I wish I could like this show but I just can't. It looks very good and the quality of the picture, sound and so on is of the level that you would expect of a U.S. based sitcom so that is good. After that I can't exactly put my finger on it but I think it's just the overall combination of things and the overall show that just doesn't work and just isn't funny. I'm sure the actors are good in other things but in this I just don't really identify with any of the characters and I don't think any of them are very funny. The one brother is just a whiny mess which I didn't find very funny in episode one but it just gets more annoying the more you watch it. Harland Williams the other brother has some pretty funny lines and I think about the only funny lines in the show but I think that has more to do with Harland Williams being a very funny person who is just naturally funny. I don't think the leading couple are very funny or interesting. I think the biggest problem is probably bad writing because no matter who the actors are I don't think the lines I'm hearing are very funny and the weekly plots and secondary stories are not very good.
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pcoles531 January 2014
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rachelackersley17 February 2014I'm really not a fan of Package Deal at all, at least not yet. I have watched the entire first season. I think so anyway, I maybe have missed an episode or two without realizing it. The laughs are very forced with the laugh track incredibly overused and obnoxious. They basically use the laugh track after every single line, and not only do they use it but the laughs are always way over the top with how big, loud and long they are. Most shows don't use the canned laughter so often or so loudly, plus it also seems to stick out because frankly the lines are not that funny. This show has some very poor writing in my opinion. Of course let me stress that that's just my opinion, and everyone has to judge for their own self if a show is funny or good. I will tune in again for the beginning of season two but if they lose me I won't force myself to continue watching. One season was enough of a chance to give a show and I have been mostly disappointed so far.
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jgoodhand3 February 2019Nonsense plots, some of the most hole-filled, stupid writing I've ever seen put on TV, terrible acting, jokes you can see coming a mile away.... I'll bump this up to a 4 because Harland Williams is amazeballs but this show was a steaming pile of flop to be honest.
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proughley3 December 2013I made myself sit through five weeks of this because nothing else was on and because I really think Harland Williams is funny. I have seen him in other shows and performing as a comic on TV and he made me laugh almost every time. I'm not saying he is awful in this because he is not the problem with this show but not even he can make me laugh on Package Deal because nothing on the show is funny. Who is writing these shows a brain dead monkey on LSD? The last episode I watched had Harland Williams strip naked in a court room to get a girl to forgive him. The thing is nobody in the entire court even reacted. Even the bailiffs just stood there. I figured maybe in this world public nudity isn't illegal (in that case why was it a big deal he would strip for the girl in the first place?) but the end of the show has him get arrested for begin naked so what the heck is going on in that courtroom? Earlier in the episode he let a girl in his brother's apartment and she stole everything. How is it possible for anyone even a team of people to steal absolutely everything from someone's entire house in one night let alone with someone sleeping in the next room and on top of that it's an apartment building in a big city with other people all over the place. But she couldn't just steal a few valuable things she had to steal all the furniture and books and pots and pans I guess because that is funnier. I think they really blew it with this show. Much like Satisfaction the lead actors are not funny. Harland Williams is obviously funny but when you only write crap for someone they can't turn it into gold, Jim Carrey couldn't even make this stuff work. It's a horribly bad premise where for some reason two brothers in their forties don't like their thirty-something year old brother's beautiful, successful girlfriend (why????) and cause problems for them. None of the episodes have made me laugh once, all of them are full of logic problems like the ones I just described, every single joke is very predictable, and it is the type of sitcom that was done many years ago and much better on American TV. Why does this show even exist?
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abrahamset24 December 2013I thought this show would be good and it should have been good. Harland Williams is a very funny actor and comedian. His parts in There's Something About Mary and Dumb and Dumber are two of the funniest parts of those movies. Maybe the problem is he is supposed to be more of a one off character who comes in and is hilarious then leaves instead of being a character who has a show built mostly around him. He is still funny but the show is just stupid. I don't like any of the characters including him and none of the story is believable at all. The jokes are all predictable and just plain not funny. I don't think this show has made me laugh even one time. This is a pitiful show and everyone watching it and Harland Williams deserve better.
