The War at Home (2005–2007) User Reviews (86)

The Real Low-down

[Filmy2020 · 7/10 · 24 September 2006]

This show is actually pretty good. Like all shows on TV, it has its good episodes and its bad ones.

I have read where people compare this show to Married with Children, and I suppose it is a similar show for the new generation. However, because of what was expected and allowed on TV in the days of Married with Children, that show was taken to great extremes to show that it was in fact, a television show, and not meant to be take seriously.

The War at Home has the luxury of being a bit more realistic. The parents talk to each other like real life parents often do, telling their children one thing, when they will turn around and do the opposite.

Sure, some of the content can be considered controversial. But I find this show really tries to maintain a sense of honesty. Like it or not, there are a lot of families out there just like this one.

Every episode does teach a 'valuable lesson'. Its just that sometimes the lesson is that you will not find a perfect solution for every problem that a family may encounter, and sometimes the solution is to pick the lesser of two evils. We all know that in some cases, as a parent, the only goal you can have is to keep your kids out of really big trouble, and hope that they learn right from wrong.

I respect the writers for attempting to keep the show true to life, instead of having some magical ending like the Cleaver family always had.

Getting better with each episode

[mobiletom · 7/10 · 1 April 2007]

Like many situation comedies, "The War at Home" is getting better with each episode. The characters are starting to become real and I believe them as a family. I agree with many that the first few episodes were not that funny; I thought the show would be canceled for sure. But with the absences of "Malcolm in the Middle" and "Arrested Development," "War" provides much needed live action comedy for FOX on Sunday nights. And when compared with the rest of the sitcoms airing right now "War" is an even better choice.

Its appeal, at least for me, lies in its real situations. Teenagers have sex. Not every parent likes how their kids are turning out. Parents fight and call each other names. But rather than relying on being "mean" like many shows, everything is nice in the end which is the number one rule of a good sitcom.

One detraction from the show is the narration during/in between scenes. The "Arrested Development/Family Guy" style of flashbacks work well enough but the narration can be too much.

So anyone who needs something to watch on Sunday nights should check out "The War at Home," especially considering what is on the other major networks at that time.

Saw it Taped Last Night

[acs_joel · 6/10 · 13 January 2007]

Before last night, I'd only seen The War at Home a few times. Now that I've seen it taped, I intend to tune in more frequently. It was a funny show with a cast that obviously has a great time.

In last night's episode, George Segal, Anita Gillette and Jamie Farr guest starred. It was great to see those veterans.

The younger actors, particularly Rami Malek, are exceptional. Kyle Sullivan is a major force on the show as well, despite his tender years. Both young men have great careers ahead.

The warm up man, Robert, was about as funny as a grain of sand beneath your eyelid.

There is a lack of good sitcoms right now. I'd say, if you want to see a show taped, The War at Home is a good bet.

Sunday With The Girls

[lovadoll · 10/10 · 31 July 2006]

The War At Home is so good it's become my new favourite show.Me and my neighboors Carly and April watch this together every Sunday and laugh at how true to life it is.I love how everyone is so sarcastic and so worried and they dwell on every little issue.Once someone does something stupid they never live it down and that is soooo how family is.The father always harps on all three kids about every little thing.I love how the parents have no idea how to deal with the kids.It's so true to real family life and the fact that the parents are so overwhelmed and have no clue how to solve their teenagers problems just puts the show over the top.The War At Home is so brutally honest,and so true to the world we live in that it has become a milestone for sitcoms to come.This isn't Happy Days or The Brady Bunch this is real life.

Good stuff for those who are ready for it.

[matejdujic · 10/10 · 29 March 2008]

I'm not from USA I'm from central Europe and i think the show is amazingly good. It can be easily compared with married with..children. My title says that it isn't show for conservative public. I mean i'm not so liberal but it may be slight difference between European conservatism and us cons. Anyway, show is starting to be very popular in our area and it's very bad that it contains only two seasons. Last episode opens many continuous and funny moments. Anyway I and many peoples would be glad if that would continue playing. The last thing i'm thrilled about this is some moral education very nice packed into humorous scenes. I mean i have seen many comedies that has over two and even more minutes of very sad in tragic scenes that absolutely don't fit into comedy. War doesn't contain something like that and is made for laughing. It's like The Simpsons and married whose also don't have any sad or even unfunny moments. I'm apologizing for my awful knowledge of English but I still hope that You will understand what I meant.

Incredibly Funny Show!!

