Anthony's Film Review - Titus (TV Series, 2000-2002)

Although it lasted only three seasons, Titus is a sitcom that is uniquely daring and edgy, and also quite funny...

Television sitcoms are often identifiable based on their premises, or other unique defining characteristics. You can see this if you take a trip through the history of TV sitcoms. For example, I Love Lucy: classic 1950s sitcom starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Gilligan's Island: centering on shipwrecked castaways, something no other sitcom even came close to portraying. Get Smart: poking fun at James Bond and the Cold War. All in the Family: heated political discussions and portrayal of serious issues. Three's Company: sexual innuendos. The Cosby Show: an upper middle-class African-American family. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: like The Cosby Show, but at the top of the socioeconomic ladder. Seinfeld: four friends in New York, otherwise about nothing. The Big Bang Theory: geek culture and nerd science. You get the idea.

Here's another example. Titus: dysfunctional people. What do I mean by "dysfunctional"? Well, I'm definitely not talking about mild dysfunction, like occasional family disputes that ultimately get worked out by the end of the sitcom episode. I'm not even talking about moderate dysfunction, like the antics of the Bundy family on Married With Children. When I say "dysfunctional," I mean seriously dysfunctional, as in the kind that would warrant the attention of mental health professionals or child protective service agencies. Yes, THAT kind of dysfunction. You might be wondering how it is even possible to have a sitcom based on that sort of thing. Just ask comedian Christopher Titus, the star and co-creator of this show, who had lived a totally insane childhood full of crises and yet would found ways to talk about it with laughter in his stand-up shows.

The sitcom Titus, which aired on Fox for 54 episodes across three seasons, centers on five characters, all based on specific real-life individuals. Christopher Titus plays a fictionalized version of himself, a man-child who works in an auto modification shop. Cynthia Watros plays Titus's girlfriend Erin Fitzpatrick (based on Titus's real-life wife at the time), who also comes from a dysfunctional family like Titus, but seems to be a voice of reason in comparison. Zack Ward plays Titus's stepbrother Dave, who is very laid-back but also idiotic. David Shatraw plays Titus's friend Tommy Shafter, who is rule-abiding, cowardly, and often assumed to be gay because of his mannerisms. Finally, Stacy Keach portrays Titus's father, Ken Titus, who is a sex-crazed womanizer, insensitive parent, and heavy drinker all rolled into one. It is Ken Titus who, along with the manic-depressive schizophrenic biological mother Juanita Titus (played by three different actresses across a few episodes throughout the show's run), is a prime source for all of the weirdness in Christopher Titus's childhood, often telling his boy, "Don't be a wussy!"

The next thing I should talk about is the show's unique and interesting format. Instead of the typical sitcom format of one storyline from beginning to end, or alternating between two storylines, Titus presents three types of segments. The first type is the neutral space segment, presented as the first scene of the episode, the last scene, and several places in between. Shot in black and white, it takes place in a single room that, initially, contains a chair in the center and an overhead light bulb. The episode begins with Titus turning on the light bulb and then, breaking the fourth wall to address the audience, beginning a commentary about a topic related to the episode. Then, multiple times throughout the episode, we see Titus in this personal space providing additional commentary, or performing comical actions that represent his feelings and thoughts during what is happening in the episode. The last scene of the episode goes back to the black-and-white neutral space where, typically, Titus provides a final word before turning off the light bulb.

The second type of segment that appears in an episode of Titus is the flashback segment. Often, this follows a comment from Titus within his neutral space. The flashback segment presents a darkly funny moment from Titus's earlier life, whether it's some strange interaction between Ken Titus and his son in early childhood, later childhood, or adolescence, or a moment in high school with Titus and Erin as teens. What's interesting is how Christopher Titus the actor can be just as amusing playing his younger adolescent self as his current adult self. Similarly, Stacy Keach is funny no matter what he is doing to his boy and which decade-specific hairdo he has. And you gotta give credit to the child actors playing Titus at various stages of childhood. They're amusing to watch.

Finally, the third type of segment in a Titus episode is the story segment, presenting the contemporary plot of the episode. As fun as it is to be amused by Titus's commentary and quick flashbacks to illustrate it, we still want a long continuous story to follow. So this is where Titus is like your typical sitcom. Except for one thing though: location. Instead of a plot episode that takes place in more than one location, thereby requiring more than one set piece in the soundstage, the present-day story of the episode occurs entirely in one location, which varies greatly across the show's run. Examples: the Titus home, Erin's home, the Titus High Performance auto shop, a restaurant, a hospital, a mental institution, a bridge for BASE jumping, a snowy mountain near a ski resort, the Bahamas, a high school, an airline flight, a drag race track, a wedding, a bar, a police station, a courthouse, a bus station, a freeway while driving, and a houseboat. With such a wide variety, the show never feels dull.

