FOX (Sundays, 9:30 p.m. ET)
A middle-American family, upbeat but incredibly unlucky, endures an endless series of scares and disasters that play like broad movie spoofs. It sounds like a viable premise for a recurring Saturday Night Live sketch, but can it possibly work as a weekly half hour? Put it this way: I don't predict a long run for The Pitts, but there'll be laughs while it lasts.
In the premiere, Bob Pitt (Dylan Baker) and wife Liz (Kellie Waymire) unwittingly hire a psycho nanny out for revenge. In the second episode, teenage daughter Faith (Lizzy Caplan) gets a used car with a mind of its own and a dangerously possessive streak. The third outing has Bob and Liz turning into werewolves. Next thing you know, their son Petey (David Henrie) will be possessed by the devil. Wait, I forgot: That happened in the pilot's first scene, and the family took it in stride.
Fortunately, creators Mike Scully and Julie Thacker-Scully (The Simpsons) appreciate the need for some good jokes to supplement the insane situations. "It's my way and the highway," says the talking car when Faith wants her freedom. And there's oddball humor over at Bob and Liz's workplace, Mail Boxes & More, Plus, where the customers riot over a lack of packing tape. This cartoonish show is bound to burn itself out, but at least it has a spark of inventiveness.
BOTTOM LINE: Always crazy, often funny
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