[wendyversion1-oh-1 · 12 September 2005]

I have been waiting for the premiere of this show for weeks, and I am more than pleased. I was highly entertained. While it is very true that the "dysfunctional family" premise has been done before, it is still a highly entertaining premise, which is why it has been successful for so very long and never gone stale. The "cutaways" are very reminiscent of Titus, the comedic timing is excellent, the cast is wonderful. I have never been a huge Michael Rapaport fan, but I have always respected his talent as an actor. But I never knew he was funny. I have no complaints, I was 100% impressed and entertained. I can't wait for the next episode. This show has enormous potential, and I am excited to see what is done with it. Hopefully Fox will realize what they have and not add it to the graveyard of so many other shows they canceled way before their time.

I think it's a good one, but...

[slavi_sofia · 6/10 · 22 July 2007]

I couldn't say that I adore that series, "The War at home" is in Bulgaria only from 16th July 2007 (on "Nova Televizia", 22:00 o'clock, every day, without Sunday), but when I saw the first episode I liked it. The father is for me the most amusing person, he makes me laugh every time I see him. He has something in his way to talk that is a bit unnatural, and it creates the biggest part of his charm. The mother is too easy-going, I think, and it is not so normal for a woman that has children. And the children are very funny, like all the teenage guys. That series are different from some other "family adventures" described in "Married with children" for example. The atmosphere is different, and but laughing is the same!

Upset about cancellation

[quattromatt · 10/10 · 8 February 2008]

This was one of the few shows that my wife and I agreed on watching. I was upset to hear that it was canceled, especially because I didn't realize the ratings were so poor. As far as I knew it was doing very well with a lot of viewers. Almost all my friends and most of the people I spoke to watched the show. Now we are stuck watching either crappy shows or DVD's. How bad was the show doing? does anyone know the real results of the shows viewings? I know that when it went to Thursdays, it was more difficult for me to catch. Thank G*d for DVR's!

Anyways, this was a real surprise to know that there will be no more "The War At Home". If any other networks see this, PLEASE PICK UP THE SHOW!!!! PLEASE!

just a comment

[porshaam · 6/10 · 8 April 2007]

i'm not saying the show is the greatest, but its a filler for a Sunday night.....

i mean, hell.... its fox!

if you don't understand or appreciate the humor in the show, don't whine about it...

just don't watch it! what wiener watches a show ONCE and decides they don't like it?

fox isn't meant for closed-minded people... or am i the only one who knows that?

i happen to like rapaport in everything he has done... (look him up on wikopedia) and being a douche is his specialty.

not everyone can handle east coast mentality.

ya crybabies.

the war at home splendid!!!

[nauplio · 10/10 · 2 March 2008]

The war at home is a splendid television series and I don't understand because she has been annulled. Please fairies something to continue with this very beautiful television series, with excellent and marvelous actors, good recitation and good situations, please we want the third series and even so many new episodes. I pray you!!!! I would like if possible somehow to make to reach this and mail the interested forehand, since I can tell you that here in Italy this series is very liked, as in other countries of Europe chest of drawers for example Spain. In effects as I have written above what strikes of this television series it is the good recitation of the actors and also the honest one with which numerous matters of true importance are treated. I think both one of the best American television series arrive on the Italian screens in these last years.I pray you!!!!

Not so Bad, not so Great but worth watching!

[Sylviastel · 7/10 · 26 October 2006]

I have to say that I watched some episodes of this show. I grew to like it. I didn't at the beginning. The family seem pretty ordinary and a bit dysfunctional but what family isn't. It is interesting that the parents have an interfaith marriage but religion does not seem utilized unless they have a special episode. The child actors on this show are satisfactory. The writing could be better but it's not so bad. You have to take what you get with situation comedies especially with family centered-comedies because there are little or none out there. Most sitcoms today are centered around the workplace environment. I rather watch the sitcom than the world series but I think that I am in the minority on that one.

Just the best comedy show since "Friends"

[bearfaceproductions · 10/10 · 25 September 2009]

Hilarious show with so many great stories, that it reflects the world today as we know it, in such a funny way it literally stole my laughters for other shows. I laughed so hard that I just found any other comedy shows unfunny. The unique confessions of each characters is a great original technique that just makes the show funny and very humorous. You may think that this is an average comedy show about hard life with a family. That's what I thought at first but I found out that it holds new and unique techniques that completely sets it apart from any other average comedy show. Michael Rapaport is a star. I sure wish that this show wasn't canceled.

seen it all before

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 21 September 2013]

Irreverent parents Dave (Michael Rapaport) and Vicky Gold (Anita Barone) are raising their three teens Hillary (Kaylee DeFer), Larry (Kyle Sullivan), and Mike (Dean Collins).

