The Carmichael Show was able to be socially aware and hilarious. It had a solid cast of characters and actors who portrayed them. The writing team was extremely creative.
Unfortunately, Rel is missing all of it, especially the humour. I am not a fan of laugh track situation comedies. Supposedly, the laughter level was brought down. Maybe it is the kind of comedy that you have to be there to find it funny.
If you like Rel, then look for The Carmichael Show because he is playing the same pathetic character but it was funnier with Carmichael and the rest of his cast.
69 Reviews
More Sinbad!!!!
tippetoe15 October 2018
Has potential
irs-0818411 September 2018
Major Flop. Back to the drawing board!
debonairdenise13 September 2018
Completely disappointed! Within the first 5 minutes, I knew it would be a waste of my time. I continued to watch because of Sinbad- He's an amazing talent who doesn't get the recognition he deserves. Get rid of the laugh track(the jokes aren't funny), hire new writers and base the show on Sinbad. Maybe have him open up a community center for at risk youth in his old neighborhood. Anything is better than what I watched.
Stereotypical
npmcveygch1 October 2018
Haven't we moved beyond the stereotypical African American jokes? This show reminded me of a bad, throw away UPN show from the 90's. It just seemed to use the same algorithm that every other failed sitcom has used.. Laugh track? Check.. Divorced man trying to get his life back together? Check.. Former drug dealing African American brother? Check.. Lesson learned at the end of the show? Check.. Divorced man takes the first step in getting said life back together by the end of the pilot episode? Check.. The "jokes" fell flat.. There was ZERO flow to the story. And it felt beyond forced.
It's just not working
tanishia-allen19 November 2018
I watch the show every week, i really want it to win but after 8 episodes it's not gonna work. Rel is a funny guy and he's talented but this show is just not cutting it.
If Jerrod is working on this , i don't understand why it is so bad. Jerrod and Rel were excellent on The Carmichael Show, i was hoping for the same type of comedy as the Carmichael show was phenomenal even for the short period of time.
The jokes are lame the acting is lame , it's just lame. Rel is lame.
I will support as I want black shows to win but this is a flop. Please go back to the drawing board before fox cancels it.
Wanted to like it... but couldn't
hntr5126 October 2018
First things first... Sinbad is the only reason to watch this show and it's way too little of him on screen. The writing is terrible on a different level of terrible. I really wanted to like this but I don't think I've laughed at one joke. Laugh track is painful to listen to. This could have been good. Sad.
Terrible show
ryanosborne-2329116 October 2018
Laugh track ruined it
s-lebeau1 October 2018
Started BAAAAAAAAD, but got a little better
dawn-diggity29 April 2019
The first few episodes were really bad, almost painful, especially with that laugh track. The later episodes got funnier and enhanced with less laugh track, maybe. I think it would be better, if there's another season. The writers and cast just needed a little time to get their sea legs.
More Sinbad-less Rel
winnie33784 October 2018
I tried to like this because of Sinbad but he's not on screen long enough to make it worth my time. And I know it worked for Martin, but having Rel play another character in each episode is just silly. Make a show about Sinbad and I'll tune in every week.
Who are these ppl!?
bhop-637413 June 2019
I freakin loved this show! Growing up in rough areas the show captured real life scenarios and made them funny. And a little easier to deal with. I can't believe all these ppl didn't like it. All I can say is watch it a chose for ur self. My son and I enjoyed it very much. I hope another network picks it up. Not too many funny shows with ppl of color.
...And just when it was starting to get funny!
ericapolitica14 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
The first episode started strong and funny with Rel's conversation on the phone, but it hasn't really been funny again until the last couple of episodes. I continued to watch in the meantime because it was a refreshingly relatively wholesome TV show, but it had a few flaws:
1) No comedy should have characters dressing up as other characters after Martin Lawrence did it on his self-titled TV show and knocked it out of the park. After that I feel like we've seen it, it's not comedically surprising anymore, and it just seems like a ripoff of the beloved Martin TV show.
