Tisha Campbell Martin, Jonathan Slavin , Kate Simses and Ken Jeong in Dr. Ken. (ABC)
Tisha Campbell Martin, Jonathan Slavin , Kate Simses and Ken Jeong in Dr. Ken. (ABC)

I will never understand why some people consider actor Ken Jeong funny. I find the ex-Community star annoying and he doesn’t fare any better in a sitcom that is centered all around him. Tonight, he’s stars in Dr. Ken where he plays an obnoxious doctor by day and an obnoxious father and husband by night. Cutting to the chase – this show is lame. It’s only hope for its survival is that it airs after ABC’s slightly successful, and mildly more tolerable, Last Man Standing. But that show actually has a funny comedian as the lead.

In less than a minute, the first joke to be shared in the pilot episode is about hemorrhoids. Always hilarious stuff. (If the show was recorded before a live audience, they must have pumped in laughing gas.) The conversation between the good doctor and his patient is distasteful and not appropriate for families who would like to watch the show with their family. The office staff includes Jonathan Slavin (Better Off Ted), Tisha Campbell Martin and Kate Simses who would all prefer to be doing something else and their boss is played by Dave Foley, who hasn’t done anything notable since News Radio.

Ken Jeong and Suzy Nakamura (ABC)
Ken Jeong and Suzy Nakamura (ABC)

The best part of Dr. Ken is Suzy Nakamura who plays Ken’s psychologist wife, Allison. Like ABC’s other comedies, Fresh Off the Boat and Black-ish, she plays a wife who outshines her husband by a mile. (Seriously, Constance Wu should have her own show.)

In the first show of the season, Dr. Ken has a reality check that his daughter is growing up. Molly (Krista Marie Yu), who is a decent actress, has just gotten her driver’s license. Dad immediately assumes that she won’t make good choices but mom says that they need to trust her. His son Dave (Albert Tsai), who is a cute kid but a terrible actor, is set on performing a mime routine to Katy Perry’s “Eye of the Tiger” for the school talent show. Dad wants to squash the idea but mom says that they need to support their son. In the end, the show rips off a famous scene from the movie Little Miss Sunshine and the pilot episode of NBC’s About a Boy sitcom, where dad runs up on stage to complete the routine to save his child from embarrassment. Sure, it’s a cute idea, but non original. (Apparently the audience doesn’t get out much because they thought that it was hilarious.)

All in all, the show could be worse, which is really not an endorsement, but if your DVD player isn’t working, you could turn the show on for background noise.

Dr. Ken airs Fridays on ABC at 8:30 p.m. on ABC.

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