This was a passable family sitcom. It's all been done before. Rapaport and Barone are good at loud-mouth combative parents. Michael has always had a morally ambivalence sense to him. For the father role, I like a more solid fatherly figure. Kyle Sullivan has the look and acting skills for his geeky character. Kaylee DeFer plays the hot teen Hillary. She definitely has the look, and there's nothing wrong with her acting. They never clicked as a great TV family but the show does have its fun. It did last two full seasons.

Ha Ha Ha ...

[mileniumanimator · 2/10 · 23 October 2005]

If you haven't seen "The War at Home", let me tell you what you've been missing. It's a show about ethnic diversity and sexuality that could have only been edgy and funny in the 60's. Where America has grown in it's acceptance of race, sexual preference, religion, etc... this show seems to argue with that progress. It's a backward step in America's evolution.

For example, one of the ongoing jokes of the show is that the WHITE daughter is dating a BLACK kid from school. This is obviously hilarious seeing as how you can't see that type of relationship at any mall in America. I've lived in both small towns and big cities, so don't give me some type of red state, blue state excuse. Not only is this the joke, but the father, who is supposedly not racist, finds this disturbing and asks his daughter repeatedly to break up with her boyfriend, which opposes his "he may sound like a racist, but he's just dumb" character.

If this isn't enough, a second running joke is that one of the sons, and soon to be metro-sexual, is ambiguous in his sexual orientation. The audience learns over and over that he isn't gay, but the father isn't convinced, so he constantly avoids his son, afraid perhaps that his son will hit on him, as all gay men are nymphomaniac wild men, who can't control their will. The father always comes to some acceptance of his son, once per show, but usually goes on avoiding him in the following episode.

The only way this show can cure itself in my eyes is if the continuous exposure to these "unnatural occurrences in life", open up the father's eyes a little, but that may be too much to ask - and besides, with jokes like these, I'm sure we'll have hilarity in episodes to come like - Episode 13, "Father Votes Against Women Voters", and Episode 14, "My Muslim Neighbor is a Terrorist".

Please drop this show, FOX. We're living in a different world from the one your execs grew up in.

Not bad, but with some issues

[ivko · 11 September 2005]

The humor in this show is actually not too bad. Many of the jokes are a little homophobic or racist, ala 'All in the family', and too often the actors talk to each other as if they were on stage, and for the love of god they need to ditch that cheesy laugh track...What was I saying? Oh yea, despite all that I actually found myself laughing out loud at several points. The humor is a mix of the 'All in the Fmaily' style generation gap stuff and 'Threes Company' style misheard conversations and situations. Like I said, some will find the sexuality or race based humor offensive, but if you aren't afraid of a few un-PC jokes then you might find yourself chuckling. Currently the show is a 5 out of 10 at best, but has a lot of promise. With some smart stewardship, it could be one of the better new sitcoms this season.

The War At Home: A modern day Married... With Children

[erinturtle · 10/10 · 23 January 2007]

This show is verging on brilliant. It's a modern day Married...with Children. The scripts are witty, as they are sprinkled with clever sarcasm. They are also realistic, dealing with issues that face many parents of teenagers today. As well as the on going burden that you might not be the worlds greatest parent, and how is the best way to deal with this? However, at the same time, it manages to remain light hearted and fun. Which, with all the drama and action on television these days, is a very pleasant and welcome change. It is something you can sit down in front of for 30 minutes and relax, laugh and relate to. It isn't the world's most hilarious comedy. yet will make you laugh at least a handful of times an episode. Michael Rapaport is brilliant in the lead as Dave. He fills the big shoes that the heavily sarcastic script requires and then some. He and Anita Barone (Vikki) have fantastic chemistry and bounce off one another very well. This show has a strong future if it is marketed at the correct target audience, and put in the right time slot. Also, if Fox release it on DVD, the following will be stronger and larger. (As is a classic example with Scrubs.)

Great series!

[quentin-32783 · 10/10 · 24 September 2015]

For many years this was my favorite series! I really liked the sharp jokes and the personal confessions in the series. Also at the time this was a controversial series because of the language used and sexual and racist jokes. Too bad that this series was killed and not continued anymore. I think that in 2015 the series could have some new seasons added because there are a lot of similar series these days. I think the series that comes very close to this series is Modern Family, which is also a great series these days. Although this series is only two seasons, it is still on my favorite list to watch. I can recommend watching this series and judge for yourself if you like it or not.

