Fox's new TV comedy "The Mick" has very little substance

If you've seen the commercials and TV promos for FOX's new comedy The Mick, featuring It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Kaitlin Olson, then you've seen the hilarious shots of a little boy who's been so poorly taken care of by his aunt that he's completely broken out with an allergic reaction to ice cream she let him have (but wasn't supposed to).  You've probably also seen the riotous  scenes where her other nephew was beaten up to a bloody pulp by a school bully after she gave him the wrong advice on how to deal with such an adversary.  Funny, funny stuff.  I laughed while watching the promos, for sure.

But sadly, those laughs are where the humor in The Mick ends.  The Pilot episode gives us little in terms of character, and the heroine referred to as "The Mick" (Mackenzie "Mickey" Murphy) drinks too much and doesn't quite give a shit about anyone (not her deadbeat boyfriend, not even her sister's maid, whom she's clearly using, and definitely not her two nephews and niece). Mick walks around and behaves as selfishly and inconsiderately as a female version of Bad Santa (the problem: that guy actually got laughs).  The second episode, titled The Grandparents, presents us with a script whose humor is aimed at an audience that grew up in the 1950s and 60s (people getting tagged by lasers?  Mm, not very funny.  People getting slapped by their grandma several times until they give in?  🤔 Hmm.  Nope, definitely not funny 😞).

The writing by Dave and John Chernin is lazy and without imagination.  It's almost as if they just want to extract as many "right now" laughs that they never bother to develop a comedic situation or a character into something that can pay off eventually.  If they want to learn how to make an effective show using a scoundrel with a heart who eventually grows on us, all they have to do is watch My Name is Earl.  That show had more genuine soul, insight and humor in sixty-seconds of screen time than The Mick possesses in two full episodes.  It's a shame, because the promos for it were funny.  Really funny.
C-