TVSquad

(S01E01) A lot of times when a big show, especially a sitcom, goes off the air, we see a series of spinoffs, or almost spinoffs, leading from it. When Everybody Loves Raymond left the airwaves at CBS, you could have seen it coming that Brad Garrett's character would have been perfect to have on his own. Well, howabout the best of that world, plus a whole new gig. FOX's 'Til Death plays Eddie, a schoolteacher whose new neighbor is a newlywed (12 days in or so) who also happens to be the new vice principal at the school Eddie works at.

If you'd seen any of the advertisements for the show, then you have probably gotten a pretty good idea of the style of humor on the show. That isn't to say that you know all the jokes already at all, but it's fun to see the complete and total difference between Eddie, his wife Joy (such a happy name!), and newlyweds Jeff and Steph (oh so cute with the rhyming names!). Even with all the jaded comments that Eddie makes about marriage, he and Joy have a really great time together, even if it is while they are eating snack food on the couch and watching Ellen together. You can actually see the money lines just flowing out of this show, with about halfway through the premiere being the moment when Jeff sees that all the things Eddie believes will happen to their marriage aren't just figments of his imagination. No pool table for you, young man!

All in all, it's a solid FOX comedy, and I never thought I'd get a kick out of someone saying "when was the last time you ran outside and picked some fresh cumin!?" And, given that Brad Garrett can probably make eight hundred seriously emotional faces, we shouldn't ever have a moment of boredom as he interacts with his new neighbors and his wife. I so got a kick out of Joel Keller's comments in his preview of the show, where he pointed out that, according to Eddie, "the reason people get married is so you have someone to take you to the hospital." This, of course, is because just moments before the show's closing, Eddie ends up there after being hit in the eye with the rack of sticks that were in the too-close-for-comfort dining room where Jeff had his pool table installed.

Given the number of marriage jokes that are out there for use and misuse on this show, I wouldn't expect to see any less than anything amusing that anyone has experienced or thought up come to fruition. I mean, when Jeff stops having make-up sex with Steph (or keeps having it, peeving Eddie), it'll come as a shock to his system, for sure. Oh, and before you think this show is all one-way jadedness being pushed on a new married man, it's not. at least one suggestion that Jeff comes up with about how he's solving his problems has made its way into Eddie's wheelhouse, with him attempting to get some make-up sex action by bringing Joy a few packets of seeds for her herb garden, which actually turn out to be Kool-Aid packets. Oops.

All in all, it was a good time to watch, and this show could definitely have some legs, especially with all the Brad Garrett fans out there. Plus, any show where someone says "there's a reason why china rhymes with vagina" can't go wrong that fast, can it?