Wednesday, October 12, 2016

The Ranch Season 1 Part 2 TV Review

The Ranch (2016-)
Season 1 Part 2 - 10 Episodes

The Ranch Season 1 Part 2
Watch The Ranch on Netflix
Created by:  Jim Patterson, Don Reo
Starring:
  Ashton Kutcher, Sam Elliott, Danny Masterson, Debra Winger, Kelli Goss, Wilmer Valderrama

Plot:
In this Netflix original series, Colt (Ashton Kutcher) is washed up football player Colt Bennett. He moves back home to help his dad Beau (Sam Elliott) and his brother Rooster (Danny Masterson) on the ranch.

Verdict:
This is best as background noise. The plot lines are very simple, as are the jokes. The only reason this show seems to have a plot is to provide a framework for dick and poop jokes. If the jokes were actually funny or the least bit clever, I could begin to like this but neither happens.
This combines the sensibilities of a '90s sitcom like the single camera approach and laugh track with a fifth grader who just learned swear words. Language doesn't bother me, but in this case it's such a disconnect with the tone of the show.
Skip it.

Review:
Ready my review for Season 1.
This has already been picked up for season 2. Like season 1, it will consist of two parts at ten episodes each.
You can find them talking about the bar or at the bar.
Being a continuation of part 1, this is very much the same. The creators take the sitcom format and expand on it with no limitations. Sometimes limitation help make you more creative. This desperately needs limitations.
It takes dramatic serial plot lines and fits them into a sitcom. Colt has to choose between two  women, Beau is in the midst of a divorce and a new love interest, and Rooster may leave the family ranch for a good job.

These arcs form the framework for jokes about beer, drinking, how tough Sam Elliot's character is, and how feminine Colt is. One of the most annoying aspects of the jokes is the laugh track that's telling me these jokes are funny when I know they aren't.
Bringing the cast from That '70s show back together one by one.
I liked that Rooster actually had a point in this part as he considers a new job. In part 1 he was only there to set up Colt for jokes. That's still the bulk of his role though.
This is the typical joke format; Colt espouses how his Dockers pants have stain guard and liquid beads up and rolls right off. His brother Rooster pours a beer in his lap and exclaims, "Now you have beer nuts."
The same jokes are recycled throughout the episode where the same phrase is said multiple times are said by different characters throughout the episode. It always feels nothing less than forced.

When Paula shows up, you know she and Beau will be an item because they do nothing but disagree. Their chief issue is that he drives a Ford and she a Chevy. The show mines that for a lot of material.

This ends on a bit of a cliff hanger for all the characters, not dissimilar to the cliff hangers of part 1.

No comments :

Post a Comment

Blogger Widget