Rodney

I've been a fan of Rodney Carrington for many years. If you've not heard any of his stand-up comedy you're really missing out on one of the funniest people in America. Rodney Carrington has sold out Rupp Arena in Lexington, KY many times along with many other arenas and concert halls across America. As for the sitcom, it's very good, well written and is usually very funny. It places a struggling stand-up comedian in rural America in various situations as he tries to further his comedy career while also working to support his family. Many of the episodes are based on the stand-up comedy of Rodney Carrington and the real life situations he has faced. I've not heard anything about how this show has done in the ratings but I do hope it is picked up for next year. You're missing out if you have not seen this show.

'Rodney' (2004) Rodney Carrington, Jennifer Aspen, Amy Pietz, Nick Searcy, Oliver Davis, Matthew Michael Josten. Down-to-earth husband/father in middle America quits his job that he hates and starts doing stand-up comedy, much to the dismay of his wife and kids. Saw the pilot at an ABC Premiere Party @ Times Square on August 22 and although this looks like 2004's answer to Roseanne/The Drew Carey Show, it is a lot better than it has any business being. Some of the jokes fell flat, but that often happens in a pilot episode (especially one on ABC). Several supporting characters are realistic people whom anyone could know. I had never previously heard of Rodney Carrington, but he seems to know what he is doing and delivers one-liners in a swift manner. Certainly promising.

If you've ever heard any of Carrington's cocksure, edgy comedy CDs, on which it certainly seems as though he's thoroughly loaded, laughing at himself, rolling quite blue, but always with good reason-- the guy is funny as hell-- you're probably also scratching your head at this lame attempt to turn him into the new Andy Griffith. I mean, you can sit through retread of crap after retread of crap, but this man needs a working venue, and this clearly isn't it. The writing is dumb, the pace is slow, the kids are cookie cutter cute and the wife has no presence. But they all stand out when you see what they've done to poor Rodney. If you think I'm being overly severe, go buy a copy of "Morning Wood" and hang on.

Rodney is the best TV program on abc1 (in UK) ever! I am so disappointed to read that it seems series 2 will be the last. Series 1 was excellent and had me in stitches all the way through every episode. Series 2 has just started on abc1 in the UK. It is excellent but the episodes do not seem to follow a logical order like series 1. For instance, tonight's episode, "Welcome Ho" seemed to logically follow the last episode of series 1 where Rodney leaves for a 2 month tour but instead was shown in the middle of the series after "Sleepover". Series 1 was best but 2 is still great, I want them all on DVD or video but there is no retail release so I am recording them all at the moment onto DVD. I have 4 episodes in order of series 1 on DVD so far but cant do series 2 until its finished because I am not sure what order they should be. If you like the show buy 1 of Rodney Carrington's CDs from US. The Greatest Hits is super, I bought it new on eBay and it was still well under £10 to UK from US!

Just found this show on YouTube. One of the best family-ish sitcoms I've ever seen. A shame ABC didn't continue it. I'd have watched every one. Twice.