Series · Netflix · 2014

Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn

A noisy family that is actually a family. One episode is plenty.

Four children the same age is a real household problem, and the show's best instinct is that nobody in that house gets the day to themselves. The plots are schemes, the laugh is broad, and a lesson arrives on time. It will not harm a child. It will not teach one much beyond take your turn.

One episode, then the real evening. If they want more, they can go settle a real turn with an actual sibling.

The eight

Industry
4/10
The parents work. The children's plots are the entertainment.
Household
6/10
A mother, a father, four children, one bathroom. The crowding is the truth of it.
Piety
3/10
No creed. The parents are not mocked into nothing.
Courage
3/10
The risks are sitcom risks.
Republic
4/10
School and neighbors turn up.
Temperance
5/10
The scheme is the joke. Someone usually has to clean it up.
Truth
4/10
They get caught. The confession is part of the formula, which is better than never.
Stewardship
4/10
Brothers and a sister are learning, barely, that the house is shared.

Live historicallyMake the children take turns at one job tonight. No speech. Just the turn.

Series · Netflix · 2015

Alvinnn!!! and the Chipmunks

A father is in the house. The show would rather squeak.

There is a man raising three boys who are not easy. That premise does not have to be stupid, and sometimes the show remembers it: Dave is tired, he stays, the brothers have to share a room and a name. Then the pitch goes up and the lesson arrives in a caption. A child can watch an episode. You do not need the afternoon.

If it is on, watch one. Ask which brother had to give something up. If the answer is nobody, turn it off.

The eight

Industry
4/10
Dave has a job. The boys' schemes are the point, and school is a gag.
Household
6/10
He keeps them. They are brothers. The house is real even when the joke is cheap.
Piety
3/10
Nothing is revered except the chorus.
Courage
3/10
The adventures are small and safe.
Republic
4/10
A neighborhood exists, mostly to be startled.
Temperance
5/10
No real cruelty. The volume is the excess.
Truth
4/10
A lesson is stapled to the end. You can hear the staple.
Stewardship
4/10
Dave is trying to hand them a way to live. The songs hand them a brand.

Live historicallyHave the children in the house divide one job fairly, without a song to make it painless.