Guys with Kids (NBC) - Series Premiere: Synopsis and Review

‘Guys with Kids’ is a new comedy series on NBC. The show started airing on September 26th at 8:30/7:30c. Just like NBC has done with its other new shows, the pilot episode of ‘Guys with Kids’ has been released as a sneak preview two weeks prior to the official start of the show. This release was on September 12th at 10/9c. ‘Guys with Kids’ revolves around three men in their thirties who have to raise their children while their wives are absent. Chris just went through a divorce while Gary’s and Nick’s wives both work during the day.

Gary (Anthony Anderson, ‘Law & Order’), Nick (Zach Cregger, ‘Friends with Benefits’) and Chris (Jesse Bradford, ‘Outlaw’) are three best friends who all have infants. While the wife is at work or when it’s not her week to have the baby, the men have to take care of the children. Chris just divorced his wife, Sheila, but when it comes to taking care of their baby he still struggles to make his own decisions and not do everything the way Sheila wants it done. When Chris wants to go out on a date, Sheila (Erinn Hayes, ‘Childrens Hospital’) doesn’t want to take the baby and Chris isn’t allowed to hire a babysitter. Gary and Nick persuade Chris to hire a babysitter after all and go on a date with that cute girl.

Two hours before his date however, Chris’ babysitter cancels. Nick agrees to babysit, but forgot he had a date with his own wife, who is now very mad at him. During the date Sheila calls Chris and suspects he hired a babysitter and she tells him she’s coming over to check on him. Chris dumps his date and rushes home, where he arrives just before Sheila, but discovers Nick and Gary made a mess at his house. Sheila is of course mad but Chris stands up to her for the first time. He tells her he has the right to raise his child the way he wants, whenever he has the baby.

‘Guys with Kids’ is a comedy show that’s not really funny, I never actually laughed. You’d expect there to be a lot of kids in the show, based on the name. But they don’t really play a big part in this show. They are mentioned a lot, but they don’t do anything funny on or off camera or are really involved with the storyline. The kids are just hanging by while the parents deal with their personal issues.

Not only is the show not funny, I also feel like I’ve already seen it. Why is it always the man who does everything wrong when it comes to babies? This series also reminds me a lot of Anthony Anderson’s ‘My Baby’s Daddy’. There is one more thing I need to address, I thought the name of the show was ‘Guys with Kids’, with guys being more than one guy. This episode was basically all about Chris, and Gary and Nick were nothing more than recurring cast members. I would not recommend this show, NBC has so much more to offer.

This sneak preview received a rating of 2.2 in the adult 18-49 demo and 6.82 million viewers. This is an average start of a season, but the official start of the series is still to come.