User reviews

Was destined to fail due to casting.

The actor playing "David" is completely wrong for the part. He looks like a peer to the parents, not their child. He also is not a great comedic actor. The ENTIRE point is that the boys give each other "trouble" not that one of them is a punching bag for the other. They've turned a sibling rivalry into basically just bullying by one brother.

Michaela Watkins - Decent actor but... Same as she ever is.. unfunny and overly nervous. Her demeanor is just off for this. She comes across as someone overly worried, and riddles with anxiety about EVERYTHING around her.

Dan Bakkedahl - great in some rolls but far too "goofy" to be the dad in this - at least that's how he's playing it. Dad isn't supposed to be "goofy". He's just supposed to be odd. There IS a difference. Dad here comes across as "stupid", the "dolt", the "moron". Not the well-meaning, but accident prone, nature of the original character.

Carol Kane - great skills, but the character, with the accent is just wrong. Is Ladka around? It's her Taxi character 40 years later. Sure audiences may not know Taxi, but that's the character.

.. overall this is VERY "try hard". So much clear effort to try and get to something funny. It feels exceptionally forced and unnatural. I mean the use of "sissy" is quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

This is a very typical US remake.. they complete ignore the "tone" of the original and just rewrite the scripts with a US twist without paying attention to the overall atmosphere.

The original Friday Night Diner was so much, much, much better.. and the AU (or is it NZ?) remake.. Roast Night.. is also better. This show is the worst of the international bunch.

This is based off of the brilliant Friday night dinner but lacks any of what makes Friday night dinner a great show. The original is one of my favorite shows and one I've watched several times and this version is criminal. Some things don't need to be remade especially if not done right and this is one of them. It lacks the dry humor and fun of what the original one was. Also there's no way either of the boys are anywhere in their 20s or pass for 20s whoever did the casting needs a career change. All this made me do was wish that prime hadn't taken the original off their free streaming. Nothing good I can really say about it.

As a fan of the REAL Friday Night Dinner, I had to give this one a try.

Unfortunately, I lasted a little more than 10 minutes, though I could immediately tell, actually from the first scene when one of the sons arrives, that the acting is sub par, it is not funny or even amusing. The neighbor was way off, even his dog was not as funny as Wilson. Unfortunately, a few of the original show members passed away, including the father. The great Paul Ritter (who was sick for a long time) and both Grammas, so that was the end of the show.

So, if you want true comedy, look for Friday Night Dinner wherever it's available and laugh your heart out.

I think the only other reviewer here was truly generous giving the show 2 stars.

Don't waste your time on this pile of soft sh**e, just watch Friday Night Dinner. In the middle of the first episode and I didn't laugh once. No charm, no acting or, I suppose just impossible task - adaptation of almost perfect British comedy. Miscast on almost everyone, great otherways actors just don't "work" here. It will not be the next "Office", I honestly doubt it will become something like US version of "The Bridge ".

Why the hell they put grandma on the 1st episode?

Why people behave "normal"? .... and so much other why's.

Really people, it looks like it was made for Netflix, dumb and bland.

Sorry to disappoint.

The first episode started off kind of awkward and unfunny, but halfway through it started coming together and the characters started clicking. We laughed a few times. The second episode was definitely better. It's definitely not as good as the original Friday Night Dinner, but I knew it was going to be hard to recreate those characters. Carol Kane is pretty funny as the grandma and I like the actor who plays the father. I wasn't sure he could pull off what Paul Ritter could, and while he isn't as funny and cringy as Paul, he is still pretty funny. The actress playing the mother started growing on me in the 2nd episode. We enjoyed it and it's better than I expected.

I definitely recommend watching the original series, especially if you find this one enjoyable. The original is definitely irreplaceable but this is a decent attempt.

Looks like yet another failed attempt by us Americans to remake a British comedy. And this is like the third or fourth attempt at remaking Friday Night Dinner for American audiences. I didn't laugh once during the first episode. Cringed and rolled my eyes the whole time. People should just watch Friday Night Dinner instead. Damn shame Paul Ritter died and there won't be any more episodes.

This show just not funny. It was a chore to get through the first episode. The characters are more like caricatures, there is no real humor, and there is nothing promising better times to come in future episode. Harder than hard pass.