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firoeske2 October 2013This show is really unfunny. From what I read it's by a super amazing producer in the U.S. but maybe he just mailed it in for this so he could collect a big bag of money. Typical. I just wrote a review for Satisfaction which is also awful and I am so sad for the state of Canadian TV and films. I am very disappointed by how unfunny these shows are.
Where to begin for Package Deal? The writing just stinks. It is about 10-15 years behind the times. Maybe the producer of this is doing this because he was successful in the U.S. 10 years ago and just can't move with the times. It is like watching someone do a show with the same jokes in a sitcom that would have been maybe a little funny in the 90's.
The premise is a stretch because what guy has two brothers about his same age (all in their freaking 40's) who control his life and get worried about him dating a girl and by the way the girl is hot and successful.... oh obviously they wouldn't want that! What the hell? The actors are bad. The main actor and his girlfriend are very unfunny, not sure why but it's typical and sad that Canadian comedy shows cast OK to look at people to have their own comedy shows but that can't do comedy at all! It's terrible. The other two guys are both comedians, I guess they figured they could lift the show up. Harland Williams is amazing and I love his comedy and he is OK in this but the writing again is so terrible he has nothing to work with. The other guy is a huge nerd of a character and super annoying but I can't tell how much of that is that he sucks and how much of it is that the writing stinks so much.
The other reviewer is right, skip this show because it's 30 minutes you'll just wish you had back and you'll just feel depressed about Canadian TV like me. Ugh this sucks. -
sarahmichelleheide18 November 2014I know that is a terrible pun title and sorry about that but I just couldn't resist!
Package Deal is a decent premise for a show but I think it has a lot of problems.
First outside of Harland Williams I think the cast is totally lacking in the comedy department. I'm sure they have good acting chops otherwise but I think comedy is a different kind of talent and none of them make me laugh. I particularly find the other brother's performance painful. The female star is definitely attractive and doesn't grate on me like the guys (other than Harland Williams) do, but for the most part all of the non-Williams performances rate somewhere between "not funny" and "someone please make it stop!!!"
Second the writing is terrible. Why does this successful 40-ish lawyer allow his loser brothers to wander into his home even before he has his girlfriend move it? If not then certainly after she moves in wouldn't any sane person change the locks?
Things happen in the show that are simply impossible to believe, even in a suspension of disbelief kind of way. Seriously in one episode Harland Williams strips in a court room in front of a judge and bailiffs who do absolutely nothing, then in the very next scene we find out he got arrested on the street for being naked. So if you want us to buy it's okay to get nude in public, okay, but then don't tell us in the very next scene it's suddenly illegal again. Gah!
Also in that same episode Harland Williams pretends to be his successful lawyer brother, brings a girl home, and while he's sleeping she somehow empties the entire apartment... entire apartment as in every single thing down to a safety pin on the floor is gone. He didn't wake up during this? How did she manage to get all that stuff out, even if she brought in help (which she apparently didn't)? Finally WHY would anyone want to steal absolutely everything including dishes, pens, some random dude's clothes and underwear? Making it even more stupid, when the brother comes home (I guess luckily he was out all night) he's angry but not furious and the only thing he cares about is that the gift he bought for his girlfriend has been taken. Super sorry cause that's super sweet and all but don't you think if someone stole absolutely everything he owned he'd maybe be angry about THAT stuff? It's not like the gift was irreplaceable and his TV and stuff alone are worth way more.
Even if you get past the horribly obvious plot holes and poor writing over all, the writing is still terrible on a basic level of "funny vs not funny" with painfully obvious, predictable and just plain bad jokes. Being delivered poorly by a mostly unfunny cast doesn't help either, but the writing is just plain bad, awful, terrible.
Whoever is producing/directing this show is doing a very poor job and I can't figure out who decided to give this show a second season or why.
I imagine it is solely because Harland Williams is in this, because he's the only thing I like about the show and he's the only reason why I'm bumping the rating up from a 1 to a 3 out of 10.
3 out of 10 from me. -
marchingbandgeek17 December 2013Package Deal is a really bad show. Say what you want about Satisfaction, it was not a great show and the characters were not very good or the actors but it is still a million times better than Package Deal. Package Deal is really bad, it is not ever funny and the actors are terrible. Satisfaction didn't have killer actors either but at least the idea behind it and some jokes were pretty funny, it was not a predictable and horrible show like Package Deal. I wish Harland Williams would get off this show because I really liked him and he could and should do much better than this. The bottom line is Package Deal's not funny, avoid it if you have a sense of humor.
