Chad (2021)
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 This show proves that sitcoms aren't what they seem anymore...
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Chad is an American sitcom created by Nasim Pedrad, who also stars as the titular role in the series. The series premiered on April 6, 2021, on TBS. Chad was originally sold to Fox and ordered for a series in 2016 titled Chad: An American Boy, with the original pilot written by Pedrad and Rob Rosell. In August 2016, it was announced that the series would not be moving forward at Fox and would be shopped to other networks. In May 2019, the series was picked up by TBS for a 8-episode order. In May 2021, the series was renewed for a second season.
Premise
Chad is about a "14-year-old pubescent Persian boy (Nasim Pedrad) as he navigates his first year of high school on a mission to become popular. Chad's friendships and sanity are pushed to the limits as he uses every tactic at his disposal to befriend the cool kids, while also enduring his mother's new dating life and reconciling with his cultural identity."
Why It Fails At Being Chad
- To get the elephant out of the room, Nasim Pedrad is seriously miscasted as Chad. Why would you get a 40-year-old actress to play a 14-year-old boy?! What's even more baffling is why couldn't the people who created the show hire a normal 14-year-old boy instead? Most high school drama/sitcom shows do not have an adult (let alone female) actress play the role of a high school boy!
- Many of the characters are either unlikable or void of personality:
- Chad Amani is a very generic, unrelatable, and overall detestable protagonist who only craves being popular and hip. Not only that, but he is pretty spoiled as well, in "Hamid" he made a racist comment to his mom when she didn't get the right Sneakers saying "are you raising a young boy or a young Filipino male nurse?!", those Sneakers also not being the newest LeBron Sneakers, another example of this comes from how whenever Niki gets presents for her birthday he must have one to (as seen in "Sword"). He is also disrespectful towards his younger sister Niki, calling her a whore and throwing stuff at her whenever she calls him out on his petty actions, in fact as evident to many of Chad's actions towards Niki it actually makes you sympathize with her despite her being the "cynical sibling" of the Sitcom. He is also very disrespectful to his friends and the people around him in the final episode of Season 1 "Finale" when Denise threatens to expose that Chad is lying about being evolved in a hate crime he threatens her back by saying he was going to eat her body, spit her out and feed her body to Peter! In fact, his hatred for Denise is very dumb, the only reason why Chad hates Denise is that she is running for class president and is afraid she will "take advantage of him", heck his hatred for Denise goes as far as to him trying to Sabotage her and Peter's relationship by breaking into her house and acting like a complete manchild while they are about to kiss (see WIS #14), and overall trying to make both of their lives miserable, showing how truly selfish Chad is. In fact, the main reason why this show is hated is mainly because of this.
- Peter despite being a likeable character comes off as a dry yes-man character, whether it be to Chad (mainly against his will, being Chad's "best friend") or Denise (his love interest, who he has more respect towards due to her caring about his feelings)
- Reid, despite being likeable is your stereotypical Butt-Monkey that constantly has to deal with Chad's unacceptable behavior. Throughout the first season, Ried already has two of his personal possessions destroyed thanks to Chad's behavior and usually lets him get away scot-free also making Chad a Karma Houdini.
- Niki is your stereotypical unlikable bratty teenage sister that like Reid has to also put with much of Chad's behavior despite her being younger than him.
- Denise is your stereotypical mean popular girl who is always willing to expose Chad's actions no matter the cost.
- Hamid is your bland yet very optimistic Uncle who is very oblivious to many of Chad's schemes, though he is likeable.
- Because of how mean-spirited the acting and writing is (see WIS #14), almost every character is treated like a butt-monkey at some point. Nearly everyone besides Chad has to put up with Chad's insufferable and disrespectful behavior, and you just feel bad for them having to do this against their will. Meanwhile, with Chad, while he's supposed to be the "unpopular high school kid" type of character, it is difficult to sympathize with him given his weak and unlikeable characterization.
- Weak dialogue. Sometimes characters will start to slur their lines through episodes.
- The humor comes off as very cringe-worthy, predictable and sometimes even mean-spirited, for example, Chad getting his backpack stuck in between the bus doors in the first episode. Some other jokes also include Chad disobeying his moms orders, which is generic, considering the fact that this joke is overused in many other shows.