Has Daniel thrasher. This show has great potential and I hope it can get up to it . It reminds me of a British show. I would suggest watching it if you haven't already. My favorite episode is sip for sip . I think it's a good idea that they came up with and I hope the next season is even better than the first one. There are a couple of hiccups but otherwise a pretty good show that you should one hundred and twenty percent watch. The characters are very different and all so talented in their own ways. There is also a YouTuber in the show and he is probably the best played character in the series.

People are slating this, partially due to some miscasting (the dad) but really also by comparison. Friday night dinners was just superb so it was always going to be a hard-ask to live up to.

The actor playing Gregg is good, the neighbours are all so cringe, but the storylines are awkward enough to offer (me, at least) some entertainment value. It's not going to set your world alight. It is very much just another american remake of a far superior british show but if you find yourself with a bit of spare time and nothing else to do, it's honestly okay. Episode 4 of those released at the moment was actually quite entertaining.

Unbelievable. Why? If you've watched the British show, Friday Night Dinner, don't even give this show a try. It's horrible by comparison. In the US, we do NOT have the mentality for humor like the Brits do. The Brit wit & open field of comedy is superb. With our US micro-management of what can be said & what can't, the show takes out the best of why Friday Night Dinner works. The scripting is a poor 2nd, 3rd, or 4th sanitized American version. No insult to the US performers, they are not as funny, quirky, cohesive like the original cast. The FND characters of Jackie, Martin, Adam, Johnny, Grandma, neighbor Jim and even Wilson the dog surpass the US counterparts. (You can't do justice to the character of Mr. Morris on American television.) Dinner With The Parents starts & you can't wait for it to end. Just like Call Me Kat's attempt at the British show, Miranda, the script & actors canNOT do justice to its British predecessor. (Ghosts is the only one that seems to work) British television is just more fun & funny than many of our US comedy shows. Try watching Friday Night Dinner on the streaming service, instead of wasting time on Dinner With The Parents.

I have heard of Friday Night Dinner, but never seen it. I am going to give it a try now, after watching Dinner With The Parents. The comedy chemistry between everyone is spot on. Usually when you have a show with a Jewish family, comedy is going to be out of this world. I have ran past it in search of something to watch, and if I knew it was this good, I would have watched it a lot sooner. All I can say is don't go by all of the negative reviews you are seeing. If you like super funny family comedy that puts a strong emphisis on bad luck, just watch the first episode before you regret passing it by.

I think some big fans of the BBC show Friday Night Dinner are intentionally rating it low and posting negative reviews. I don't think they've given it a fair chance. Before watching this show, I tried the original BBC show, because I like British shows and have many favorites. But, even after trying twice, I couldn't watch it for more than 3-4 minutes.

So, I gave this show a try, and I was hooked within five minutes. I loved all the characters, and the actors did a great job. The comedy, romantic tension, and comedic situations all worked well. I liked the way the Nana character spoke; I'm not sure if it was intentional or if she really talks like that.

Overall, it's a must-watch family drama that you can definitely enjoy with your family and deserves a season two renewal. 3.5/5.

Yet again, another americanised remake of a great British show. Seriously, if you haven't watch Friday Night Dinner. Do NOT watch this trash called dinner with parents.

Tasmin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal and Mark Heap cannot be replaced with these actors.

And the "jokes"? Seriously, nothing was funny. If this is the best those writers who went on strike can do, then, yeah... they should be worried about AI script writers taking their jobs. They surely could not do any worse. Monkeys with typewriters could definitely do a lot better.

Seriously, americans STOP americanising great shows.

I love Michelle Watkins as the mother but I feel she needs to play the part 15% more serious. The father is to much of a goofball and mis cast, the dad should be more aloof then silly. I normally love Carol Kane but her character is an odd fit for the show, this is a case of less is more.

The show obviously has some big shoes to fill from the British version, I just hope they can fix it before it dies on the vine. I'm ok if they have to recast and slim down, and give the characters some more depth, they don't feel real they way they are being played. I truly hope they can make this work because there is nothing else on tv.

I'm an Anglophile and I love British TV. One of my favorite shows is the UK gem, Friday Night Dinner, which this show is supposedly based on. When I heard about this show, I was truly excited to see it. Let me just say now, after watching it, that excitement is now totally gone. It's really disappointing when an American version of a show, completely misses the nuance of the original UK versions. Not sure why TV producers and writers don't realize what it really is about the UK show that they enjoyed so much, that they wanted to remake the show in the first place. Maybe they should just shelve the idea for this show.

If this is supposed to be a standalone show, then it fails. If it supposed to be based on Friday Night DInner, (which we all know it is) then it fails spectacularly.

