Baby Daddy: Is the ABC Family Series Worth Watching?

This new ABC Family comedy revolves around Ben (Jean-Luc Bilodeau) a young man in his twenties. He becomes an “instant Baby Daddy” to an infant girl when she’s left on his doorstep by an ex-girlfriend. He decides to raise the baby with the help of his mother Bonnie (Melissa Peterman), his brother Danny (Derek Theler), his best buddy Tucker (Tahj Mowry) and Riley (Chelsea Kane), his close female friend who’s harboring a secret crush.

The cable channel is pairing Baby Daddy with their already successful sitcom Melissa & Joey. Will it be as successful or will it be cancelled after one season? Is it worth watching? Here’s what the critics are saying:

Boston Herald: “There’s so much mugging going on here, and none of it from the actresses playing the baby. Kane so resembles Kaley Cuoco, you might think The Big Bang Theory star is slumming. Fox’s Raising Hope manages to be both more outrageous and realistic than this flimsy, forgettable time-waster. But not since the Olsen twins ruled Full House have there been kids so gosh-darn-melt-your-cold-heart adorable. They’re most often used as props for silly sight gags, and they’re good sports.”

Chicago Tribune: “Let’s stipulate that ABC Family isn’t trying to reinvent the sitcom, and that nobody has cornered the cute-baby market, or the concept of having single men raising one. Even with that level of generosity, Baby Daddy is as stale as an old Diaper Genie, a series of poopy one-liners, powdered with little ‘Aw’-inducing moments of heart. While the concept ought to be a fertile one, there’s not enough duct tape in the world — the guys’ preferred method of holding diapers together — to make the show more than gratingly bearable… The cast is cheerful enough — and a lot younger than Tom Selleck, Ted Danson and Steve Guttenberg — but there’s really not much to be done with a concept this stale, or characters this thinly defined.”

Newsday: “Baby Daddy is predictable, and then not, and sugar sweet, and then more safely sugar-free sweet. It knows when to drop a punch line, when to work the awww factor, and when to get all Sentimental Message Time about characters learning to believe in themselves.”

LA Times: “Ever since Heidi got dragged up that mountain, tots have been turning angry/immature/egotistical/damaged guys into caring and wonderful adults with naught but a smile and, perhaps, a well-timed bout of fever. That the story hasn’t advanced an inch since then is dispiriting, but this show doesn’t even try.”

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “In many respects, Baby Daddy is the anti-Teen Mom. This sitcom exists in a (fantasy?) universe where a potential father opts to care for a child that may not even be his. It’s also similar to Fox’s Raising Hope, except that Raising Hope offers smart comedy and Baby Daddy is stuck in the realm of TGIF humor.”

What do you think? Is Baby Daddy worth your time? Have you watched the show? Will you watch again?

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