TV is the New Reading

‘Sons of Tucson’

farcical, but fun

There’s no way to start a show as ridiculous as “Sons of Tucson” than to just start it.

Brandon, Gary and Robbie Gunderson are three boys whose banker father managed sole custody from their entirely absent mom, but failed to make any arrangements for them when he went to prison for 25 years on fraud charges.

In order to enroll at school -- always a priority for three boys -- they plan to hire some guy to stand in as their dad.

Their requirements aren’t terribly demanding: male, over 30 and breathing. But despite going to the trouble of getting themselves enrolled in school, they want to maintain their freedom, of course, so no one who will get too involved. The reason they didn’t just put themselves on Craig’s list was to avoid the inevitable footrace between pedophiles and social workers, who they fear would split them up.

So their investigations led them to Ron Snuffkin, played by Tyler Labine, who is a slacker employee at a sporting goods store. He broke up with his girlfriend and is living in his car. He’s far from ideal, but they need a stand-in dad now, so they approach him about his comfort level concerning lying for money.

Turns out that level is pretty high. In fact, the Gundersons need a stand-in dad as badly as Snuffkin needs stand-in kids. His mom -- who has a very strange home – has a set of Civil War figurines worth thousands that she is unwilling to let leave the family. Snuffkin figures she’ll let the boys have them. That doesn’t work perfectly, which is a shame because by this time the loan shark on his case is actually chasing him around. At least that part of the story gets wrapped up in a satisfying way.

The boys don’t have a lot of patience for Ron’s random silliness, but Ron isn’t completely done at the boys’ new school. While the Gunderson boys were at the sporting goods store hiring Snuffkin to get them enrolled, Robbie stole a can of lighter fluid and used most of it cooking one hotdog to a charred husk. The resulting fireball caused enough of a problem that Ron needed to come back in and talk to their principal.

So they agree to let him stay at their place -- a model home that somehow wasn’t confiscated when Dad Gunderson went to prison, paying him an allowance and letting him sleep in the snake-infested toolshed.

I assume additional details will be shared as the show progresses. Like, where were the boys during the court proceedings, and how was everyone so entirely disinterested in their existence? How did three boys elude ward of the court status to begin with -- did they hide in the attic?

As for Ron, it feels like a lot of his problems are brought on himself. He seems like a person who is skating through life expending the least amount of effort, but he proves to be capable of identifying problems and solving them for people. So it seems like this otherwise good-natured schlub should be capable of doing that for himself.

Meanwhile, the kids are sociopathic products of an environment of wealth and entitlement. “Our dad was a major player in the banking world,” Gary said. “You sell balls. You see a difference there? A little bit?”

It seems like they could benefit from the influence of a father figure, or a clever older brother with an instinct for helping out -- even if he’s mostly interested in helping himself.

The show is ridiculous farce that doesn’t stand up to even the mildest scrutiny. But if you swallow the premise, you’re rewarded with Tyler Labine bopping around saying and doing funny things, which was about 70 percent the value of watching his last show, “Reaper,” on the CW. He carries the heck out of this thing but it’s a lot of fun watching him do it.

“Sons of Tucson” airs at 9:30 p.m. Sundays on FOX.

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