- The show is heavily reliant on being edgy and overusing slang. Chad for example will sometimes say things like "You guys ready to jizz?!" Or "420 everyday hook it up", which despite these quotes being funny from time to time, they get old very fast.
- Heck, the title and main character is a dead giveaway on how this show is desperate at trying to be edgy! Out of all the possible male names to name the main protagonist, and out of all the different titles to call the show, the creators chose to call the show and the main character "Chad" simply to pander to the Chad slang.
- The show can also be seen as a huge rip-off of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise, since both of them have a similar premise of a kid trying to fit in at school, not to mention that the latter did a MUCH better job at it than this.
- The plots for each episode of the show is either something very generic or something that tries to pander to the newer trends:
- The episode "Sword" has Chad bringing a sword he got to school, simply to look cool with it. The pacing of the episode (see WIS #9) is also sloppy for how in one scene, Chad breaks into Reid's car to steal the sword back after literally just giving it to him!
- The episode "Hamid" revolves around Chad craving the newest LeBron Sneakers.
- The episode "Lakehouse" just revolves around Chad trying to get even with the cool kids while acting like a huge jerk to his friend Peter.
- Horrible writing and execution. In the Season 1 finale, the people at School (except Denise and Peter) believe that Chad was involved in a hate crime simply because his locker was "punked" (though it is never explained how they developed the thought in the first place, the only justification was because Chad was Persian). Another thing is it turns out Chad somehow became class president just for being involved in a hate crime, which makes little to no sense because he didn't do anything to become class president in the first place.
- Despite the show focusing on a boy that is claimed to be '''Persian''' nothing in the show actually proves that he is in fact Persian with his skin colour being the only evidence, you could easily take out the fact itself and the show would still be the same.
- Heck, Chad seems to disrespect his own ethnicity, as evidenced by one quote where he says "Mom! This is not the Middle East! Things are more complicated here in America!"
- The pacing ranges from being below-average to just downright horrendous most of the time, as many events in the show either move incredibly slowly or are completely rushed.
- Terrible character consistency. In addition to several characters having bland personalities, sometimes a character will go out of place doing something random to contribute to the plot.
- Not only that, but due to this issue, a lot of episodes contain excessive amounts of filler. For instance:
- In the episode "Sword" the scene where Chad and his family are celebrating Nikis birthday there are times where the show tries to stop the plot from moving by making a joke about Chad getting pants as a gift for Nikis birthday And the joke drags on for way too long.
- In the episode "Whiskey Slaps" the drinking game scene goes on for way too long a good 75% of the scene contains Niki's friends questioning Chad's existence and unnecessary tension between Chad and Niki.
- Not only that, but due to this issue, a lot of episodes contain excessive amounts of filler. For instance:
- A repetitive soundtrack that mostly consists of overused generic k-pop songs that sound completely rushed and are most likely used just to try and sound hip and cool but fails terribly at it.
- The show can be illogical and have many notable plot holes, such as:
- In the episode Sword it is never explained how Chad can carry a sword around on school grounds because it's illegal.
- In the episode "Ikrimah Breakup" there is no backstory as to how Naz and Ikrmiah broke up in the first place.
- There is a fair number of gross-out humor. Such examples include:
- In the episode "Sword" there is an infamously disgusting scene where Reid starts hitting a piece of dog manure with a sword. What's worse is at one point you get to see the manure up close.
- In the episode "Ikrimah Breakup" there is an awful yet short-lived sex scene between Naz and Ikrmiah. To add insult to injury, Chad was 'actually watching them.
- There is an awkward scene in the same episode where Chad unknowingly hugs Ikrimah while he is naked and that scene goes on for 15 seconds.'
- At the beginning of the pilot episode when Chad gets his braces removed, there is blood coming out of his mouth.
- There is an imfamous scene where Chad is riding on a scooter with another girl naked we are not even kidding, though thankfully hardly nothing is shown.
- In the episode "Finale" there is a grotesque CGI of Ried having a rat face which also looks very unsettling, don't believe us see for yourself.
- The show tends to get very mean-spirited, cruel, and overall just uncomfortable to watch. Such examples include:
- Just about every scene with Chad being a demanding and inconsiderate prick to Peter.