2) As a black woman I feel like Rel tried too hard to be "black" and funny. The best black TV shows don't try to be black, they just naturally portray things in a way that black audience members can relate to, even though I know that most of the writers for a lot of these shows were actually white). Whatever the case, it was naturally a black experience and from the point of view of different kinds of black people (one stroke does not cover us all just like with other races). As for trying too hard to be funny, the thing with sitcoms is You cannot try to be funny; either you're funny or you're not. Who's to blame? For this show I would say that the writers did not do a good job coming up with comedic material for the bulk of the episodes, and that the actors were not good and delivering comedic lines which is harder than it sounds. For example, I don't think anything that the brother said was written as being funny or delivered in a funny way, Rel and his father (Sinbad) often mumbled through their comedic deliveries, and Brittany many times delivered her comedic lines with too much attitude which goes back to my previous argument about trying too hard to be black. And no, black women do not always have an attitude so I wish they would have told her to tone down that particular stereotype. But, and this is going to be shocking, the funniest one who time and again made me laugh out loud with almost everything he said was the bartender. He was really great!
3) The wrong actors/characters used. If I was to change a few things in the show I would have done the following: Axe the brother. He was unfunny and unnecessary as a character. I would have either left him out or turn him into Rel's sister, someone who can spar with Brittany a la Martin Payne and Pamela James or Fred Sanford and Esther Anderson, except that it would be too women going back and forth. I would also have cast someone else for the father's character. I was happy to see Sinbad make a comeback too, but the truth is that he hasn't done anything noteworthy in a while and is a little out of practice. That showed in the way he delivered his character. Sometimes I felt like he was trying to remember his lines or was unsure about how to deliver them, and he also put too much attitude on everything he said and was very huffy with his speech like he was out of breath.I think that Wendell Pierce would have done really well in this role. Lastly, I would have hired a better team of comedic writers who have experience writing for black comedies specifically.
Still, I give it a 7 because, again, I appreciate that it was relatively wholesome and had some funny episodes toward the end of the season.
1) No comedy should have characters dressing up as other characters after Martin Lawrence did it on his self-titled TV show and knocked it out of the park. After that I feel like we've seen it, it's not comedically surprising anymore, and it just seems like a ripoff of the beloved Martin TV show.
2) As a black woman I feel like Rel tried too hard to be "black" and funny. The best black TV shows don't try to be black, they just naturally portray things in a way that black audience members can relate to, even though I know that most of the writers for a lot of these shows were actually white). Whatever the case, it was naturally a black experience and from the point of view of different kinds of black people (one stroke does not cover us all just like with other races). As for trying too hard to be funny, the thing with sitcoms is You cannot try to be funny; either you're funny or you're not. Who's to blame? For this show I would say that the writers did not do a good job coming up with comedic material for the bulk of the episodes, and that the actors were not good and delivering comedic lines which is harder than it sounds. For example, I don't think anything that the brother said was written as being funny or delivered in a funny way, Rel and his father (Sinbad) often mumbled through their comedic deliveries, and Brittany many times delivered her comedic lines with too much attitude which goes back to my previous argument about trying too hard to be black. And no, black women do not always have an attitude so I wish they would have told her to tone down that particular stereotype. But, and this is going to be shocking, the funniest one who time and again made me laugh out loud with almost everything he said was the bartender. He was really great!
3) The wrong actors/characters used. If I was to change a few things in the show I would have done the following: Axe the brother. He was unfunny and unnecessary as a character. I would have either left him out or turn him into Rel's sister, someone who can spar with Brittany a la Martin Payne and Pamela James or Fred Sanford and Esther Anderson, except that it would be too women going back and forth. I would also have cast someone else for the father's character. I was happy to see Sinbad make a comeback too, but the truth is that he hasn't done anything noteworthy in a while and is a little out of practice. That showed in the way he delivered his character. Sometimes I felt like he was trying to remember his lines or was unsure about how to deliver them, and he also put too much attitude on everything he said and was very huffy with his speech like he was out of breath.I think that Wendell Pierce would have done really well in this role. Lastly, I would have hired a better team of comedic writers who have experience writing for black comedies specifically.
