SnoopyStyle It's the wacky Ohio family of Cameron Walker (Fred Goss). He and his wife Liz (Gillian Vigman) have a couple of young kids and he has weird teen Henry with his previous wife. His mother Colleen (Dee Wallace-Stone) and stepfather Wendal Halbert (Max Gail) have racist great-aunt Rae and Cameron's half-sister Jenna (Amanda Walsh). Jenna has a kid with her loser ex Whitey (Greg Pitts). Her boss Wylie Blake (Desmond Harrington) likes her but he's too normal for her. Cameron's other sister Sharon (Alison Quinn) and her husband Don Fenton (Jerry Lambert) have smart daughter Carrie (Eden Sher) and dim-witted nice son Jeff (Randy Wayne).The big gimmick is that this is partly improvised. I don't think it's a good selling point but it does give this a single-camera-comedy feel. The only way this adds to the comedy is some behind-the-scene improvisations to close out the episodes. It has no laugh tracks nor a live audience. It definitely goes down the newer way of doing network sitcom. It's a little uneven. I wouldn't let the older couple split up. Couples should fight but they must always end up in love. It's funny that they don't have sex. It's an opportunity for them to talk inappropriately with the family but they can't actually split up. It's good that they quickly recovered. These wacky family members have good potential. They should have let it play straight and air it in a better time slot.

liquidcelluloid-1 Network: ABC; Genre: Improv Comedy, Family; Content Rating: TV-14 (some adult content and language); Available: Universal HD; Perspective: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4); Seasons Reviewed: Series (1 season)Don't let the the bizarre, self-indulgent opening still store that warns us that the dialog in "Sons & Daughters" is partially improvised or the much-promoted praise of Lorne Michaels (he's an Executive Producer for crying out loud) scare you away from this show. If you've got it, flaunt it, I suppose. And if you're Fred Goss, one of the breakout comic stars of the neo-classic "Significant Others", you've got a free-pass from me to flaunt it all day long. Goss' looking befuddle at all the insanity around him and repeating in shock something odd he just heard never fails to make me laugh.As creator and star of "Sons", Goss goes back to the improv well and makes a Judd Apatow-style attempt to recapture the magic of a much-loved first series with his own original concoction. That concoction is an elaborate dysfunctional family series in which he is the befuddled glue at the center of ongoing feuds between mothers and fathers, sisters and mothers, wives and children. Gosss does exactly what he does best. Keep your eyes peeled for some "Others" crossover actors just to add to the fun.Wackier than "Everybody Loves Raymond", more down to Earth than "Arrested Development" and if you're thinking "Sons" is a rip-off of either show then that only goes to prove how few of these adult family comedies we get. "Sons" is like nothing on network TV right now. Goss' Cameron is more competent than the wuss-bag sitcom dad, he and his wife Liz (Gillian Vigman) actually appear to like each other, the kids are not played as cute, there are no secret crushes and the parents aren't wild, sex-crazed old people. And specifically referring to that last thing, Gross actually manages to top - yes, top - "Others" creator Rob Roy Thomas' 2nd improv series; the embarrassing Fox sitcom "Free Ride".The stories are tight enough to be satisfying but loose enough to let the characters live free and have fun, but it is only sporadically hilarious. Jerry Lambert scores absolutely huge laughs just about every time he walks on screen as, Don, the self-involved thespian husband to Cameron's sister Sharon (Alison Quinn, blessed with one of TV's funniest voices since the fake one Megan Mullally slapped on Karen Walker). My favorite bit in the series is a lightening strike of both Goss's act and Lambert's act, when the two get into it over Don's financing a play with his own money in which he gets out one line and dies before the end of the first act. On top of that, he flubs the line.The best episode finds Cameron dragging his son away from a "Lost" marathon and to a party, where he ends up trying to impress the kids himself. The rest of the show could easily be this funny. If it would just rely a little less on "Office Space's" Greg Pitts as Cameron's other sister's (Amanda Walsh) ex-husband Whitey and a whole lot less on Eden Sher as Cameron's sexually sophisticated little niece (10 times creepier than the sex-crazed old couple cliché).Fun to watch, but not laugh-out-loud funny. But at the end of the day, the reason "Sons and Daughters" brews just below the temperature of comic combustion but never quite reaches it can all be chalked up to typical first season kinks. Looking at it deeply, there is really nothing wrong with the show per say, nothing that a full season order and maybe a 2nd wouldn't iron out. Given the time for such fresh-faced young talent to gel together more and the stories to tailor to their strengths and you've got a recipe for a show that could have been as solid a cult entry as "Significant Others". Way to go, ABC. In the meantime I eagerly await what Fred Goss will bring us next.* * * /4

hoosfoos22 This series was excellent. Never in recent years ,has there been another network sitcom where the cast of characters were so genuinely quirky and not forced.The actors were very good at owning their characters in such a short time. The writing was unique, because the punch-lines and timing were not typical. Maybe it was canceled because there was no laugh track. Some might say that it was a failure. I would say not because every episode was well crafted. Their is an assumption that Americans need another dumbed down formulaic situation comedy. This should make any human being with more than two Gray cells to spark together very sad. If an audience were looking for a show that had wit ,great writing,good acting,improvisation and comic timing,this was it. Given time, this could have been another Seinfeld. It is my hope that they at least release the season on DVD. One of these networks might get the idea some day ,of testing some of their shows that are on the fence, by putting them on their websites and see how many hits they get. Time will show just how good this show really was. maybe our sons and daughters will appreciate it.

Philo_Kvetch I was a fan of "Significant Others" which was broadcast on Bravo a couple of years ago and which had Fred Goss in the cast. I found that show very entertaining due to it's talented cast, witty writing and lack of a laugh track. I like this show even more. While some viewers seem to find Goss irritating, I think he's great. What a pleasure to see Max Gail again! As a matter of fact, I think the whole cast is superb. Their facial expressions are spot on and the dialogue (either written or improvised) is head and shoulders above the usual sitcom fare. I remember reading somewhere that this show is just a placeholder for something else on ABC which means its lifespan could be pretty short. That would be a shame since this the best thing to come down the pike since Arrested Development and we know what happened to that worthy effort.