the worst of the worst

By Todd Stadler · Tuesday, June 12, 2001 7:00pm

Submitted for your perusal: the ten worst sitcoms ever. You may argue over the order, but you'd be hard pressed to find even worse shows. Although I try to never underestimate the lows to which humans can sink.

I'd pretty much forgotten about It's a Living, one of those shows that always appeared on weekday afternoons right before dinner. But I apparently watched it, as their plot summary seems mighty familiar to me.

And, of course I don't think anyone is surprised by the inclusion of such staples of Gen X conversations as Mama's Family, Three's a Crowd, or Step by Step.

But it's Unhappily Ever After I'd like to think about for a second. I had never heard of this show until I became unemployed. I guess I started watching TV late at night when I fall asleep, and I found this show on around 2am.

It's a strange show, following in the footsteps of Married With Children, and brought to you by the same people. The dad is callous and stupid, and the girl is really hot. Except the girl is smart this time.

Oh, and there's this highly annoying stuffed rabbit ( or pile of mold) that seems to be the embodiment of the dad's psychosis, living in the basement. The dad and the rabbit, who is voiced by Bobcat Goldthwait, natch, have these talks in which they make fun of other TV shows which, it should be noted, are generally not as bad as Unhappily Ever After.

The conversations come across as hastily composed, thinly-veiled rants against the object of some writer's ire. In fact, much of this show seems quickly thrown together, such as the opening credits, set to the song "Hit the Road, Jack" for some reason, with the main characters all dancing and lip-syncing rather poorly, except the rabbit.

Did I mention that the rabbit always gets enormous amounts of applause from the studio audience/laugh track? He's a riot.

Still, I have to wonder about the show. Is the fact that it insults crappy pop culture a sign that it may be more intelligent than it lets on? Many have suggested that Married With Children was a satire of bad television. If it failed by being taken seriously (as many satires of stupidity often do), then maybe Unhappily Ever After was an attempt to me more obvious.

I mean, for heaven's sake, half the episodes I've seen star Kato Kaelin. They can't have hired him because of his skill!