I really like actor Chris O’Dowd (THE I.T. CROWD and GET SHORTY) and will watch him in almost anything. So when I came across a comedy series starring him called FAMILY TREE, I didn’t hesitate to give it a try. It ran on HBO in 2013 for only one season of 8 half-hour episodes, so it wasn’t going to be much of an investment of time. I was a little leery of the format: it’s a mockumentary, written and directed by Christopher Guest, who is, of course, very well-known for the genre. But sometimes they don’t work great for me. Even so, I wanted to watch this one.
I’m glad I did. O’Dowd plays Tom Chadwick, who grew up in Ireland with his mother after his parents divorced. His sister (Nina Conti) remained in London with their father (Michael McKean) and is, well, a mite eccentric, carrying around a monkey puppet and talking through it. Tom has returned to London after a break-up and has a good but somewhat goofy friend who works in a zoo. All that is established pretty quickly, and then we get to the meat of the series. Tom’s great-aunt has died and left him a box full of family mementoes that pique his interest in his ancestors, and so he sets off to explore the family tree, leading to encounters with all sorts of bizarre relatives he didn’t know he had.
This series is known for being heavily improvised, and you can tell that. It’s also very funny at times, although I’ll admit it took a couple of episodes to grow on me. Most of the comedy is the same gentle, character-driven humor to be found in DETECTORISTS, one of my favorite series of recent years. FAMILY TREE can manage to be hilarious, uncomfortable, and heart-warming, all in the same half-hour. Tom’s dad is a fan of several fake British TV sitcoms, and the clips we see of those are very funny, too.
Quite a few fine comedic actors show up in supporting roles along the way: Fred Willard, Ed Begley Jr., Kevin Pollack, Will Sasso, Joe Lo Truglio, Graham Greene, and Bob Balaban are all on hand. I always enjoy seeing Michael McKean, and as always when I do, I wonder why Lenny went on to have such a long, productive career and Squiggy didn’t, but such are the ways of fame, I suppose.
The ending left me unable to tell if they hoped the series would continue or if it was always intended to be a one-and-done. But it’s sweet and wraps things up well enough. I wasn’t sure if I’d enjoy FAMILY TREE, but I wound up liking it a lot. It’s a very nice change from the type of TV we usually watch, and I recommend it if you’re in the mood for an offbeat comedy.
2 comments:
Well, sort of. David? (Squiggy) Lander was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1984, the year after Laverne & Shirley went off the air. He did continue acting (a lot of voice overs) and he died of it in 2020.
As a Chris O'Dowd fan too I should check out FAMILY TREE.
Thanks, Jeff. I didn't know that about David Lander. I thought Lenny and Squiggy's antics were the best thing about LAVERNE & SHIRLEY. I think you'll enjoy FAMILY TREE.
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