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fuglyzombie_10117 May 2014This show gave me exactly what I expected from it - a situation comedy that grows on you after a couple episodes. I was very lucky to be given the privilege to view 12 episodes of this show and now really wishing I could see more. Like many sitcoms, it's addictive.
I grew up on Roseanne, Fresh Prince, Night Court, Seinfeld, and some of the other great 80s and 90s sitcoms and I would put this one right up there with those. The laughs are a plenty if you have a sense of humor and eventually you begin to care for the characters just as we once did with the other great sitcoms.
All the players fit their roles spot on. Julia Voth wholeheartedly fulfills the annoying girlfriend character, Kim, that steals a punchline or two on occasion and makes the joke that much funnier. Danny is the empathetic main character that tends to catch the short end of every stick thrown at him, but it is his two brothers that really make the show what it is. Sheldon, played by Harland Williams, especially racks up the jokes with his own spin giving this show the unique touch that each great sitcom carries throughout its run.
I sincerely hope this one does not end before it really gets the chance to fly, and hope even more that it moves to the states sooner than later. -
imdb020-643-1297728 October 2013After the first episode I was disappointed. I didn't find it funny and it was weird to see Julia Voth stripped in a very first episode (it's like to open your trump card at the very beginning of the game) while they could keep this teaser for a longer time. So I wasn't expecting much from the following episodes.
But the second episode was a way better than the first one. The smile was on my face during the entire episode. I even had burst with a laughter several times. So I think the show has a potential. And it will be exposed in future episodes. At least, I have a hope for that.
But it's still weird to see a beautiful girl treated like she is a dude. ☺ -
jsampsonstunts15 October 2013Package Deal is a show I was really looking forward to seeing, I saw the pilot episode "on demand" and it was not very funny but first episodes of shows are often not that good. I remember I didn't like the first episodes of Simpsons, Arrested Development, Parks and Rec, Family Guy, Futurama and many other comedies too when I saw them. I think it is because they have to set up what the whole show is about and all the characters and their relationships so there is not much time left for making jokes etc. So I gave it a second chance. The problem is the show just keeps getting worse. The story is about a guy who has a girlfriend he loves but his two brothers feel threatened by her so right away it is very stupid, what grown man is beat down by his grown brothers like this? And why would two grown brothers give a crap what girl their brother is just dating, they're not even engaged or anything. The one brother is Harland Williams who I loved in small parts in There's Something About Mary and Dumb and Dumber and I haven't seen him do stand up but I bet he is funny, he just seems like a funny type of person. But in this he is not funny because the jokes are just stupid. The other brother is terrible as a nerd, very one dimensional characters here. The two leads are bad actors and or the writing is so bad that nobody could be funny in this. I am so disappointed by how bad this show is I can't even really put it into words. Do yourself a favour and take a pass on this show. So sorry to say this because City TV made some new shows this year and did try obviously but whoever made this show failed big time to deliver a good show, a good cast or any good comedy. Too bad.
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The show is funny. Julia Voth is AMAZING, she is beautiful and funny! Love the show keep up the good work guys. The humor is kind of dry not typical American sitcom fare after watching Schitt's Creek and this show I am trying to find out if any satellite TV service in the USA offers a Canadian package so I can watch more shows like this one.
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cindyapples31 March 2015The nerdy brother is just plain awful, a caricature of weakling brothers who is not funny at all. How could any man like this survive day to day being that stupid, useless and pathetic? What brother would let him stay in his life?
The oldest brother is the only funny character but he is so stupid and criminally irresponsible that again there is no way to believe the lawyer brother would allow him into his life or home.
These guys are all old (30s to 40s) so why in the world is the lawyer letting his two idiot brothers ruin his life every single week when he has a beautiful girlfriend who he loves move in with him? It makes no sense.
Why would the girl not dump her lawyer boyfriend if he is such a weak pushover that he lets his two annoying, idiot brothers into their lives and home every week?