Still, I give it a 7 because, again, I appreciate that it was relatively wholesome and had some funny episodes toward the end of the season.
Booooooring
aliullah22 October 2018
The laugh track is annoying
Lenaj845 November 2018
I only wanted to watch because Jess and Sinbad was in it. I wanted to support her and ultimately the enitire cast but the jokes suck the laugh track is constant and they story is boring. I hope she's able to find a sitcom that will showcase her talents. This show is a struggle to watch.
sad
gsdellamea10 September 2018
Waste of a great cast
blackshearva3 October 2018
Boy I Hate To Say It...I Really Do........
YunGKraZe12 October 2018
It's an ok show but....
wackywhovian1120 November 2018
It's an okay show but some of the jokes are kinda funny. I didn't get to watch it when it premiere I caught it up on Hulu and watched a, few episodes and I'd say the only character I found funny was that rude guy on the bus, he was kinda entertaining but a bit hurtful to make the audience laugh. You ain't got to be rude to be funny. Honesty I didn't even notice the laugh track but I'll notice now I'm sure of it. I didn't even think they still used them and excuse me but when I watched it on Hulu it said Rel was shot in front of a live studio audience? You don't need a laugh track if theirs a live audience. I don't see this going pass the first season. Sorry Rel I gave it a chance but I got tons of other things to watch on Hulu and Netflix to watch the rest of the season
Unfunny
bcprabhu3 October 2018
If this is a comedy where are the jokes? The heavily forced laugh tracks suppose to tell us when something is funny. Problem is there are no funny enough moments to laugh.
The characters are simple cliches. The show looks very cheap in every way.
It is a flop for sure.
Solid concepts - Mediocre execution
mitchellsimy3 January 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Each episode has so much potential to be amazing, but they come up short in some way. While extremely entertaining and very enjoyable, the episodes that deal with "Real World Problems" and are supposed to come off as "Heartfelt" only digs deep enough to scratch the surface of our emotions.
Again, so much potential to become something amazing! The story telling is just a tad bit lack luster. Moments you wished were filled with more emotions, end up taking a different course and solutions to the episodes become kind of awkward. Nothing truly becomes properly "resolved" in the season one episodes, and I sure look to see if season two changes that!
Not disappointed with the show what so ever, just wishing it would be more than it's shell.
Not disappointed with the show what so ever, just wishing it would be more than it's shell.
Disappointing smh
mznae5 December 2018
I really like really like Rel Howery but I didn't make it 10mins before I checked out. 2mins in the laugh track started and never ended. It's another cheesy Black Comedy like Tyler Perry shows which is disappointing. I was hoping it would have a better feel to it. The jokes were too forced. They need to revamp the whole thing. Maybe watch episodes of The Bernie Mack Show, Blackish or Everybody Hates Chris.
Cannot Get Enough
mrayeturner15 May 2019
Picks Up after 5
martinchipendo22 December 2018
It's clear from the onslaught that the team behind this are still finding their way and it shows in the first 4 episodes with the jokes seemingly forced.
However, from episode 6 going forward it gets better and I hope they can keep this going.
Overall; Rel is a show that nicely blends comedy with heart.
However, from episode 6 going forward it gets better and I hope they can keep this going.
Overall; Rel is a show that nicely blends comedy with heart.
Yikes! Bring back Cop Rock!
khunkrumark1 October 2018
The media stampede to create inoffensive content featuring minorities is hilarious... this is not. Not even close! Still, it should inspire people who think they can write, but can't. If this garbage can get made, anything can!
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