pacing, which is so go-go-go that it leaves little time to let a joke land -- already the actor is launching onto another line, even before the uproarious laugh-track chuckles that greet every gag have died out. Whew! Add to that TV-style hijinks such as scenes in which Jackson and Braddock sneak into a priest's bedroom in a rectory and go to meet a gay wedding planner, and what you've got is something that looks for all the world like it'd be funny -- but just isn't.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about why the legal profession is such an enduring setting for television comedies and dramas. How many can you name? How are they like Partners? How are they different?

  • Have you seen any of the actors in Partners in any other shows? Does that affect how you view their characters here? Does it make you like them more or less? Laugh at their jokes more or less?

  • Which of the characters on Partners is the audience supposed to relate to? How can you tell? What about their portrayals seems sympathetic to you?

TV Details

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