Give it a chance. The first couple episodes are just kinda blah....but the rest of the season delivers more laughs and holiday cheer. Great cast! I love the concept of a Christmas sitcom. Hope to see another season next Christmas! Totally put me in the holiday spirit and reminds us all of the true gift of Christmas is our family.
154 Reviews
Watch past the 1st ep
j_enn3 December 2019
Keep watching... it gets better.
drake-5911 January 2020
Like other reviewers the laugh track was a turn off for me. I mean it was simply horrible. If you stay with it you will find yourself really getting interested in the story and characters. The laugh track never gets better but you learn to get past it as the the story arc grows. The ending wraps up really well and teases a second season. I started off saying there would be no season 2 as it was so terrible with the laugh track but now I am looking forward to it. Hoping there is one.
Loved it
sandraliddell-003406 December 2019
Loved the evolution of this season. Yes first there was the laugh track but after they start developing the characters it falls away. So much you could do with that series....like every season is titled "something something whatever" with a different cast and story every season or a thing like "you may kiss the bride and whatever" and it's a continuous story about the family. Anyways I really enjoyed it
Great family friendly
lm615428 November 2019
Cute but predictable
redgirlshell16 December 2019
Laugh track ruins any hope
jester2055-113-95458629 November 2019
Pleasantly Surprised
almostfamous7162 December 2019
I'm not a huge fan of stereotypical Holiday movies, but since this was a show I decided to give it a chance. I'm almost done with the first season and I have to say I'm really enjoying it. I also wasn't expecting the laugh-track sitcom style, but it I love it! I really hope this comes back every year :)
Not Very Original, But Still Enjoyed
Eric26613 November 2022
If you took a very good Lifetime Christmas movie and mixed it with an average rom-com movie about Christmas, you would have this series. Its not very original, but I did enjoy it and got a teary eyed a few times. The single season of this show takes place over 10 days at Christmas when one of the daughters returns home.
Dennis Quaid is Don Quinn, the widowed patriarch of a Philadelphia family of grown children who have spent their entire lives trying to please him. He's a sheriff's deputy who is gruff and bullies his kids with the intent of helping them, but has actually caused them to be dysfunctional.
One of his children, Emmy, moved to LA but is returning home for the holiday with her boyfriend, Matt, in tow. Matt intends to ask Don for his blessing to marry Emmy and tries his best to please Don. Daughter Kayla's husband walks out on her in the very first episode and she spends the rest of the season bemoaning marriage and her loneliness. Don's other children are Patsy, a neurotic who is trying to replace their mother, and Sean, who can't seem to live up to his dad. Patsy is married to Todd and they are trying to conceive without much luck. Sean is married to Joy and they have two young boys, Donny and Sean Jr. Nancy is a nurse at the local urgent care center that Don is sweet on.
They pulled out every family conflict trope from every other movie you've seen. The gruff dad, the couple not able to conceive, the child struggling with sexuality, not living up to a parent's expectation, fear of meeting the in-laws, trying to fit in with the in-laws and their years of traditions, gender roles, work interfering with the relationship, what religion to raise the baby, and dating after 50. There is also the required silly misunderstanding leading to a break up when a ten second conversation would have cleared it up. Someone on the production team went down the diversity checklist and realized they didn't have an Atheist character so they made one of the characters declare that as well. Thankfully, they skipped over any political topics or they would have won the award for most tropes in a single show.
Having said all that, the cast does a really good job. While the plot is unoriginal, the characters are fun and I found myself really liking them. The first couple of episodes felt forced, but by episode 3, they seemed to be comfortable. The one original thing I liked were the two spouses who married into the family (Joy and Adam). They call themselves the "Outlaws" and sneak outside during gatherings to or a local bar on Wednesdays to quietly contemplate their lot. They invite Matt to join them and each episode they gather to discuss strategy and share advice.
It only lasted one season and I guess that was enough. The characters were well acted, even if some of them had very little original material to work with. I still liked it and would recommend it for a family with older children as the young ones would probably be bored with it.
Dennis Quaid is Don Quinn, the widowed patriarch of a Philadelphia family of grown children who have spent their entire lives trying to please him. He's a sheriff's deputy who is gruff and bullies his kids with the intent of helping them, but has actually caused them to be dysfunctional.
