Was it as bad as it looked?
I never saw this show. I just saw the commercials. It looked really dumb. Was it as bad as it looked?
"Not the mama! Not the mama!" *whacks with a frying pan*
"Again!"
Yes... yes it was.
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MovieChat Forums > Baby Bob (2002) Discussion > Was it as bad as it looked?
I recently acquired this via DVD trading. It was actually not that bad. I think the reason for this is that they kept the talking baby gimmick to a minimum. It was a show that revolved around Adam Arkin and Joely Fisher's characters, the talking baby was more or less a prop. They had good chemistry, would have probably been a hit as a Mad About You-type show, especially considering the fact that Adam Arkin is about a million times the actor Paul Reiser is. It had it's flaws, but it's a lot better than some of the sappy dreck on today (ie: Trophy Wife).
shareI'd not thought of a comparison to Mad About You before now but I guess that was another show about a couple with decent chemistry on screen and an amazing cast of supporting characters. Baby Bob held promise to become like that from the few episodes I managed to see. I think the whole talking baby thing had just been beaten to within an inch of a coma by then with the films and another (quite awful) TV adaptation.
The cheesy "talking effect" was likely to wear thin anyway. In the films and the other show, we were supposed to be "hearing" the babies thoughts rather than having them actually speaking aloud in-scene. Looking at a cute infant getting some kind of Mr. Ed talking horse treatment wasn't going to be comfortable for long. Maybe with better modern CGI it could've been pulled off smoothly.
I'm reminded of the clumsy CGI smile pasted on baby Lily for the opening sequence of Modern Family in her second season. They have now spoofed it on this sixth season on the second episode storyline. The British sci-fi sitcom My Hero also had a talking infant with awful visual effects but that whole show was an exercise in over-the-top campiness anyway and they kind of got along with the idea more than got away with it.
I was very impressed with the quality of the actors playing Bob's parents and grandparents. He even had a nice somewhat "ditzy blonde" sitter as I recall. It was just bad timing for Baby Bob. The show got heaped with all the hate from the other similar Baby Talk show, listed as one of the worst in sitcom history.
Eeek!!! I'm getting dressed.