scdchunky Review of 'Til Death

'Til Death (2006–2010)

Funny show but made too many changes for some reason

[6/10 · 4 June 2020]

After Everybody Loves Raymond ended people were wanting to see if Brad Garrett and Patrica Heaton were ready to headline their own shows. Patrica Heaton did a show called Back To You which was cancelled after only a season but then she did The Middle which aired just as long as Everybody Loves Raymond and she had proved she can headline her show. Originally Phil Rosenthal who created Everybody Loves Raymond had pitched a spin off about Robert and Amy moving to Pennsylvania to live with Amy's parents and Robert was going to be a gym teacher and Amy's brother Peter was going to be his assistant. Sounds like a decent premise but CBS only offered a pilot for it so Phil Rosenthal decided not to create the spin off. A year later Brad Garrett finally got his chance to headline a sitcom which was this show. This show had aired 4 seasons on FOX which is a decent run but I think it could have aired longer if it didn't make all the changes throughout its run. Originally it was about Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher playing characters named Eddie and Joy Stark who have been married for a long time when they get a new set of neighbors named The Woodcocks who are newly weds and we find out Jeff Woodcock is Eddie's new boss at the school he teaches at. Throughout the first season and second season the Stark's and the Woodcocks are friends and the Stark's guide the Woodcocks through their marriage and show them what marriage is and gives them advice about marriage. Eddie Kaye Thomas and Kat Foster play the newlyweds and they are quite funny and have good chemistry and Brad Garrett and Joely Fisher also have great chemistry and the Stark's and Woodcocks all are hilarious together. It kept that formula going until the middle of the second season. All of a sudden this character named Kenny who's played by J. B. Smoove gets introduced and Kenny and Eddie become best friends and the Woodcocks get pushed into the background and don't have as much screen time as they used to get. Then in season 3 the Woodcocks are gone without any mention as to why and it feels like they just never existed. Kenny becomes a regular in season 3 and he lives with the Eddie and Joy and we don't find out why until the middle of the season. Kenny was a fun character and J.B. Smoove plays him well and he has good chemistry with Brad Garrett but he should've just been a reoccurring character. If Kenny was just a reoccurring character who was on about as much as Craig was on Malcolm in the Middle or Newman on Seinfeld it wouldn't have so bad. Then season 4 starts and Kenny is completely gone without any mention as to why he's gone. In the fourth season Eddie and Joy's daughter and their son in law move into their backyard. For some reason by season 4 4 different actress's play their daughter Ally which makes no sense and they even make a little joke about it when they see her and say "You look different". Also there's a story line where their son in law Doug thinks he's in a sitcom and that point the show was completely jumping the shark and it was time for the show to end. If the show had stuck to the original formula of the Stark's and Woodcocks being friends it could've lasted at least 5 or 6 seasons.