TV Recap: Family Tree - "The Box"

Chris O'Dowd

Every Thursday, join us as we join Chris O'Dowd in the Christopher Guest show Family Tree as he discovers just how bizarre his family can get. With the king of mockumentaries finally entering the TV world, we all must wonder how he'll manage to adapt to a universe that has been getting rich off his influence for over a decade. Still, is Guest's introduction to the TV universe one worthy of excitement? Follow us every week as we look at the HBO show and recount the highs and lows, including favorite family members, Monkey's best moments, and if Guest is really the best.

Left to right: Tom Bennett and O'Dowd

Plot: Tom (Chris O'Dowd) discovers that he has a box of oddities from his dead grandfather. Upon stumbling over a photograph of a bearded general that he believes to be his great grandfather Harry Chadwick, he goes on a quest to a photography expert (Christopher Fairbank) with his best friend Pete (Tom Bennett) only to discover that his father was the photographer who took the picture at a prestigious photography company in Brighton.

Michael McKean

Family Member of the Week: Keith (Michael McKean)

While it is true that this is the first episode, so it is an introduction to everyone, there was definitely one standout: Tom's father Keith. Christopher Guest fans may already know McKean from the various movies, but his element in the show definitely adds a nice touch of absurd comedy. His whole rambling on a shoe that heats up and cools down is an ingenious invention that comes from a place of passion, but is essentially useless. It is small touches of this that make the dry and slow show worth investing in and essentially making this into a great character piece.

Nina Conti

*I am hoping that this will be a weekly installment to the Family Tree retrospectives. As a fan of sitcom ventriloquists, it has been at least since Soap since there has been a memorable one. Based on IMDb, Bea (Nina Conti) is in every episode, though hopefully that doesn't jeopardize the existence of her puppet Monkey, who became a way to keep her sane after watching a puffin masturbate.

Monkey Moment: During the whole introduction to why Monkey is an important figure, we discover just how far Bea will go to keeping Monkey in her life. She works at a bank and claims to take him to work twice a week, at which point we see Monkey handling money. The punchline just so happens to be that Monkey is terrible at counting money and that he somehow takes all of the blame for Bea's incessant snide remarks and short comings. This suggests that there's plenty wrong with Bea, but also that Monkey seems to be somewhat of a more competent and interesting character.

Christopher Fairbank

Best Non-Relative: Neville St. Aubrey (Christopher Fairbank)

I have trouble not admiring a man who is able to steal a show by simply looking a little aloof. Neville St. Aubrey is just that. Through small eccentricities, he manages to have a house full of bizarre looking photos, a ridiculously large book of dates and names, and the ability to make the familiar "wrong page" gag of showing the wrong man (in this case, a black man) before flipping to the right one, which is equally bizarre. His revelation helps to give the show a nice comedic touch and begins our journey into discovering family with a nice touch. While not listed in the credits as being in multiple episodes, I would be remiss if they didn't return to him at some point.

Gerard Horan

Best in Fake Show: "There Goes the Neighbourhood" 

One of the perks that I hope this show has is the use of fake TV shows that Guest somehow works into each episode. While there is a Game of Thrones parody in the second half, it is the American sitcom dynamic parody "There Goes the Neighbourhood" that introduces us to this concept and nonetheless strives on taking familiar tropes and giving them an ethnic twist. It may come across as a string of cheap jokes, but within the context of the show, it is just really funny, especially on sheer master skill of parody.

Overall Rating: 3.5 (out of 5)

This is such a great introduction to TV from Christopher Guest. From the casting down to even the TV shows, this is a master who knows what he wants to show and how. With is odd, dry wit and small character tics, this is a universe that feels straight out of his best movies. They may not be fully fleshed out yet, but as far as what we've seen, there is only hope that this premise does't grow thin and that he'll manage to bring the bizarre in healthy doses for the rest of the show's run. However, I want to take this opportunity to welcome Guest, who manages to show how to do a mockumentary without making it into a gimmick.