TV Review: Generic ‘Retired at 35’ Has Few Laughs

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CHICAGO – Has television become so repetitive that it copies itself only four months after the fact? Of course, TV Land’s “Retired at 35,” a new hump day companion for the network’s hit “Hot in Cleveland,” must have been in some sort of production before CBS’s “Sh*t My Dad Says” but they are so similar that one could be forgiven for mistaking the two. And the bigger problem is that neither of them are all that funny.

Television Rating: 2.0/5.0

As they did with the successful “Hot in Cleveland,” TV Land are once again trying to recreate a nostalgic, punchline & laugh track-driven form of situation comedy. And they’re doing it with at least one star of a previous success — George Segal of “Just Shoot Me.” The great Jessica Walter (“Arrested Development,” “Archer”) also appears in the pilot to steal a few scenes before moving on to something better.

Retired at 35
Photo credit: TV Land

Segal and Walter play the retired parents of David Robbins (Johnathan McClain), a successful young man who has made a fortune selling food-related wood (chopsticks, popsicle sticks, toothpicks, etc.) He comes down to visit his parents and ends up quitting/retiring midway through the first episode when his partner won’t let him take one minute off the phone.

Retired at 35 Photo credit: TV Land

His daring move inspires his mother to make a similar one and leave her husband. Wouldn’t you know it, the 35-year-old retiree ends up living with his cantankerous pop, having drinks with his stupid friend (Josh McDermitt), and hitting on the girl (Ryan Michelle Bathe) that got away. He sums up the show over a beer when he says, “I quit my job and married my dad.” Meanwhile, his sister (Casey Wilson, missed from “SNL”) ends up the brunt of a few jokes, several involving the fact that her new boyfriend is obviously gay.

Walter does the most with a few bitter lines like “I spent my whole life waiting to spend time with your father and now I have nothing but time with your father,” but she’s gone halfway through and we’re left with nothing but bits about “crazy pop” that feel pulled from the cliched comedy handbook. Segal is forced to hit punchlines in which he calls it “texturing” and “Facialbook” and embarrassingly written into bits like taking a crap while his son is in the shower. The creative goal was clearly to create a show that feels old-fashioned in its attempt to move back from the more modern habit of referential, single-camera comedy to punch-line driven fare like “Hot in Cleveland,” but “Retired at 35” simply isn’t funny.

To be fair, I had low expectations for “Retired at 35” considering the relative failure of “Hot in Cleveland” (given the talent of the ladies on that show) and so the fact that “Retired” does provide a couple laughs (mostly due to Walter and a more-appealing performance by McClain than the comparative role on the Shatner program) could be seen as a small victory. No one is expecting “Retired at 35” to change the rules. It’s not trying to. It’s just trying to be comfort food for people looking for a comedy that would have been a hit in 1982 and they’ve seem all the repeats from that era. The fact that the food is stale and a little moldy is the true shame.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com