NO LIE IN CALLING THIS SHOW 'THE PITTS'.Byline: - David Kronke FOX SHOWED some rare prudence earlier this season when it canceled its sitcom ``The Grubbs'' before it ever made it to the air, but now the network is premiering the similarly awful ``The Pitts.'' Both shows concern shamelessly stupid families who wallow wallow mud bath frequented by pigs, elephants, red deer, hippopotami as a cooling aid. in their abject tackiness. Both come from former ``Simpsons'' writers who created live-action cartoons with no small amount of contempt for their characters. But only ``The Pitts'' made it to the network's schedule, if only for a brief time (they canceled the hilarious ``Andy Richter Paul Andrew "Andy" Richter (October 28, 1966) is an American comedian and actor. He is perhaps best known for his former role as comedian Conan O'Brien's sidekick on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Controls the Universe'' for this?). Dylan Baker, a respected actor (``Happiness,'' ``Head of State''), flails about desperately as Pitt patriarch Bob, who, with mousy mous·y also mous·ey adj. mous·i·er, mous·i·est 1. Resembling a mouse, especially: a. Having a drab, pale brown color: mousy hair. b. wife Liz (Kellie Waymire), runs a mail-packing business and suffers genially through the most epic streak of awful luck imaginable. In three episodes made available for review, the Pitts must contend with their son Petey's (David Henrie) exorcism exorcism (ĕk`sôrsĭz'əm), ritual act of driving out evil demons or spirits from places, persons, or things in which they are thought to dwell. It occurs both in primitive societies and in the religions of sophisticated cultures. (daughter Faith, played with whimsical earnestness by Lizzy Caplan, falls in love as she mops up vomit with an altar boy). There's also a haunted VW Beetle obsessed ob·sess v. ob·sessed, ob·sess·ing, ob·sess·es v.tr. To preoccupy the mind of excessively. v.intr. with Faith, a psychotic nanny (why would teenage kids need a nanny?) and, yes, becoming werewolves. ``The Pitts' '' stomach-churning cheesiness chees·y adj. chees·i·er, chees·i·est 1. Containing or resembling cheese. 2. Informal Of poor quality; shoddy. and gleeful glee·ful adj. Full of jubilant delight; joyful. glee  ful·ly adv.glee tastelessness is the joke, as it was with ``The Grubbs'' or the short-lived, similar WB animated comedy ``The Oblongs.'' It plays like a five-minute ``Saturday Night Live'' sketch dragged out to a half-hour. It's filled with aimless punch lines such as, ``Your mom and I are down at the store, laminating our patooties off, and you're fighting like cardboard box salesmen!'' (And, no, context doesn't help that line make any more sense.) Other lines seem to serve as auto-criticism. Petey asks, ``Since when do you need a reason to go to the dump?'' - clearly, the philosophy behind show creators Mike Scully and Julie Thacker-Scully. The theme song puts it succinctly: ``It's the pitts!'' THE PITTS - One and one half stars What: A most unfortunate family populates this most unfortunate sitcom. Where: Fox (Channel 11). When: 9:30 tonight. In a nutshell: The (rare) funny bits are stupid, but the (not-so-rare) stupid bits aren't funny. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) ``The Pitts'' aims for laughs with a family that runs a mail-packing business. |
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