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Mar 13, 2010 By Lily Moayeri Issue #30 - Winter 2010 - Vampire Weekend

Abnormal family shows are the new normal. Fox’s mid-season comedy, Sons of Tucson, takes the unconventional beyond Malcolm in the Middle territory. The show centers around three boys whose mother is long gone and whose father is a successful-jailbird-banker. The boys are left with plenty of money and want to avoid foster care. The middle son, Gary (Frank Dolce), clearly in charge, takes control of the situation. The boys hire a bottom-feeder in the form of sports store clerk, Ron Snuffkin (Reaper‘s Tyler Labine). What starts out as a one-time thing, soon transforms to the boys keeping Snuffkin on retainer as a “father figure.” Considering Snuffkin’s alternative is living in his car and eating “dashboard bacon,” this is a beneficial arrangement on both ends. The slimily charming Snuffkin-a role Labine was born to play-has signed on for more than he bargained for. The worldly Gary, his blooming teenage elder brother Brandon (Matthew Levy), and his incorrigible younger brother Robby (Benjamin Stockham) are an unholy trinity. A well-paired match, Dolce has answers ready before the question is completed, and Labine has an underhanded way of getting out of a scrape at his fingertips. The razor-sharp dynamic between wise-ass Dolce and wily, if bumbling, Labine is enough to keep Sons of Tucson going. (www.fox.com)

Author rating: 6/10