- One of the worst by far is in the episode Lakehouse, where he treats Peter like he is nothing even after Peter hears the news that his Grandpa Jim died (Chad outright dismisses Peter's loss and changes the subject when Peter is distraught by his loss, despite Reid, Joey, Liam and Caleb all being there showing concern for him and his family).
- Another notably cruel scene between Chad and Peter is when Chad finds out that Peter has feelings for Denise. When Peter and Denise become Chad, instead of being happy for him, Chad gets sensitive and believes that Peter is replacing him as his friend. He even goes as far as breaking into Peter's house when they are kissing.
- The whole school besides Peter taking Chad's existence for granted (while this can be understandable due to his intolerable behavior around the other students, it doesn't make this atmosphere any less jarring).
- Niki's friend Avery questioning Chad's existence during a drinking party (which despite also being understandable, is still jarring for how Niki at least shows concern for Chad's insecurity, only for her friend to question how they're related in the first place).
- Any scene where Chad acts ungrateful to his mother's efforts, in addition to any scene where he attacks and insults Niki for calling his behavior out.
- Characters will also commit many felonies such as stealing, underaged drinking, breaking into private property, and harassment.
- Episodes contain loads of profanity mostly from Chad saying stuff like "Bitch", "Fuck", and "Crap".
- Just about every scene with Chad being a demanding and inconsiderate prick to Peter.
- Many unmemorable quotes that are simply just cringe-inducing, Chad himself has a particular quote he says "Sloppy Salmon", which despite being somewhat hilarious, is cringeworthy and annoying for how he will touch his friends near their private parts after saying the quote.
- A majority of the characters suffer from poor development, for instance:
- Chad will more often than not put himself in his own problems. While the audience is expected to sympathize with him because of his "socially awkward" characterization, it doesn't work because Chad doesn't learn anything from his undoings. As such, almost every episode feels like a reset button on Chad's character for how he never truly grows as a character.
- Some of the actors from the 2016 short film don't reprise their roles in this show for example:
- In the film Niki was portrayed by Ariana Molkara, but in the show, she is replaced with Ella Mika.
- Quantity Over Quality: Although the show is overwhelmingly panned (see "Reception"), the show is being renewed for a second season.
Redeeming Qualities
- The show has some humor here and there that is funny.
- The concept of a Persian kid attempting an American high school is pretty decent, though horribly executed.
- Despite being bland and rather unmemorable, some characters such as Peter, Naz, Hamid, Reid, Caleb, Joey, Liam, Jaxon, and Niki (at times) are tolerable.
- In fact, Reid is the only character that received some character development throughout the first season as he went from being a punching bag towards Chad to being overall fed up with Chad's actions and starts to stand up for himself and his friends.
- There are a few heartwarming and non-mean-spirited moments occasionally, such as:
- Chad meeting Margaret (the younger sister of Niki's friend Avery), who sympathises with Chad's insecurity.
- Reid, Joey, Caleb, and Liam comforting Peter when he is at a low state hearing his grandfather's loss (despite WIS #14).
- Reid and some other classmates sticking up for Chad for the supposed hate crime in "Finale". Despite the poor writing of the event, it does get to the point where Reid becomes more sympathetic and compassionate about Chad despite their differences, believing that he doesn't condone racism nor believes that Chad should have to suffer from it.
Reception
Season 1 received mostly positive critical reception. However, the show received generally negative audience reception, with the show immediately receiving a lot of controversy since the release of the trailer, with it having a 66% dislike ratio on YouTube. The show is also considered one of the worst sitcoms of all time. It holds a 3.3/10 on IMDb, and a 3.8/10 on Rating Graph. On Metacritic, critics gave the show a 65/100, while users however rated it a 1.7/10 (indicating "Overwhelming dislike"). Viewership has also been subpar, with each episode having less than 1 million views. This sharp contrast between the critics and the audience is clear: on Rotten Tomatoes, it has a Tomatometer (critic score) of 81% and a Popcornmeter (audience score) of 17%.
However, the show did manage to get a cult following.
Trivia
- A 30-minute pilot for the show was released back in 2016 titled "Chad: An American Boy".
- As stated above, the show is being renewed for a second season.
Episodes With Their Own Page
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