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Sons & Daughters
SERIES: ABC, Tuesday 9:00p (30 minutes)


8.0

based on 26 reviews
read critic reviews
how did we calculate this?

based on 59 votes
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Get more information on this show at TV.com.

Official Show Site

Starring Fred Goss, Gillian Vigman, Jerry Lambert, Alison Quinn, Max Gail, Dee Wallace, Amanda Walsh, and Desmond Harrington

This ensemble, semi-improvised comedy from Fred Goss ("Significant Others") follows the trials and tribulations of an extended family.

GENRE(S):	Comedy
CREATED BY:	Fred Goss Nick Holly
FIRST AIR DATE:	March 7, 2006
ALSO ON:	A second epiosde airs Tuesdays at 9:30p

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Orlando Sentinel Hal Boedeker

Sons & Daughters offers such a fresh, funny take on family life that it could be a landmark comedy.

Philadelphia Inquirer Jonathan Storm

This sparkling saga of an extended dysfunctional family has more laughs than regular characters.

TV Guide Matt Roush

When a new comedy shows up as fresh, original and painfully hilarious as Sons & Daughters, at first I want to cheer. And then I start to worry if it can survive. Call it Arrested Development syndrome.

USA Today Robert Bianco

There's something terribly real and awfully funny about this engaging little sitcom, which takes the sweetness of Parenthood and adds its own slightly bitter touch.

New York Daily News David Hinckley

It has a sprawling cast, but even before the pilot is over, because of the clever way it's written, directed and acted, you'll know, and like, every single character.

LA Weekly Robert Abele

The looseness of the interchanges gives the humor an anti-writers’-room freshness without losing the harshness we’ve come to expect in this Everybody Loves Raymond/Arrested Development age of clashing relatives.

Los Angeles Times Paul Brownfield

It's very well-acted and meanwhile, when it can stand it, kind of tender, although it's far more interested in "Curb"-like moments of uncomfortable confrontation.

San Jose Mercury News Charlie McCollum

Definitely worth your time.

Chicago Sun-Times Doug Elfman

It starts out a little cutesy but quickly finds laughs in crisp writing and really strong (and blessedly not-overblown) acting.

Boston Globe Matthew Gilbert

"Sons & Daughters" is a sitcom whose method -- a script embellished by actors at play -- celebrates the unexpected comedy that can emerge among talented people.

Miami Herald Glenn Garvin

This sitcom is a loving embrace of convulsive domestic eccentricity.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Melanie McFarland

"Sons & Daughters" is supposed to feel like a heightened version of your own family, and in many ways it succeeds.

Wall Street Journal Nancy DeWolf Smith

Some viewers, accustomed to less-original TV fare, may miss having stock gags and situations rammed down their throat. "Sons & Daughters" is a savory for more discerning palates.

Hollywood Reporter Barry Garron

The improv style when done well, as it is here, doesn't generate sidesplitting laughter, but it does produce a steady stream of deliciously enjoyable moments.

The New Yorker Nancy Franklin

Compelling, if not quite riveting.

Washington Post Tom Shales

"Sons & Daughters" turns the banalities of family life upside down and inside out and finds something new, and even something cherishable, in many of them.

Time James Poniewozik

The show's conversational improv rhythms and realistic, documentary style make Sons and Daughters worth adopting.

PopMatters Maura McAndrew

Those who enjoy Sons & Daughters enjoyed Arrested Development more, and the same viewers put off by the latter's off-the-wall humor will also be put off the new show.

Variety Brian Lowry

A half-hour firmly ensconced in the "witty" zone that seldom crosses all the way over into funny.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Rob Owen

Personally, I found "Arrested" funnier, but "Sons & Daughters" has its moments.

The New York Times Alessandra Stanley

"Sons & Daughters" is a milder, more humane version of Fox's canceled "Arrested Development" -- it milks the humor of absurd people and brutally frank conversation.

Chicago Tribune Sid Smith

Crowded, confusing and unafraid to be dull, "Sons & Daughters" also holds tremendous promise.

Entertainment Weekly Henry Goldblatt

For a show that's supposed to be all loosey-goosey, too many of S&D's visual and aural cues are rigidly staged. [10 Mar 2006, p.53]

Salon Heather Havrilesky

The improvised dialogue is sometimes smart, but it often leads to scenes where the main characters repeat their intentions over and over again -- you know, like in a really bad improv class.

New York Post Linda Stasi

Vulgar and incomprehensibly unfunny, "Sons & Daughters" is a clear attempt to be a hip hybrid of "Arrested Development," "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "The Office." Instead, it's just a mostly superb cast being thrown to the wolves with ugly dialogue.

Newsday Diane Werts

Most of the cast stammers its way through sentences as if awaiting a lightning strike of inspiration. When it doesn't come, the actors have to say something anyway, and that meandering search for structure is what winds up filling 30 shapeless minutes.

The average user rating for this tv show is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 59 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Heather B gave it a10:
Loved it because it's candid!

Marin H gave it a10:
best show i've ever seen

[Anonymous] gave it a9:
This show is/was great!

Naomi Logistics gave it a10:
I love it!! Is it comming back?? I hope so!!!

Alex R gave it a2:
being different doesnt make it good. If you do not want to rely on good writers, at least do so in excellent improvisators and do something to set an environment where good improvs are gonna flow. This has nothing going on for it, except that it is different and it can thus attract all those that feel need to show the world how unique they are by praising whatever seems unique..

kristen h gave it a10:
This show was something I looked forward to each week (the few that it was on). Why do the intelligent shows fail so fast?

Erin R gave it a10:
Incredible show. Is it coming back? Just so unique and hilarious.

Sons & Daughters SERIES: ABC, Tuesday 9:00p (30 minutes)

Sons & Daughters
SERIES: ABC, Tuesday 9:00p (30 minutes)