McLean Stevenson was a funny guy and a good comic. At least, in my opinion. He deserved to have at least 1 good show under his belt. Actually, he did; it was called M*A*S*H. But he left that series in 1975 mainly because he wanted to go "be number one." As a result, he went on to headline a string of short-lived sitcoms for the remainder of the '70s and early '80s, and tragically each one sucked harder and harder, with this show being the worst of the bunch. Condo: a WASP family move in next door to an up-and-coming Hispanic family: hilarity does not ensue. Now I've seen at least 2 episodes of The McLean Stevenson Show, and while they were not good, they were also not terrible. I believe Condo is just outright terrible, and the one episode I was able to find is proof positive of why this series didn't work and why nobody even tried to make it work. So the basic premise is that James Kirkridge and his bimbo wife Kiki want to move into a bigger, better condo near a golf course. "Why does it always have to be some day for us? I want it now. I'm 48 1/2." I actually believe James' line is paraphrasing what McLean said when he left M*A*S*H. Anyway, next, James and Jesse get in an argument over who should pay for the roof repairs, James complains about where he's living and Jesse tells him to move, facetiously offering to buy his condo. He paints a figure on a rag and offers it, which James foolishly accepts and they shake hands. Well, James took the offer seriously and put a down payment on a ritzy condo in Nasaw Dunes, but when it was time for Jesse to pay up, he admits the offer wasn't serious and refuses to give him one cent. James threatens legal action, and then Jesse's father in-law suggests they take their case on Citizen's Court. What's that, you ask? A bad parody of The People's Court, which I'm guessing Condo's producers were not allowed to use, or even get Judge Wapner to make a cameo. The basic gist of the courtroom scene is that the sarcastic judge shows that both James and Jesse behaved like horse's asses and offers to relieve James of the burden of that new condo. Now back where they started, the two jerks are left on the porch all night until they shake hands and make up... come morning, they've made no real progress.
This was pretty hard to get through, as this show so mind-numbingly, intelligence-insultingly bad. The writing is horrible, the jokes are juvenile and unfunny, the directing is bad, the acting is terrible, the whole thing was just a mess. No wonder this series was canceled after only a few episodes. It was a bad premise that tried to stay afloat with terrible jokes, to say nothing about the acting: NOBODY in this thing knows how to act, even McLean who, while didn't have much range as an actor could still be entertaining to watch, can't even deliver a few funny lines or be even the slightest bit entertaining here. The other performers all clearly look like they don't care and hate what they're doing. Nobody gave even the slightest amount of effort. The directing is bad too, and to think John Rich used to direct All in the Family. My, how the mighty have fallen. The script by George Bloom: just awful. How could anybody have read this and said, "yeah, this is funny, let's make it." As for characters, these people are all unlikable stooges. However, there is one very big missed opportunity with this series: James' son and Jesse's daughter fall in love and get married. They genuinely look like a cute couple, and if only their characters and their relationship had been written better, it could've served as the perfect dynamic for this series. It could've been a comedy/drama about these two social classes having to live side-by-side and contend with each others' families and their differing personalities. Most of the comedy could stem from their fathers not getting along and causing trouble, while the two love-birds could head the dramatic, emotional scenes, like perhaps they live in a neighborhood where mixed couples are not looked upon in a welcoming light. Despite it being 1983, it was still a subject of taboo. However, maybe this idea did come to mind, but the producers decided they didn't want to make a political show and just make it a screwy comedy. Okay, that's fine, if you want to do a silly, funny show, then actually make it funny! Don't insult our intelligence with cheap jokes that not even a 4-year-old would find funny.
So yeah, in closing, Condo failed hard, and it's not difficult to see why. The McLean Stevenson Show may have been bad, but Condo is nearly unwatchable. I'm surprised some commenter said the show had a brain. Yeah, a dead brain. I think we're probably better off forgetting that Condo existed. My recommendation: this Condo needs to be condemned.
This was pretty hard to get through, as this show so mind-numbingly, intelligence-insultingly bad. The writing is horrible, the jokes are juvenile and unfunny, the directing is bad, the acting is terrible, the whole thing was just a mess. No wonder this series was canceled after only a few episodes. It was a bad premise that tried to stay afloat with terrible jokes, to say nothing about the acting: NOBODY in this thing knows how to act, even McLean who, while didn't have much range as an actor could still be entertaining to watch, can't even deliver a few funny lines or be even the slightest bit entertaining here. The other performers all clearly look like they don't care and hate what they're doing. Nobody gave even the slightest amount of effort. The directing is bad too, and to think John Rich used to direct All in the Family. My, how the mighty have fallen. The script by George Bloom: just awful. How could anybody have read this and said, "yeah, this is funny, let's make it." As for characters, these people are all unlikable stooges. However, there is one very big missed opportunity with this series: James' son and Jesse's daughter fall in love and get married. They genuinely look like a cute couple, and if only their characters and their relationship had been written better, it could've served as the perfect dynamic for this series. It could've been a comedy/drama about these two social classes having to live side-by-side and contend with each others' families and their differing personalities. Most of the comedy could stem from their fathers not getting along and causing trouble, while the two love-birds could head the dramatic, emotional scenes, like perhaps they live in a neighborhood where mixed couples are not looked upon in a welcoming light. Despite it being 1983, it was still a subject of taboo. However, maybe this idea did come to mind, but the producers decided they didn't want to make a political show and just make it a screwy comedy. Okay, that's fine, if you want to do a silly, funny show, then actually make it funny! Don't insult our intelligence with cheap jokes that not even a 4-year-old would find funny.
So yeah, in closing, Condo failed hard, and it's not difficult to see why. The McLean Stevenson Show may have been bad, but Condo is nearly unwatchable. I'm surprised some commenter said the show had a brain. Yeah, a dead brain. I think we're probably better off forgetting that Condo existed. My recommendation: this Condo needs to be condemned.