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Worst TV Show of the Week Brought to you by the Parents Television Council	Share |
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Sons of Tucson on Fox

Fox’s banal series Sons of Tucson (Sundays, 7:30 p.m.), employs a hackneyed formula: a commitment-phobic man-boy slacker  is in charge of raising children he’d normally avoid like the plague.  But through the experience, he matures, develops a fondness for the kids, and lessons are learned; ultimately, he discovers that he has a knack for fathering, and he and the children are happier for it.  In the case of Sons, the formula plays out when three brothers aged 5-13 hire a jovial laggard to pose as their father so they won’t be sent to an orphanage while their father serves jail time for a white-collar crime.  Normally the storylines are fairly innocuous, but the June 13^th episode sends a rather troubling message about alcohol abuse.  For promoting under-age drinking, Sons of Tucson has rightfully been named Worst TV Show of the Week.

Ron (played essentially as a poor man’s Jack Black) gleefully agrees to chaperone the overbearing control-freak Gary during an out-of-town debate club tournament.  According to Gary, no one else on his team of 6^th grade debaters had room in their cars for him.  Later, Ron overhears Gary’s classmates admit that they had lied to him about their cars being full because no one on the team can stand him.  When Ron suggests to Gary that he should lighten up, Gary takes offense and becomes even more tightly wound.  The only time Gary finally loosens up is when he mistakenly drinks Ron’s cola, which is spiked with a copious amount of rum.  Instantly, Gary mellows, develops a sense of humor, and tells Ron that he loves him. 

The next day, Gary does poorly at the tournament.  He complains that he was sweating and stammering, and passed out a couple of times, due to being hung over.  Despite failing miserably at the tournament, his teammates suddenly find him more likeable.  Seeing him stumble made him more human. 

So what message does this send to 11-year-olds watching on Sunday evening?  If you want to be popular, get drunk and show up to class on Monday morning hung over.  It’s bad enough that this series isn’t funny.  Does it also have to be irresponsible, too? 

“Unfunny” plus “irresponsible” is not only a formula for failure; it also rightly earns this series the title of Worst TV Show of the Week.