If you like Friday Night Dinner, you'll probably have a favourite character. Mine was Jim (for those who haven't watched it, he's the next door neighour). Jon Glaser who played Donnie was not funny at all. In fact, he wasn't even the nextdoor neighbour. He lived across the road.

The Grandmother (Carol Kane) wasn't funny in the slightest, whereas Frances Cuka was brilliant.

The 'kids' weren't even kids. At least Johnny and Adam were either teenagers or very early twenties.

I only managed to watch the first episode in full and half of the second episode before I had to switch it off due to boredom.

If you want to watch something funny, stick to Friday Night DInner. As someone has already reviewed a few months ago, this was destined to fail due to casting. Probably also the script!!!

As a Brit, I tend to watch U. S remakes of British shows through gaps in my fingers, however this show isn't a direct remake and more based on the original, they go far enough away from the core material that it feels like it has enough of its own identity to succeed. It has some genuinely good laughs and a number of serialised story archs through the season to have something to build on going forward. I really hope this show survives long enough to let the characters grow.

The show is cast really well and you can see that they have tried to capture the personalities of the originals characters but not so much that they end up being a caricature.

It really is nothing like the original. There's zero chemistry and the exposition dialog is forced. In the British version, a scene wasn't specifically created to display an aspect of a character's personality. Instead, a scene of the story provided the opportunity to show the audience who the characters are all at once... it was natural.

The added exaggeration of the younger brother (this one lives at home to show how immature he is) and father (this one isn't nearly as quirky in his non-verbal behavior and his lines aren't quirky enough) makes the whole thing worse.

It doesn't help that it's a CBS production - the saccharine tone is pervasive, so any dry humor is extinguished all together. There was no point in trying for an American remake if the writers held themselves back. If it was going to be a streaming show, they should've gone for it. Alas, it appears that the producers thought it would be on broadcast TV and dumbed it down accordingly.

I haven't watched the British version of this show, so I'm judging solely on its own merits. I'm a big Daniel Thrasher fan, and Carol Kane is one of my all-time favorites. They both pulled through and gave strong performances, along with the rest of the main cast. (Again, I haven't seen the original series so I can't compare.)

I'm really glad Amazon released the first 4 episodes at once, because it's so hard to judge an entire show based on just a pilot (with a few exceptions over the years.) I don't know if I would have been so excited about this series if I had had to wait a week after just the first episode. There was a lot going on with the characters and little to no back stories from the get-go. But by episode 4 I was very engaged and can't wait for the next release.

The cringey chaos and crazy actions of this family are SO funny! The bizarre decisions made by the characters for problem-solving are ridiculous and borderline insane. It just got crazier with each episode. But through it all you can already see the love and ride-or-die commitments they have for each other. It's hard to avoid spoilers, but if you're struggling through the first couple episodes, skip right to Episode 4. I promise you'll be hooked! The unique storylines of each installment in this series makes it easy to skip ahead without getting lost just yet.

Saw ads a few weeks ago for this show hiding away on Showcase on Thursday nights. I recognize mom, dad, and grandma from various things each, mostly sitcoms, Grandma Carol Kane is always a legend. So, I looked it up, see two reviews here, both identifying that this is an inferior clone of a British show, Friday Night Dinner. Now, American clones always pale in comparison to the British originals, BritComs seem to know what they're doing, especially the ones successful enough to BE cloned. I've often enjoyed cloned shows well enough, figured maybe those reviews were too biased over the originals being better. Of course they are, doesn't mean this one can't still be good. Series-level reviews, maybe they just saw the pilot, didn't give it a chance (when I read them I think only the pilot had aired, I THINK I'm seeing their original airings).

Oh, they were right. I've just finished Episode 3 (out of 4 aired thus far, I'll keep recording just in case this improves, almost nothing else on right now to keep up with, anyway). The brothers who are somewhat the focus are both nobodies, not a great start (main focus David, actor Henry Hall doesn't even currently have a profile pic on his IMDb page). And it shows. Brother Gregg is an infant, insisting on acting like a bratty teen towards David, despite being grown men. It's cringe, it's uncomfortable to watch him insisting on messing with his brother. Kudos on the writers for managing to continue writing ways to somewhat believably force David to participate, but I sense it'll get repetitive, predictable, and entirely too convenient all too soon. Neighbour Donnie is a terrible character, written as annoying, always unwelcome, and always oblivious to how unwelcome he is, and he won't go away! Episode 2 he created problems by trying to help. Jon Glasser is so good at playing annoying that he's annoying to watch (I remember him being just as much of a douche in Parks And Recreation).