Political Correctness Gets It's @$$ Kicked

[kyle-hannah · 7/10 · 25 July 2007]

The War At Home is a great family comedy that is blunt and to the point. Political correctness gets a beating in this risqué and hilarious sitcom that doesn't sugarcoat the truth The War At Home is a FOX sitcom that stars Michael Rappaport, Anita Barone, Kaylee DeFer, Kyle Sullivan, Dean Collins, and Rami Malek airing between THe Simpsons and Family Guy. First of all i must say this show received terribly unfair treatment as FOX removed it from sundays and threw it around into brutal time-slots without notification to the viewers and because of it's ridiculous Thursday at 8:30 and Sunday at 7:30 airtime was canceled this year after two hilarious seasons.

The War at Home has a very different comedy style i would describe as irreverent, blunt, and controversial. Unlike most of todays sitcoms that rely on quick witted one liners every 60 seconds The War At Home relies on it's portrayal of a arrogant, ignorant, dim witted, family's very blunt opinion s on life and how their ignorance backfires and blows up in their face.

Michael Rappaport plays a great new father character he doesn't know or want to raise his kids, he doesn't like people outside his family, and has very uneducated and offensive assumptions about people without meaning to. This is a great portrayal of a suburban family who thinks they know something about everything. Anita Barone plays a confused mother who always tries to do the right thing but doesn't always know what the right thing to do is.Kaylee DeFer is a snobby, spoiled, teenager who always wants everything given to her and gets mad at everyone when no is the answer. Kyle Sullivan plays the geeky, mis-understood, middle child who is neglected by his family because he has nothing in common with any of them but confides in his closeted homosexual neighboor who is just as geeky as he is. Dean Collins is the youngest teenager of the family and is concerned with nothing but sex and video games. The show isn't the greatest, it suffers from jokes that drag on a little or at times become irrelevant to the plot. The most innovative thing about the show is the use of the fourth wall in which each character can express their honest opinions on any given situation almost like each person expresses their opinion on reality shows. The War At Home didn't get enough exposure, or a proper solidified time-slot, that in addition to the fact that it was originally aired between two top shows almost made it impossible to keep good ratings when it's slot was moved and thus it was unjustly canceled and is now replaced with an unnecessary twelfth season of King Of The Hill.

Even though Arrested Development was better, this show is really good.....

[TRACESOFTRACY · 10/10 · 26 September 2006]

I have realized that many people have commented on the nature of this show being racist and homophobic, but I don't feel that is what this show is about.

The show is about parents who weren't ready for kids and are now not ready for teenagers. This show helps to bring humor to a very hard topic that is sometimes over looked: parenthood.

Yes we have all had shows that had families in it, for example: Family Matters, Step by Step, Family Ties, Full House....but it always would have the same old recipe to it's episodes. "Steph" cuts from school and gets caught by her father. They have a heart to heart conversation and music is played and it's over with a two week grounding that after an "aww, Dad..." gets a smile and the show is over. Where is the comedy in such a situation? Where is the realism? With The War at Home, you get real situations from a real father type figure. Most parents that watch this show hear some of the lines the parents put out and they either laugh (cause they know they've said it!) or they nod their heads (cause they know they've thought it and never had the guts to say it!) The War at Home has situations that bring out great comedy as a father thinking his son is gay. Doesn't sound funny, most think it makes the father homophobic, but the comedy comes in the bumbling father trying to talk to his son to open up. What parent knows the right thing to say, especially in a situation as this? I greatly recommend this show to anyone that I know has a sense of humor, and especially to anyone who is a young parent or was young when they had kids. You relate to a show like this when you are either.

A good comedy that I'm not ashamed to watch.

[letspullbread · 7/10 · 11 September 2006]

The war at home is another comedy that is based around family drama. Michael Rapaport is hilarious. Granted, it got a horrible spot in Fox's Sunday night line up, after Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad. I don't watch a lot of TV, but this line up I love (except for American Dad, I find myself turning that off all the time and coming back for The War At Home). It's not an amazing, must watch comedy, but it's better than a lot of the stuff out there and has a bunch of hilarious individual lines. It's also a show that's not afraid to be offensive, which is something television needs more of. To summarize, if you're not afraid of shows that tend to offend and are looking for something filled with hilarious lines, check out "The War At Home."

