This is well out of my wheelhouse as far as entertainment is concerned so it isn't really a surprise that I ended up not liking it at all. I only watched it because I am running very low on material as far as Netflix is concerned that I am even remotely interested in. I am desperately searching for something interesting to watch so I took a gamble on the first "30-minute laughs" section. This is one of the most unfunny shows filled with terrible acting that I have seen in quite some time.
I found it painful to even make it through a single 25-minute episode and definitely will not be watching any more of it.
The story is about a family or families headed by decent comedian Mike Epps. Unfortunately his prowess as a stand-up comedian does not translate to any sort of acting ability. His lines are delivered like a bad actor in a high-school play and while I don't know for sure, it appears as though this was probably the best they could get out of him.
I have a soft spot for Wanda Sykes, who I have enjoyed in a number of shows and stand-up specials that she has done in the past. This was one of the only reasons why I bothered watching even one episode and even though she has a very long history of doing amazing comedy writing for a number of shows including the legendary Chappelle Show the writing in this series is extremely dismal.
She plays the role of the bitchy aunt who doesn't like her niece's husband. Normally this role would be reserved for a mother in law, but I guess they decided to mix things up and make her an aunt.
The bad acting and terribly cheap sets are made even worse by a very 80's and 90's sounding canned laugh track that tells us when something was meant to be funny. The only problem is that almost none of it is even remotely funny. There was one time that I cracked a slight smile during the entire first 25 minutes of this and the canned laugh track was used at least 100 times. I've hated laugh tracks for a long time and this is why I tend to enjoy comedies that don't have them. I don't need to be informed when something is funny, it either is or it isn't.
This isn't.
I suppose there is a decent message in there about a man who is trying to be a good father even though he has kids from two different women all at different ages, but that is about where the virtues of this show ends. The lesson attempting to be taught here is that it is a good idea to look after your kids but in the wise words of Chris Rock "you're supposed to take care of your kids you low expectation havin' MoFo!"
Only because it is a tradition I set a long time ago I am going to include the trailer for this turd of a show even though I encourage you to not even watch this.
Should I watch it?
I wish I could say that the reason why I didn't find this funny at all is because I am culturally distanced from this sort of lifestyle but I honestly don't believe that is the case. There is obscene language where it isn't necessary as well which I suppose is an attempt at being edgy, but it just doesn't work. There are only 8 total critic reviews for this show and it stands, as of now at 63%. I truly believe that a lot of this is based solely upon fear of being called racist if the critics were being honest.
The Upshaws is flat-out terrible and the fact that it has made it to 4-seasons likely has a lot to do with the fact that the producers of the show star in it as well. One of my favorite "regular person" reviews on RT gets straight to the point when they say "Terrible acting, cringe laugh track." That basically sums up The Upshaws.