One of his children, Emmy, moved to LA but is returning home for the holiday with her boyfriend, Matt, in tow. Matt intends to ask Don for his blessing to marry Emmy and tries his best to please Don. Daughter Kayla's husband walks out on her in the very first episode and she spends the rest of the season bemoaning marriage and her loneliness. Don's other children are Patsy, a neurotic who is trying to replace their mother, and Sean, who can't seem to live up to his dad. Patsy is married to Todd and they are trying to conceive without much luck. Sean is married to Joy and they have two young boys, Donny and Sean Jr. Nancy is a nurse at the local urgent care center that Don is sweet on.
They pulled out every family conflict trope from every other movie you've seen. The gruff dad, the couple not able to conceive, the child struggling with sexuality, not living up to a parent's expectation, fear of meeting the in-laws, trying to fit in with the in-laws and their years of traditions, gender roles, work interfering with the relationship, what religion to raise the baby, and dating after 50. There is also the required silly misunderstanding leading to a break up when a ten second conversation would have cleared it up. Someone on the production team went down the diversity checklist and realized they didn't have an Atheist character so they made one of the characters declare that as well. Thankfully, they skipped over any political topics or they would have won the award for most tropes in a single show.
Having said all that, the cast does a really good job. While the plot is unoriginal, the characters are fun and I found myself really liking them. The first couple of episodes felt forced, but by episode 3, they seemed to be comfortable. The one original thing I liked were the two spouses who married into the family (Joy and Adam). They call themselves the "Outlaws" and sneak outside during gatherings to or a local bar on Wednesdays to quietly contemplate their lot. They invite Matt to join them and each episode they gather to discuss strategy and share advice.
It only lasted one season and I guess that was enough. The characters were well acted, even if some of them had very little original material to work with. I still liked it and would recommend it for a family with older children as the young ones would probably be bored with it.
Can't get past the awful laugh track!
susanseu11 December 2019
WATCH PAST EPISODE 1
wickensh29 November 2019
Cute and quirky
angle-710599 December 2019
Love the idea of a family together and celebrating the holidays. I love the cheesy Christmas plot and quirky characters. Elizabeth Hos character Joy is awesome! Disappointed in Dennis Quaid, felt like he was in pain the whole time.
Cute. Loose the laughtrack
cwilkers-905903 December 2019
Writing is good. Casting is decent. Laugh track is annoying.
spdworks-7291926 December 2019
Love to see more of Tyler Ritter. I'm sure he'd shine in more scenes, if he had them. I'm just trying to not think about how relevant this series won't be with its current title in any month before November or after December.
Give it a chance!
mrsphilip22 December 2019
Annoying laughtrack
mariaalexand28 November 2019
Improves with the episodes
larry-acker7330 November 2019
1995 called and it wants it's canned laugh track back
ScoobySnacks662 December 2019
Dennis Quaid is great, the rest of the cast is competent and attractive but the cheesy laugh track is so grating and so bad that it makes the show unwatchable. Rip it out and try again with a modern sitcom and this could actually be a decent show.
Pure drivel
declancm-709829 December 2019
We saw that Dennis Quaid was in this , and as he is usually good value, we took a chance.The shock of seeing a botoxed Quaid came first, the canned laughter second and the excruciatingly annoying characters came a close third. Easily one of the worst TV shows I've seen in a while. Give this one a wide berth.
It gets better
oscar-farfanq3 December 2019
Got better along the way
vcsmendoza27 December 2019
Well, hey, too many comments here about the laugh tracks of this sitcom, but if you're allergic to it, you'll be glad to know it died its own death towards the last episode.
The show is good family fun. Gave it a solid 7 here only because it took me until episode 5 before I really laughed out loud. Granted I didn't want to waste my time going through the grueling part of adjusting to the first few episodes of forced camaraderie between an ensemble of characters, they saved it midway, and towards the last episodes, Merry Happy Whatever just became more fun. The acting became better (not forced), the punchlines were perfect, and best of all, everything fell into place. Dennis Quaid is pretty much the attraction here, but all supporting characters, like the Outlaws and the siblings were interesting.The show touched --- grazed? glossed over? --- on topics that could have been more seriously explained, but understanding the limitations of time in a sitcom, I'm actually surprised they were able to include homosexuality, religion and divorce as topics. I think the real struggle this show had from the start was bad writing. Thank God it felt like the writing shifted halfway through the series, and instead of focusing on one-liners, Merry Happy Whatever focused more on the humor of having a controlling family. I am looking forward to seeing the next season.
It's so bad it hurts a little
ahmltn29 November 2019
Cute
eric-donnelly1 December 2019
This is not 1977. . .
quadelb26 December 2019
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
