"Oliver Beene" (2003) TV series 2003-2004

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Creator:

Howard Gewirtz

Seasons:

1 | 2

Release Date:

9 March 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Adventure

Plot:

Set in 1962, Oliver Beene follows the hilarious adventures of a young 11 year old boy and his wacky family.

Plot Keywords:

Affection | Pre Teen | Sitcom | Narration | Father

Awards:

1 win & 4 nominations

Cast

Grant Rosenmeyer	...	Oliver David Beene (23 episodes, 2003-2004)
Grant Shaud	...	Dr. Jerrimiah 'Jerry' Beene (23 episodes, 2003-2004)
Wendy Makkena	...	Charlotte Caraline Beene (23 episodes, 2003-2004)
Andrew Lawrence	...	Tayler 'Ted' Mark Beene (23 episodes, 2003-2004)
Daveigh Chase	...	Joyce (23 episodes, 2003-2004)
Taylor Emerson	...	Michael (23 episodes, 2003-2004)
Ben Bookbinder	...	Neal (23 episodes, 2003-2004)
Annie Korzen	...	Mrs. Heller (23 episodes, 2003-2004)
David Cross	...	Narrator (23 episodes, 2003-2004)

Runtime:

30 min (24 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

DreamWorks Television

Trivia:

After FOX renewed the show for a second season, 16 episodes were made for the second season but only 14 were aired.

Quotes:

Narrator - Adult Oliver: An old proverb goes, "bring me the boy at ten and I'll show you the man he will one day become."

Too high-quality for Fox

"Oliver Beene" was one of the very, VERY rare family sitcoms that was actually funny, and often hilarious. Well-acted, well-written, and almost entirely anachronism-free. Plus, Andrew Lawrence had to be the cutest thing to appear on TV since George Clooney.

Although Fox's animated programming is mainly daring, high-quality product, they don't support live action sitcoms the same way -- if they did, "Oliver Beene" and "Get a Life" would have run a lot longer.

Rupert Murdoch must have handed down a memo to the effect that Fox's non-cartoon comedies must be all-junk-all-the-time, in order to reach that huge demographic comprised of those who find tired sex jokes ("The War at Home," et. al) and/or people incessantly screaming at one another ("Malcolm in the Middle") to be hilarious.