The stories are idiotic and unbelievable which could be forgiven if the jokes were funny but they never are, this show is incredibly stupid and so not funny that it hurts my brain and I hope that Harland Williams fires his agents immediately for getting him involved with such an embarrassing, awful show. -
lynyrdskynyrd14 February 2014I think I have watched every episode of this first season and will try to watch it again if a second season comes out but so far this show is just OK at best. Everything about it seems like it should be right, they have a very funny sidekick type Kramer character in Harland Williams who I think is hilarious. Everything "looks" like it should be a good show. I'm not sure what the problem is but it just is not funny. I have chuckled a few times and mostly just at Harland Williams who is just naturally funny. Most of the time I'm just confused by the show and not getting why they are doing the jokes they are doing, surprising to me a lot of the time the show and characters don't even make sense. I hope season two turns it around but if not this show isn't terrible but could be easily replaced.
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andrewashere-886-1876671 January 2014This show is stupid. I hate when a TV show comes on that could have been from the 1980's and this is one of those shows. Everything about it seems old. The characters are so stupid and unbelievable with the wacky brothers showing up and just walking into the apartment. When was it that stupid stories and characters like this were actually real characters on TV? It's like watching an old show. The writing is so bad with jokes that were fresh maybe in again the 1980s but it's as if the producers of the show found these old scripts that were written back then and blew off the dust and just made them into this TV show. Watch something else and do yourself a favour.
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rwalton99921 April 2017My Canadian tax dollars helped fund this mess. I want a refund. Airing at the same time, 'Seed' was fabulously funny and was so much better written with much better actors and actresses. It really annoys me that even yet, Canadian shows have to pretend to not be Canadian to sell to Americans. American shows filmed in Vancouver or Toronto are acceptable to audiences south of the border to folks who live in homes that have wheels. Stop doing this !
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writekpetersen29 March 2018Package Deal is one of the very worst shows I have ever seen in my entire life. It didn't even make sense. Nothing was remotely funny. Why would they make this?????
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harryjohnson200823 June 2013This is one of those sitcoms where I wish it was possible to give less than a 1 star rating. Where to even begin? First off, it wasn't funny. The writing was terrible. Second, the acting was pretty bad. This is supposed to be an "ensemble cast" according to The Hollywood Reporter? People please! my child's 5th grade production of Beauty and the Beast had a better ensemble cast. Probably the most annoying thing about this show though was the (audience) laughter. Not sure if it was live or if it was a laugh track, but it sounded so forced. They laughed after every line that was said and every time one of the actors moved around or did something that was supposed to be funny. You can safely skip this one, you won't miss a thing. Just be sure to flush twice for this one. P U.
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dancerbarry14 April 2018I don't really have much specific to add. Package Deal was not funny, the writing of the stories was also very bad, the actors were all terrible except Harland Williams, this show was just garbage that never had any business being on TV in the first place.
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gregberne112 June 2018Package deal had terrible writing, terrible acting, terrible jokes... there's nothing worth seeing in this show. the stories and characters are just so stupid too.
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itsmcpaolo16 July 2018This is one of the worst Canadian sitcoms I have ever seen in my life. Harland Williams was completely wasted, none of the characters were funny or even made sense the whole idea of the show doesn't even make any sense to be honest... this was really just terrible.
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mbouchagour8 January 2022I wonder how they lasted 2 seasons?! Couldn't the producers see how unfunny and horrible this show was?!
The writing, the acting, the non existing jokes, the story it self, a disaster. -
Most of the reviews are spot on. This show is both completely predictable, but also embarrassingly far fetched. It's predictable in the sense that you know exactly what each character will say in any given situation in every scene. An 8 year old could write the dialogue.
Whilst, the story lines are so far fetched, it feels like they were trying to go for something different, but it just became completely silly. Ie, a big and tall coffin salesman?? WTF? A lawyer who apparently regularly seeks advice from a murderer client (who happily pays $300 an hour to listen to him whine), then lets him escape, gets a drug conviction as part of a prank, but is still practising law....phleasse. A 30-something who doesn't work and isn't planning to, because once he was a house-husband...ohkaay.
I feel like since streaming services, a lot of really crappy shows are being produced. This is one of them.
Watch it like you would a car crash. Be warned!!