So much that's supposed to be funny just falls flat. First episode has David supposed to show up with a relationship for once, hold his head high with the family for once, until she overloads on nerves and backs out. Oh well, next time, right? Excuse her, say she can't make it, deal with his relationship later, reassure her for next week, right? Nope. Instead bad idea snap decisions out of unnecessary desperation, uncomfortable cringe to witness, ending up in everything blowing up in his face (including keeping him lonely to leave him available for more of this), pulling the kind of nonsense that only worked on Three's Company, and only because that was a wacky show, THIS does not have the tone and reputation to pull it off.

I've enjoyed all three of the older adults in other things, and now I know this is based on an apparently great British show, this show had such great potential. It still fell flat. Do better, use the three good actors/actresses you have to get GOOD.

When it comes to dysfunctional British TV comedies, remade into a U. S. counterpart, in the last 20 years, the U. S. has been lost in translation and failed miserably. Shows like The Office, Shameless and yes, most definitely this one, are dismal and lacking. People with poor taste in comedy may disagree about the first two I said, but that's how below par U. S. viewers standards have dropped die to lack of decent humor in the U. S. When shows like Sanford and Son or Three's Company came across the pond, comedy in the U. S. was still on top. Now, it's no longer funny and material found it sewer sludge that intelligent people should want nothing to do with.

Friday Night Dinner was a bit dark, sharp, witty, sublime humor with just the right amount of awkwardness. This Dinner With The Fanily is crass, ugly, in your face stupid, and basic.

The dad Langer is about the only one in the show who can even remotely be like the original and possibly funny. Creating the Nana part and dredging up Carol Kane, who wasn't even remotely talented in her heyday, was highly unnecessary, but at least she can be on stage and not be wooden.

As for the rest of the cast, the mother, the sons, the neighbor... can someone just flush this commode full of characters. None of them, even the list of individual episode one off cast can be sent for a double flush.

There is nothing funny. The concepts that were involved in the British series do not translate well into modern U. S. comedy. It's not like a couple of bites of leftover filet mignon you brought home from an expensive restaurant that you swore you would eat a couple weeks ago. No, it's like you ate gas station sushi with chili and melted cheese from the nasty hotdog station poured on, and you shoved it down your throat, and then violently regurgitated it. It's like the show creators just metaphorically dropped trousers and committed diarrhea to digital content.

If you ever wonder why Brit Box is popular in the U. S., this is why. Even the worst Canadian Sitcoms destroy this show.

I wanted to watch this first season all the way through, but halfway into the second episode, I just couldn't validate its existence any further.

If you want to see how it's done right, go watch the original.

I have never seen the UK version BUT this one is hilarious 😂 and stands on its own. Came across in random recommendations and it has NOT disappointed. Relatable but also pleasantly surprising.

The cast chemistry is GREAT, the fast paced banter is very entertaining as well as the fun for each episode focus and antics.

Each episode is better than the previous.

Daniel Thrasher is very fun as are the parents and Carol Kane is perfect.

Laugh so much at every episode. Really hope there is a season 2. Don't screw it up Freeve this is a success with so much potential to last well beyond its initial debut.

This is one of those shows you can watch and enjoy and actually laugh out loud at. A lot of people here are talking about a british show and i think they went in not liking that someone made another version of it and already thinking they would not like it. But i never saw the british show so i am not thinking about that as i watch it. As someone who doesn't care about that i liked it. The characters are funny and i am going to watch the rest of them when they come out. In times like these you just gotta have some joy in your life once in awhile if you know what i mean lol. I mostly wrote this to say that I don't care about the other show and i like it.

I'll admit... the first episode was not great, but I actually watched the whole season and really enjoyed it.

I loved Friday Night Dinner and obviously most of the people reviewing did too. I think a lot of them are giving the bad reviews/ratings because they're expecting it to be exactly the same as the original.... Don't do that!

The show does share some similarities to the original.

There are the brothers constantly playing pranks, the neighbor obsessed with their mom, a grandmother, a goofy dad, but they're not the Goodmans.

This is about a different family.

They're not trying to be the Goodmans.

I think that's a good thing.

If you watch this expecting it to be the exact same, yeah you're going to be disappointed.

It really is a funny show and I enjoyed it. I hope others will try actually watching the show before they come here to dump on it.

Again, the first episode is not great... but the show does get way better!