In the five years that Fam Time sat on the shelf at Seven it has become less of a sitcom and more of a curiosity piece.
How bad could the show be that the CEO refused to let it screen, after he ‘inherited’ it from the previous management in 2019?
The comedy was created and produced in-house under former Seven comedy boss Michael Horrocks. But during (another) round of cost cuts he was let go while the completed series was sent to the basement. Even Seven execs struggled to come up with a rational answer or future plan.
Fast forward to 2024 and a change in management has at least let the show see the light of day via 7Plus.
It arrives as somewhat dated, and not exactly a contender in the year’s annual comedy stakes. But did it really deserve this kind of treatment?
‘Mum-preneur’ Belinda (Michala Banas) heads up a family of six who are addicted to their screens. While she is building a following on “Belinda’s Blended Blog”, daughter Tahnee (Karina Banno) already has a huge following with her ‘aural sensations’ YouTube videos squishing lettuce leafs into a leather glove, son Rylan (Benson Jack Anthony) is addicted to online dating, and ‘adopted Filipino ray of sunshine’ Cherry (Chloe De Los Santos) is a demon on the gaming console.
That just leaves hapless dad John (Duncan Fellows) who spends inordinate amounts of time in his mancave / workshop coming up with wacky inventions such as the ‘hands free ladypee.’ Eww.
Belinda’s second marriage to John, which brings the teens together as a blended family, hints to Brady Bunch origins, but there’s probably ambitions to Modern Family too, especially with the (belated) arrival of cougar and grandma Viv (Rhonda Burchmore). Alas, despite the best efforts of the cast it’s nowhere near as sharp.
Banas and Benson Jack Anthony, in particular, work hard with the comic timing and punchlines that struggled to generate many laughs. Belinda’s obsession that “everything is content” is a little tiring without developing more of the core reason why everybody in this house prefers to spend time alone than apart. Are they all so insipid, or is Rylan avoiding his own Greg-Marcia crush on his new half-sister? I dunno.
Things certainly liven up when Rhonda Burchmore arrives in episode three with the great opening line, “Surprise f***ers! Someone order a sexy siren from Byron?”
If only it had been episode one…..
There’s also a standard sitcom ancilliary character who becomes an unofficial family member -you know the type, Fonzie, Nudge, Cousin Oliver, in the form of Kiwi handyman Bill (Tainui Tukiwaho), and bugger me, a young Aaron Chen in a recurring role as the Menulog delivery guy. Seven could have sold the show on that alone?
For all its rather underwhelming gags and often-dated tech humour, the final product is far from being the worst sitcom we’ve seen (Bullpitt anyone?). Personally, I think it should have been animated and gone further to offend, and taken even more risks than this largely vanilla product.
But the idea of doing comedy (and let’s face it, Seven does stuff all that doesn’t include Paul Fenech or apparently Seven News) is to let the show find its feet and more importantly, an audience. Fam Time isn’t my cuppa tea, but with so many channels and timeslots I really think it at least deserved the respect to try and carve one out.
Sadly, the treatment by management means that the network will probably now take ages to commission a sitcom again, which is bad for both creatives and audience.
Fam Time will now always be remembered for what happens when a CEO decides what’s funny and what isn’t.
Fam Time is now screening on 7Plus.
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