I love this show

[ozgirl27 · 10/10 · 30 January 2007]

I haven't seen this funny of a show on fox in a long time, and the wait was worth it. The kids in the show have something that i can relate to on every episode, and even my dad will sit down and watch it. It is a show not for all ages that doesn't dumb down for kids. It is like still standing but to the next level. The stuff that everyone says is stuff that everyone says and actions that everyone does. It says stuff that we all think, but in a well rounded way of presentation. The first time i saw the show i could not believe that it was on fox, and that it was allowed to stay on the air after a few episodes, from Hilary's boyfriend choices to Kenny's boyfriend choices, it is well worth the watch.

Spare me that liberal knee-jerk reaction!

[loveshine1 · 10/10 · 17 May 2006]

I've just skimmed through some of the comments, and I just want to say: Why don't we take a break from the idea that everything needs to be liberal and politically correct? Let's be honest here: NOT EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD IS POLITICALLY CORRECT. The sooner people realize that the better.

There was no better episode this season than the one where Hillary was dating the black guy. Dad was upset - as MOST white fathers would be to learn that their daughter was involved in a bi-racial relationship. Some may slam me for saying this, but from my experience it an absolute fact that there would be, at the very least, some tension caused by this relationship in both the black and white family. The War at Home is able to take this difficult situation and add some humor to it.

The scene with the fathers talking about golfing on the public course is another key moment. OF COURSE some country clubs are discriminatory. That is simply the way it is. I know of a country club in the DC area that only allows Jewish people. Is that discriminatory? Of course it is. But it is the world we live in. Instead of getting all up in arms about it, accept it and move on.

I think this show exhibits a true microcosm of the modern society we live in. No, its not perfect, and neither is the world.

Thank you Fox for putting a good show on the air -- FINALLY!

Old, tired and stupid. And it's just begun. Save us.

[Asteri-Atypical · 2/10 · 11 September 2005]

I cringed when I heard the first canned laugh track in the first few seconds of the show but yet I gave it a chance. You KNOW when someone offers a line which is only slightly amusing and you hear an obviously fake laugh track explode in uproarious laughter that it's a show aimed at morons who need to be told "yes, it's funny, go ahead and laugh".

Ugh. I couldn't stand this show as it revealed itself. I can't speak for everyone - after all some people actually like that IDIOTIC show "Stacked" (which makes me wish to vomit). I can imagine those who like "Stacked" might actually like this drivel, too. Some people still get a kick out of the old "pull my finger" gag. To me, this show is just about as witty - and just about as original.

The themes were old and tired. The jokes were lame and hackneyed. The characters were ones we've seen everywhere before - and the worst of any you might imagine.

So... if you like things like burping words and neighbors who say "pull my finger"... you might actually like this show. Otherwise... pass it by. It's stupid - and not in a clever or original way. This one is about as old and tired as any show has ever been at its premiere.

4 words: Bold! Edgy! Fearless! Awful!!!

[brockmporter · 26 September 2005]

What do you get when you cross the family sitcom with the Fox Network? The most recent answer is this piece of trash.

What we have here is a pretty unremarkable show, that some lobotomized network executive took a look at and said, "Let's make this really edgy!" because it's Fox and they are trying to be cool.

What you get is this: the main character is a father who talks like a Brooklyn street thug, and has a smart mouth. Everything he says has the same sarcastic tone as a junior high school kid who thinks he's being funny. And a laugh track inserted after every one of his lines, funny or not. And there's the caring-but-sarcastic "I told you so" wife, and the teenage daughter who says "screw you guys" to her parents which is of course followed by the canned audience cheering sounds, as though they expect their viewers to react as though they've never heard anything like that before.

And the laugh track itself is just unbelievably stupid. It's a little bit louder than normal and unnecessarily enthusiastic, with occasional catcalls and howls, as though the "audience" has been given free beer, is half drunk, and is willing to laugh at anything.

It had to be last night's episode, "Which One of You Kids Stole Daddy's Pot?" that ended with the grandmother getting high that propelled this show into the "unbelievably stupid" category, and has me turning off the TV to do laundry between the Simpsons and Family Guy.

funny and different comedy

[cannonballsean1992 · 8/10 · 25 May 2008]

i really like this series. its funny and unique style of off the wall, sometimes controversial comedy, is a fresh take on the genre. whilst it is a sitcom, it stands out due to the what could be awkward subjects.

every aspect has a comedy turn, and the show really is very good. my favourite part of the program is the rather odd comments of the father, dave. his rants break the program up, and allow a really good flow. not perfect, because sometimes the comedy isn't laugh out loud funny, and the actors sometimes seem to be waiting for an audience response, but otherwise this program is good.

i strongly recommend this program, and am very sad that it has been cancelled. please make another series, and finish it properly