The Jim Gaffigan Show

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Elizium23

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Has anyone else been following this new comedy series on TVLand?

Jim Gaffigan and his wife, Jeannie, have been making the rounds on Catholic media promoting it. I drew the conclusion that it was an innocent and clean show with strong Catholic identity, which of course would be an anomaly on basic cable TV.

Boy, was I wrong. I was at my parents’ and looked it up on the schedule; it plays late at night. Rather than wait until 10pm Thursday for the next show to come on, I watched an on-demand stream of a recent episode.

It was Jim and Jeannie’s wedding anniversary, and Jim was bending over backwards to make it special for her. He got tickets to a play and a room in a hotel, and they both backfired bigtime. The bulk of the episode, however, was appalling and disgusting. It was a big setup of a situation where Jim and a male friend were assumed to be in a homosexual tryst by many visitors. Contrary to the impression I had been given by normally-reliable Catholic news sources, it was at best trite and cliched, and at worst utterly repulsive to see such a situation played for laughs.

I will not be watching this show again. I will not be advocating Jim Gaffigan as a remedy to popular culture’s vulgar comedians, because now in my book, he is just another one of the rest.
 
I thought it was funny. 🤷

The things I saw and read about the show before it premiered made it clear that it was going to be for adults and not “kid-friendly.”

I don’t think that was the strongest episode - not by a long shot. But I don’t think it celebrated immorality.
 
Elizium23 said:
Has anyone else been following this new comedy series on TVLand?

Jim Gaffigan and his wife, Jeannie, have been making the rounds on Catholic media promoting it. I drew the conclusion that it was an innocent and clean show with strong Catholic identity, which of course would be an anomaly on basic cable TV.

Boy, was I wrong. I was at my parents’ and looked it up on the schedule; it plays late at night. Rather than wait until 10pm Thursday for the next show to come on, I watched an on-demand stream of a recent episode.

It was Jim and Jeannie’s wedding anniversary, and Jim was bending over backwards to make it special for her. He got tickets to a play and a room in a hotel, and they both backfired bigtime. The bulk of the episode, however, was appalling and disgusting. It was a big setup of a situation where Jim and a male friend were assumed to be in a homosexual tryst by many visitors. Contrary to the impression I had been given by normally-reliable Catholic news sources, it was at best trite and cliched, and at worst utterly repulsive to see such a situation played for laughs.

I will not be watching this show again. I will not be advocating Jim Gaffigan as a remedy to popular culture’s vulgar comedians, because now in my book, he is just another one of the rest.
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Somethings wrong if we have to be entertained by this kind of garbage! God Bless, Memaw
 
Memaw said:
Somethings wrong if we have to be entertained by this kind of garbage! God Bless, Memaw
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I watched the episode and I have to say I really disagree with the OP’s characterization of what happened. 🤷
 
Am I missing something? Was the incident I described somehow not supposed to imply homosexual relations were going on between two characters? I’m sorry if my humor is impaired by current secular events, but I don’t find it funny.

I forgot to mention the baby-hate comment that was made in a flippant manner by Jim’s “homosexual partner” - “Don’t have too much fun [with your wife], you already have five kids.”
 
Elizium23 said:
Am I missing something? Was the incident I described somehow not supposed to imply homosexual relations were going on between two characters? I’m sorry if my humor is impaired by current secular events, but I don’t find it funny.

I forgot to mention the baby-hate comment that was made in a flippant manner by Jim’s “homosexual partner” - “Don’t have too much fun [with your wife], you already have five kids.”
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The joke is that others were seriously misinterpreting what was actually happening.

The second joke is that Jim and his wife get a lot of judgment from others about how many children they have, typically from very shallow people.
 
I think Jim Gaffigan is hilarious, I love his standup and his new show.
 
I thought last night’s episode was one of the better ones. Fr Nicholas cracks me up - probably because I know a few priests like him. 😉
 
The pilot (i.e., the first episode) was about him not getting his “tubes tied,” and how he told his friend that men don’t put sharp things near there.

So, yeah…it’s really not a kids show. It feels like more “Portlandia” (Fred Armisen from SNL and Portlandia was in that pilot episode) mixed with “Seinfeld.” Gaffigan is clearly a Seinfeld fan.

America’s Got Talent and the Candid Camera-style magic show “Carbonaro Effect” are both a little more family-friendly/Catholic-friendly.
 
Elizium23 said:
Has anyone else been following this new comedy series on TVLand?

Jim Gaffigan and his wife, Jeannie, have been making the rounds on Catholic media promoting it. I drew the conclusion that it was an innocent and clean show with strong Catholic identity, which of course would be an anomaly on basic cable TV.

Boy, was I wrong. I was at my parents’ and looked it up on the schedule; it plays late at night. Rather than wait until 10pm Thursday for the next show to come on, I watched an on-demand stream of a recent episode.

It was Jim and Jeannie’s wedding anniversary, and Jim was bending over backwards to make it special for her. He got tickets to a play and a room in a hotel, and they both backfired bigtime. The bulk of the episode, however, was appalling and disgusting. It was a big setup of a situation where Jim and a male friend were assumed to be in a homosexual tryst by many visitors. Contrary to the impression I had been given by normally-reliable Catholic news sources, it was at best trite and cliched, and at worst utterly repulsive to see such a situation played for laughs.

I will not be watching this show again. I will not be advocating Jim Gaffigan as a remedy to popular culture’s vulgar comedians, because now in my book, he is just another one of the rest.
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I stumbled across this and thought the writing was poor and had the faults you mention. Mr. Gaffigan is not very good at acting either.

Definitely not worth recommending.

Ed
 
edwest2 said:
I stumbled across this and thought the writing was poor and had the faults you mention. Mr. Gaffigan is not very good at acting either.

Definitely not worth recommending.

Ed
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ok. good to know I am not missing anything then!
 
Willing to admit that I am wrong, and/or that the one episode I viewed was an anomaly, I watched two more episodes of the show, the Pilot and “My Friend, the Priest”, the latest episode. I have to say that they were gentle and funny, and while obviously not for children, they treated their subjects with good Catholic sense. So I recommend to everyone to watch for yourself and be your own judge. Where else on TV will you find a Catholic family with five kids and a friendly priest, all portrayed in a positive light?
 
I caught an episode of this show the other night, sort of by chance.

It was mildly amusing, sure, but that was about it. Pretty bland.

At least in the episode I saw, there was nothing offensive whatsoever in it.
 
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