Free Blog: Sons of Tuscon

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Sons of Tuscon is comedy series and reminds me of a modern day to Malcolm in the Middle, the typical dysfunctional family that is relatable. Ironically, when I was doing a little bit of background research, I found that Justin Berfield, the former Malcolm in the Middle star, Reese, is the producer of Sons of Tuscon. There are three brothers, Benjamin Stockham as Robby, Frank Dolce as Gary, and Matthew Levy as Brandon. Brandon is the eldest child, at 13 years old and is often the one who makes the most mistakes and doesn’t think about future consequences; he is also free-spirited. Gary is the definition of a typical middle child. He is so different from his other siblings in the sense that he is only 11 years old, but is wise beyond his years and typically wears a polo and his hair slicked to the sides. He is the one who makes all the decisions in the house, and is often know as the “mean parent.” He is in control of the money and makes the most logical decisions, however is seen by his peers and brothers as being too serious, conceited and bossy. The youngest brother is Robby is the baby of the family and acts just like a little kid – he is a troublemaker who loves playing tricks on people, eating junk food and watching cartoons past his bedtime. Their parents own a house in Tuscon, Arizona, however, their mother left them and their father is in prison, so Gary made the decision to hire Ron (Tyler Labine) as their guardian. Ron is known to be irresponsible and usually takes the easiest route in any situation, but is known as the “fun parent.” Even some of the neighbors do not think he is fit to be a parent. Gary makes Ron sleep in the shed because he doesn’t trust him to stay in the house, but Gary often lets him sleep in the house, until Ron does something stupid, which is often. Ron swears and openly discusses anything in front of the kids. Though I think that to an extent it is a good thing because the kids feel they can often come and talk to him without feeling the barrier most teens do between themselves and their parents. It’s obvious that this family sticks out like a sore thumb in the neighborhood. Compared to other wealthy, prestigious neighbors, the boys and Ron are so unlike them.

The introduction the Sons of Tuscon is great because of all the bright colors, upbeat music and it gives the premise for what the show is about. In the beginning there are clips of Arizona interspersed between different stories within the episode. The music has a rocker feel and the camera angels are quick and fast-paced, but stay on one shot long enough to keep the viewers attention.

The particular episode I watched for this week is Season 1, Episode 7: “Dog Days of Tuscan.” In this episode, Ron goes around to different houses near their neighborhood and takes people’s dogs, just to wait for them to post a reward so he can return the dog to the owner and retrieve the sum of money that was offered. When he returns the pets, he acts as though he doesn’t want the money, but tells them that he thinks they are “legally obligated” to reward him. When Ron brings home one of the dogs, Brandon and Robby are really excited, however, Gary reminds them of the responsibilities a dog owner has. Gary even pulls Ron aside and says, “You need to talk to me about these things first and not undermine my authority!” Gary eventually agrees to a dog, but under the conditions that it is hypo-allergenic for Robby’s allergies and is house-trained. After work one day, Ron’s friend offers to sell him Gene Simmons boots. So, Ron spends the money on the boots that Gary gave him for the dog. Ron takes a stray home instead of purchasing a dog. Of course, Robby has severe allergic allergies, but they keep the dog anyways. The dog starts acting vicious and weird toward Ron and he finds out that the “stray dog” he found is actually a wolf. After the dog has been in the house for a few days, Brandon, due to his free-spirited nature begins to believe that his grandpa was reincarnated in this dog due to various characteristics in the dog and what the dog likes. After Gary discovers the dog is really a wolf, he and Ron unsuccessfully attempt to give the dog away or take it to a shelter, but no one would take the wolf-dog in, so they end up letting the wolf go wild. But, the wolf-dog ends up coming back to their house. Brandon and Robby still do not believe the dog is a wolf, so Ron, of course, does something stupid (purposely getting attacked by the wolf-dog), to prove to the other boys the dog is a wolf. Ron then ends up in the hospital, and the boys tell Ron that he can stay in the house with him until he is recovered.

From last week’s post, I was thinking about stereotypes often prevalent in the media. In this show, there was an American Indian man, Mike at Ron’s job. After feeling suspicious about the wolf-dog, Ron asks the man if he knows anything about wolves. Mike then responds with, “Oh that’s right, you have a question about animals, ask the Indian. They have a spiritual connection to nature, ancient wisdom handed down to them from their forefathers. How come no one ever asks me about the stock market?! Ok, so the wolf is a majestic creature…” He continues to tell Ron a bunch of information about wolves. This is ironic because in this case, the stereotype that was being presented was actually validated. Something else that I have found becoming increasingly more in media are referring to current things in the media. For example, in this episode, Mike asks Ron something in reference to the show Project Runway. I think it is interesting that this has begun to happen so often and is funny for our generation because we “get” what they are talking about. However I feel that because these shows reference current things in the media, other generations often find themselves lost in terms of the humor.