Canned TV Show #27: The Pitts (2003)

So I’ve been working my way through the acclaimed, decidedly not-canned show The Americans, and recently wrapped season 4, in which our Soviet antiheroes Philip and Elizabeth get their first taste of the deadly potential of bio-warfare. The KGB have infiltrated a US government subcontracted laboratory, and Philip and Elizabeth are tasked with obtaining samples of pathogens from their man on the inside, William, and get them into Soviet hands. Both the Soviets and the Americans claim they’re only interested in defending themselves in case the other guy develops bioweapons, in the latest variation of mutually assured destruction. But after witnessing the latest and most deadly pathogen of them all, William begins to have second thoughts about doing his duty as a KGB operative.

Why am I rehashing the plot of a completely different series that enjoyed six highly lauded seasons in this blog about shows that don’t survive past two? For one reason: William is played by Dylan Baker. Baker is a prolific character actor you’ve likely seen in countless movies and shows over the years, whether you know his name or not. He’s played everything from a terrifyingly banal child predator in Todd Solondz’s Happiness to a suburban serial killer in Trick ‘r Treat to a pre-Lizard Dr. Kurt Connors in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man movies, and of course his role on the even shorter-lived previous Canned subject Drive. Even if some of his characters are unequivocally awful people, you can’t deny the guy has some serious range.

Watching that season of The Americans strangely reminded me of a much less well-received project starring Baker, one that was living deep in the recesses of my memory, practically begging to be included in this blog: 2003’s short-lived sitcom The Pitts. In case you’re unfamiliar (and you almost certainly are), The Pitts was a multi-camera family sitcom about the titular Pitt clan: Bob (Baker), Liz (Kellie Waymire), Faith (Lizzy Caplan), and Petey (David Henrie), a family that seemed to have the worst luck in the world, prone as they were to all kinds of wacky misadventures. It functioned as a sort-of spoof of those multi-cam family shows, taking the usual sitcom tomfoolery and going to some deeply absurd places with it. 

Sadly, it seemed like 2003-era audiences weren’t really in the mood for it, as it died a very quick death indeed; FOX originally ordered 7 episodes, but only aired 5 of them, the other 2 not seeing the light of day until 2 years later, in the UK no less. As far as critics, I haven’t found many contemporaneous reviews, but the ones I have found were actually more charitable than I expected. So was The Pitts worthy of the puns that were no doubt made at its expense, or does it deserve another look? 

I’m not going to argue that the show is some kind of misunderstood classic or anything, but rewatching it, I actually found myself laughing quite a bit more than I expected. Though unbeknownst to 12 year-old me, the show has something of a comedic pedigree; it was created by former Simpsons writers Mike Scully and his wife, Julie Thacker, and features contributions of writers from Seinfeld, The Critic, and Family Guy (your milage may vary on whether that last one is a plus or minus). Family Guy mastermind Seth McFarlane is also credited as a “consulting producer,” and his unmistakable baritone fills in a couple small voice roles.

Together they create a heightened comic world which is very much not rooted in realism; plotlines involve a living dummy stealing the Pitt family home, Faith dealing with a pipe stuck through her head, Bob becoming a vessel for the heart of Satan, and more decidedly unconventional sitcom subject matter. It’s all incredibly dumb, but I think that’s kind of the point. If its brand of silliness isn’t for you, I totally understand, but if you’re on its particular stupid wavelength (or maybe you’ve taken a couple bong rips), you might find yourself giggling more than you expected. 

This being a show from 2003, there are certainly some jokes that have aged like fine milk. One of the unaired episodes, “Ticket to Riot,” really feels ensconced in its War on Terror era with an extended bit about the Pitts worrying that a Muslim customer trying to mail a suspicious package while dressed in a traditional head covering might be a terrorist, only for the guy to instead steal the money from the register and flee. ”See? He was a thief, not a terrorist!” Bob declares cheerily before chasing after him. Later on, Bob ends up accidentally taken to prison (don’t ask), and it doesn’t take long before the prison rape jokes pop up. It all feels self-aware and not really meant to offend, but I doubt those kinds of bits would make it past the Twitter censors these days. At first I thought maybe Bob would learn some kind of lesson about being more aware of his privilege or something, but that’s giving this show way too much credit. It does hint at an edgier, more satirical take on the traditional family show, but the series avoids that for the most part.

Luckily for most involved, The Pitts ended up as only a minor pit stop (or Pitt stop) on their way to bigger and better things. Baker continues to work steadily to this day, earning 3 Emmy nominations for his role on The Good Wife. Caplan has become a big star in the intervening years, appearing on cult faves like Party Down and prestige projects like Masters of Sex; I particularly enjoyed her go-for-broke performance in last year’s horror whatsit Cobweb. Henrie went on to join the Mouse House on Wizards of Waverly Place, and played the son listening to his dad ramble on for nine seasons on How I Met Your Mother, which just might be one of the greatest TV gigs of all time, provided he got paid for every episode where he appeared. Tragically, the only Pitt who didn’t see any further success was Waymire, who passed away of a heart condition in 2003 at only 36.

Creators Mike and Julie Thacker Scully continued to develop shows together, most recently collaborating with Amy Poehler on the animated series Duncanville, another show that takes a simple setup to some absurd places (Duncanville lasted three seasons before being canceled, making it ineligible for this blog, but it’s still an underappreciated show in my opinion). Animation seems to be a better fit for their particular brand of humor, where their ridiculous plotlines can go to extremes unburdened by such things as physics and the limits of the human body. 

So, should it be back on the air? It’s hard to say. I think at least giving it a few more episodes to see if it could find its groove would have been fair, but it might just be the sort of thing that was destined to be short-lived. Evidently there was an attempt to revive it as an animated series back in 2007, with Baker and Caplan signing on to reprise their roles, joined by Allison Janney as Liz and Andy Milonakis as Petey, but FOX eventually passed on the project. If it sounds like your kinda thing, some intrepid YouTuber named eddie d uploaded the whole thing to YouTube in all its low-res glory, which seems to be the only way you can watch it these days (you can even see little glimpses of promos for other circa-2003 FOX programming, which makes for a fun little time capsule.

So there you go, The Pitts, a show that didn’t deserve its very short lifespan, even if it’s probably not going to be held up as the next cult classic anytime soon.