Comedy is one of the most beloved genres in television today. Perhaps, because of its ability to create a fun situation out of anything or just due to the fact that it lifts one’s spirit by letting us laugh. Be that as it may, some of the shows tossed around the market are seemingly unable to hold off their own and some of them get the cut as soon as they are released. Shows such as ‘How I met Your Mother’ and ‘Friends’ have had a long run due to their well thought out plots and intense yet light jokes. These shows have been able to surpass the 5 season mark and have gone on to gain critical acclaim and win various awards On the other hand shows such as ‘Outmatched’ seem to not just be doing it for audiences and the more episodes they try to put out the more their viewership numbers drop. ‘Outmatched’ was released in January and as time goes by it seems the series will soon throw in the towel.
What is the show Outmatched all about?
Outmatched is an American sitcom that centers on the lives of blue-collar parents who have been blessed or cursed (depends on who you ask) with three children who are absolute geniuses and one dumb one who often mispronounces words. Mike (played by Jason Biggs) and Kay (Maggie Lawson) love their 3 genius little blessings but feel outmatched by their intellect. The parents, in an effort to escape their genius children hide in the basement and smoke pot. The moral of the whole series is to provide viewers with the lesson of valuing emotional connections as opposed to the constant pursuit of knowledge.
Here are 7 reasons why Outmatched will probably not get a second season
1. It is cliché
This is not to say that being overly intelligent is cliché but Outmatched as a show is a cliché. There have been other shows like it before. Shows such as Young Sheldon and The Bing Bang Theory, have given audiences a better value for their time than this. A show that has its basis around an overly intelligent character who is surrounded by average or equally dumber characters is not news. All the clichés are present in this sitcom. The black best friends, bright kids, daft dad are nothing new in a sitcom. No matter how the production tries to spin it ,the show is simply too worn out to even be on TV for a full season.
2. It is stereotypical
As if to echo my first point, Outmatched is too stereotypical. The humor is bland and lays heavily into the whole ‘nerd is boring’ stereotype. Although the show throws in some clever lines including that of Mike speaking of how he uses guilt which is a sort of bullying but from the heart, nothing else redeems this show.
3. The show’s executive producer might just be ill-suited for the role
According to Looper, Lon Zimmet has had his fair share of failed productions including LA to Vegas which was poorly reviewed and was eventually short-lived. With such a record it is unclear why the network would allow him to produce another sitcom.
4. The show looks like it could’ve been ripped off from an early 2000’s Nickelodeon show
The show is literally like a traditional sitcom with traditional characters. Overly gifted children with dumb parents. Save for some few modern jokes and mentions of vaping and the fact that Jason Biggs’ character isn’t the usual fat blue-collar dad, watching the show would be like time traveling back to the early 2000s.
5. The characters are unfunny
Outmatched doesn’t pack up a punch when it comes to its jokes and maybe once in a while, you’ll manage a weak laugh here and there but what adds to the pain of watching the show is the cast. While most of the characters have had their fair share of sitcom careers, it is a surprise how unnatural their jokes land. Jason Biggs is known for American Pie and Maggie Lawson for Psych. The cast delivers their jokes so unnaturally it is almost cringe-worthy to watch.
6. The writers of the show went overboard with the characters
Most times when writers of a show want to make a character too precocious, they usually try to do a lot of research and create a highly gifted character that amazes the viewer. As for Outmatched, the writers seem to have been overwhelmed by the genius that is their characters. The characters are smarter than the writers themselves and this manages to dumb down further the other normal so-to-speak characters which make for bad television.
7. Audiences find it hard to relate to the characters on the show
Everyone wants to be Stewie Griffin but no one wants to be dumb. However, the time when people could relate with overly hyped intelligent children and their dumb parents is coming to a close and it seems Outmatched didn’t get the memo. According to Wikipedia, the show has lost favor among its audiences and has an average weighted score of 33 out of 100 on Metacritic while it scored a 25% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Based on these numbers, it is doubtful whether the show will receive a comeback
Summary
Outmatched is a great show with a great plot but the timing is just poor. If these were the early 2000s, maybe the show would have gotten better reception than it is receiving today. It’s kind of plot was hotcake back then. Today audiences are constantly looking for a more relatable story because let’s face it no one actually has overly intelligent children when they themselves aren’t almost closer to that intellectual level. With there being so many well-thought-out sitcoms with witty and clever punch lines being constantly in production, it seems Outmatched is most definitely mismatched for this generation.
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