Committed

Committed
No wonder this barely lasted a season, they botched up the source material.
Genre: Animation Comedy Slice-of-life Animated sitcom Running Time: 22 minutes Country: Canada, United States Release Date: March 3, 2001- June 18, 2001 Network(s): CTV Created by: Michael Fry Mary Feller Distributed by: Nelvana Seasons: 1 Episodes: 13

Committed is a short-lived Candian-American adult animated series based on a comic strip of the same name created by Michael Fry.

Summary

Working parents juggle jobs and family life.

Why It Commited a Crime

1. Poor Grasp of the Source Material: Even though the animated series was created by Michael Fry, who also created the original comic strip, it's like another person is making it. As it's so unfaithful to the original comics, it isn't very kind. The most glaring change is the family dynamic.
2. The main couple of the series, Joe and Liz Lansen are unlikable as the father, Joe is just a watered-down version of the dim-witted father trope (Homer Simpson, Peter Griffin, Mr. Turner, etc.). As he's shown to be stupid and lazy and selfish as he only cares about himself and not the rest of the family. Liz is an intelligent and down-to-earth mother who tries to keep the family together.
3. Nicolas Lansen, the toddler is just a pointless addition to the family as he did not exist in the original comics. His character adds no substance other than to add gross-out humor to the series. If he were kept a baby like in the intro and promo artwork, it wouldn't do much for his character. If he were removed entirely, the series would remain unchanged.
4. The intro has many instances of gross-out, most of the instances come from Nicolas, who is a baby and is shown soiling his diaper, urinating and vomiting on his parents, and even getting his diaper changed on the kitchen floor. (Which is highly unsanitary)
   • Why are the parents changing a diaper in the kitchen to begin with? That's where food is prepared, it would've been better if they did it in a room in the house where people don't eat such as the living room or the bathroom or a bedroom.
   • There's also a shot of Liz as a baby running around naked and her bare bottom is explicitly shown.
5. Liz's mother showing up to the Lansen house in scuba gear is nonsensical.
6. The daughters, Zelda (not to be confused with the namesake character from The Legend of Zelda series) and Tracy have no personalities and are just bland teenagers.

Redeeming Qualities

1. The theme song is very catchy and has a good rhythm.
2. If Fry adapted the series to be more faithful to the comic strips, it would've been better.
3. The family dog, Bob is like Brian Griffin from Family Guy except no one can understand him and he's the only likeable character in the series.

Reception

The series overall sits at a 5.9/10 rating on IMDB and was panned by TheMysteriousMr.Enter, claiming it to be a blander version of Family Guy. Committed has since fallen into obscurity and the series' second season is considered as lost media.

Trivia

• Despite being short-lived, Committed has an entire unreleased second season.

Comments

Loading comments...