Mr. Robinson Review: Messy in Many Ways

After two bad episodes last week, this week Mr. Robinson's third episode needed to be good, or I would be done with the show. But, the episode was not good.


S1E3 "Ain't Nothin' but a Hound Dog"

One of the better things about the first two episodes was that it was consistent, such as how both episodes started with a funny song. In episode three things were different. The main plot of this episode is how Craig's brother is messy and irresponsible, which has been used countless times in past sitcoms. Meanwhile, the principal is taking care of her boss's dog, which ends up jumping out the window, reminding me of the advertisements for Animal Practice three years ago. The third episode is not fixing the problem of unoriginality.

The PE teacher, who was the funniest part of the first episode, played a larger role in this episode, moving in with Craig and his brother, and it turns out he is a neat-freak, which was somewhat funny at least. He was supposed to make Craig's brother more responsible, but instead Craig's brother unlocked the inner child in the PE teacher.

One positive that I can say about this episode was that it was set up well. Unlike previous episodes, the plot progressed at a good pace. The problem was introduced early. In the next act, the problem worsened. A problem about the episode though was that the show is about a musician who is a substitute music teacher, and music was never mentioned in the episode until the very end, when he sang a song. At least that song was pretty funny, but it was less funny than last week's songs.


Overall, I thought that episode three was terrible, so I decided to give up on Mr. Robinson. The show however has given me an increased appreciation for originality.

What did you think of "Ain't Nothin' but a Hound Dog"? You can share your opinions in the comments!

Mr Robinson Off To A Solid Ratings Start

Source: Chris Haston/NBC (per EW.com)

Per ShowBuzzDaily, NBC's premiere of new sitcom Mr Robinson had a 1.2 demo in A18-49, followed by a 1.0 for episode 2. That allowed for a 0.7 and 0.6 demo respectively in A18-34, and a 1.5/1.4 in A25-54. Comparatively, this result is just below that of lead-in America's Got Talent (1.4) and Last Comic Standing (1.4).

Although it was sandwiched between two summer staples for NBC, I and most others expected the show to premiere much worse than this. The 0.2 dropoff for the show in the second half-hour is somewhat typical as a network can hardly expect everyone who samples the pilot to actually like the show. The real test comes in the upcoming two weeks, but right now its head is above the water and it may even be looking at a renewal!

Mr Robinson's series premiere puts it at a number higher than the season/series finale of each and every one of NBC's 2014-2015 sitcoms except for Undateable and Parks & Recreation, both of which were blessed with a post-Voice lead-in and did not do much better than Mr Robinson.

The show also managed to win it's time slot over Extant (0.8) (which had Big Brother as a lead-in), Home Free (0.8) and reruns of Modern Family (0.9) and Blackish (0.9).

Grade: B+

Mr. Robinson Review: Songs that Rock, Jokes that Do Not

Source: IMDb

This is my first of probably many reviews on The TV Ratings Guide! If you are interested in reviewing any shows this fall, contact theratingsjunkie!

This week NBC's newest comedy, Mr. Robinson, debuted. Leading up to the premiere, I read other reviews online, and I found that they were extremely negative. I don't always agree with critics though, Mulaney was hated by critics, and while I wouldn't recommend the show to anyone, I found it good enough to keep watching. After watching the trailer for Mr. Robinson I didn't think "I can't wait for this show!" like I did for Fresh Off the Boat on ABC this last season, nor did I think "I guess I'll give it a try", like I did for The Carmichael Show, which takes over Mr. Robinson's timeslot in three weeks, I thought more along the lines of "I really think this could be good." But was it good?


S1E1 "Pilot"

The episode started on a good note with a funny song about preheating the oven, but the scene went downhill from there. The rest of the opening scene included many attempted jokes that failed to make me laugh. At school, however, things got better, and while none of the jokes were outrageous or all that original, there were a few laughs. We were introduced to many of the teachers, who were very strange, but funny. The gym teacher was the most funny; early on he became my favorite character.

Then the show got worse again when we got introduced to the very unlikable principal. She provided absolutely no humor. Another teacher who had heard Craig perform the previous night referred back to the oven preheating song, which was still the funniest thing the show has done. Eventually, almost two-thirds of the way through the episode, we got introduced to the problem, which completely lacked originality: Craig had to be in two places at once on Friday night, a back to school night and a gig for his band.

"Magnum PE" continued to be by far the most entertaining character on the show, and even the jokes made about him were great, such as the kids talking about how he tweets at them like twenty times a day. And while I enjoyed him and the jokes about him, most of the rest of the episode was pretty boring, and extremely unoriginal. Maybe if the other teachers were more involved in the episode and the kids were funnier I would enjoy the show more.


S1E2 "Flesh for Fantasy"

The show's second episode seems to be following in the footsteps of the first as it starts with a funny song. If this is going to be an element in every episode I would really like that. After this we are introduced to a rock star who could potentially give Craig and his band a record deal, who was very high and pretty funny.

In the next act, the only laugh I got was when the one student who Craig had called in the previous episode a "mini me" said "that's rich for bitch," and seeing Craig's brother's reaction. Other than that, it was very boring with no humor at all.

The sub-plot of the teachers with the stock came up again about halfway through the episode, and it could have easily been forgotten about. These teachers are funny (except the girl that Craig is interested in), and they are being underutilized in this episode. Craig convinced the principal to get back together with the rock star, and I really did not care. This plot is boring.

After a bunch of boring scenes that I did not care about, the principal and rock star were lead into the bar, where Craig sang a song, but this song wasn't funny. The episode had what was supposed to be a sweet ending where the principal decided to stick with her teachers instead of following the rock star, and then there was a repeat of an unfunny joke from the first scene.


While there were good moments, and funny characters, I thought that the first two episodes of Mr. Robinson were bad, and episode three will need to be good or I will be turning off the television at 9:30 next week.

What did you think of the premiere of Mr. Robinson? You can share your opinions in the comments!