What also never feels dull are the situations that occur in the show. There's much variety in that, too. For example, the first episode centers on the question of whether Ken is dead, because Titus and Dave notice that their dad has not come out of his room for four straight days. Another episode involves an awkward double date with Titus and Erin along with Tommy and his date, a woman whom Titus once had an affair with while dating Erin. Pretty funny and original, don't you think? Here are other examples: a Thanksgiving dinner brawl that leaves Titus's and Erin's families with injuries, Erin visiting a broken home as a social worker intern, Titus meeting Erin's dysfunctional teenage niece Amy, group psychotherapy involving the five characters, helping a pregnant woman going into labor in a diner, and disagreement between Titus and his dad about whether Juanita should remain locked up in a mental hospital. Then there is the ninth episode of the series, titled "Episode Eleven," in which Ken gets into a car accident. This episode is hysterical because of the jaw-dropping revelation about what caused the accident. I won't mention what it is, but let's just say the Fox network censors probably had a field day discussing what to do with it, if anything.

As you can see, this sitcom is a dark comedy. So how is it that such material can be made funny? It's a question worth considering, because it is not easy to make light out of serious situations. The way I see it, things in life can be funny because they are absurdities compared to what we define as normal, the people involved in those absurdities are more flawed than we are so that it's easy to laugh at them, and the seriousness of it is diminished so that it longer scares us. Take, for example, a flashback moment in which Titus as a high school student is so drunk that he falls into a bonfire. On the surface, there's nothing funny about this. But it's funny here because Titus in his neutral space jokes about it, saying that falling into a bonfire is a one-step program unlike the 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous. (Believe it or not, the bonfire story is true. Christopher Titus even shared it in his stand-up comedy show Norman Rockwell Is Bleeding.) That's how the comedy is done on this show. It pokes fun at the situation and treats it as if were not terribly abnormal, because what society considers abnormal is what dysfunctional people consider normal. This sitcom is funny even if the episode involves testing for HIV, getting drugged by a family member, being in a coma, an armed robber, a miscarriage, or child molestation (no kidding).

This show definitely gets positive marks for the episode scripts from various writers, including Christopher Titus himself. It also gets high marks for the casting. All five stars are fantastic to watch, because they all bring high energy into their performances of distinctly developed characters. Usually, I may like one main character on a TV show more than the others, but not here. The antics of Titus, Erin, Dave, Tommy, and Ken are all equally amusing and funny. As much as I love all of them, I still feel the need to give special kudos to Stacy Keach. The character of Titus's crazy dad is not easy to play in the context of a comedy, but Keach nails it by portraying him as a sort-of buffoon to laugh at, not someone so frightening that he isn't funny. In fact, the real Ken Titus, up until his death in 2001 in the middle of the show's run, would provide notes about what he would say to his son, and Keach would find a way to spin his delivery of those lines into a performance that generates laughter.

Titus was not one of those sitcoms that garnered the most attention when it aired, so it flew past my radar. When I finally watched it many years later, I was amazed by how funny it actually is. Even more amazing is how Christopher Titus really did have an incredibly dark past (besides the bonfire and the crazy dad, he also had five stepmothers before the age of 10) and yet managed to turn all of those sour lemons into lemonade. So the show definitely deserved more than one season. In fact, more than three seasons. Sadly, the show stopped there because of a dispute between Titus and Fox executives, with the latter wanting Titus and Erin to break up in order to boost ratings and the former refusing because he wanted to convey the message that it's possible for two dysfunctional people to still live a normal life. As much as I'd like to see more Titus episodes, I just have to accept and appreciate the 54 episodes that managed to get produced.

So to wind down on a more positive note, let me talk about some of my favorite moments of the show. Actually, I shouldn't say "some." There are LOTS of notable moments. I already mentioned some of them above, like "Episode Eleven" and the episode with the awkward double date. I also enjoyed the episodes with Titus at a psycho ex-girlfriend's funeral and Juanita Titus's murder trial, plus the two-part episode "Insanity Genetic" that acts as the true series finale. Then there are the recognizable guest stars in some episodes, including Jay Leno as himself, Octavia Spencer as a social worker, Jane Lynch as a prosecuting attorney, Elizabeth Berkeley as Titus's stepsister, David Carradine as Ken's buddy, Phyllis Diller as the wacky Grandma Titus, and David Hyde-Pierce as a motivational speaker. And who can forget the most unexpected things that happen in Titus's neutral space, like Titus appearing alongside his childhood self, a nuclear explosion that renders him a skeleton, the remnants of a car crash, and, in two episodes, a main character other than Titus occupying the black-and-white neutral space.

Well, it's time for me to end it here. I've said a lot about this show, much more than I thought because it is definitely not your everyday sitcom. It is a show that bravely takes on stuff that more squeamish writers and actors would not. Don't be fooled by the fact that its ratings were nowhere near #1 during its original television run. This is a funny show, guaranteed to make you smile often. So if you like sitcoms and you haven't seen Titus, give it a try. Don't make the mistake I made of overlooking it. At the same time, just be aware of what you'll get yourself into without feeling a bit nervous about it. In other words, as Ken Titus would say, don't be a wussy.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Titus, visit the Internet Movie Database.