Netflix has its share of terrible shows but there is one that the algorithm will simply not leave me alone about and for some reason really thinks I would watch it. Although I am not really a fan of most sitcoms I finally gave in an watched The Ranch not long ago and honestly, this might be one of the worst sitcoms I've ever seen.
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First off, the sitcom has a laugh track and I think that is something that needs to be left in the past. If you have to be told when to laugh, is the show really all that funny? I don't think so and this is why shows like The Office and Modern Family are such a hit with me. If something is funny you are going to laugh at it, we shouldn't need to be told when something is funny and when the "audience" seems to have a fit of laughter over something that isn't even funny it is more annoying than anything else.
Huge laughs at things that aren't even remotely funny happens a great deal in The Ranch
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I think I speak for most people when I say that I have a lot of respect for Sam Elliot and even though his body of work isn't exactly huge and/or varied, I quite like Ashton Kutcher as well. The two of them play father and son in this comedy of sorts and as much as I want them to, the two of them simply don't have any chemistry on screen at all. If I had to guess I would say that this is probably Ashton's fault or maybe it was a poor casting decision to put Elliot, who doesn't normally do much in the way of comedy, in such a profound role.
I struggled to make it through even a couple of episodes because the story of a farm kid who ran off to pursue a career in football only to throw it all away and now has to come back to the ranch to live with his Dad and finding trouble re-integrating with country folk.... well this is a cow that can only be milked but so many times before it is dry.
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Another thing that bothers me about this is that since it takes place on a ranch, a great many of the scenes take place outdoors. But the "outdoors" they recreate for this show makes it appear as though the set designers didn't really care whether or not it even looked remotely real. Seriously, I've seen high school plays with more convincing backdrops than most of the ones I saw on this show.
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Now I only watched 4 episodes and I spread it out among the various seasons just in case the show took a while to find its legs or something. This is common in other series that started out slow then got good later. Unfortunately for The Ranch this does not happen. Basically every episode is the same as well. It goes like this: Colt (Kutcher) gets into some sort of butting heads argument with his dad Beau (Elliott) and they have a screaming contest until one of them finally capitulates and it ends in a life lesson and some hugs. It's supposed to be an endearing story of father and son but it just becomes something that is going to happen in every show. I'm kind of surprised that neither Elliott or Kutcher had a problem with this very boring and formulaic idea that wasn't working yet for some reason they kept doing it for a full 4 seasons.
The show simply isn't funny and the scenarios, which repeat over and over again are not interesting. I suppose I commend them for at least attempting to have a non liberal show on Netflix but there are times that I almost feel as though they were intentionally making it bad on purpose to try to prove a point about diversity needing to be part of the show.
If you liked The Ranch I would love to hear how that is possible because for me it was annoyingly bad.
