Welcome to a new Wildcard Wednesday! This week, I’m concluding our coverage of a woefully underrated three-season sitcom from the early 2000s called Titus (2000-2002, FOX), which is currently available, as of this writing, on DVD and YouTube.
Titus stars CHRISTOPHER TITUS, CYNTHIA WATROS, ZACK WARD, DAVID SHATRAW, and STACY KEACH. With RACHEL ROTH as Amy.
Titus’ final season is another solid collection that also reveals enough of the show’s unique identity to feel in validation of its situation — particularly at its end, as FOX held back several episodes (including the year’s intended finale) to air in the summer, due to fears about its shocking, controversial subject matter. However, in tracking the series’ changing quality, it’s hard to deny that Season Three is a comedown from the first two. It’s not that the show has totally lost its edge or is too traditional now to fulfill its promise to the audience, but rather, the style of writing is a little broader and more cartoony here than it was in its grittier, more focused beginnings. Also, the trauma-induced dysfunction that was critical to the series’ situation now has to be more laboriously, loudly reiterated in story, like when Christopher’s mom commits suicide and he’s committed to a mental institution (which occurs at the end of the series, perhaps as a nose-thumbing to a network that had tried to tame it). But such dramatic tension is less elementally felt within the regulars’ relationships and their basic interactions, specifically those between Christopher and his father, who’s not nearly as rough-around-the-edges as before, making their bond less caustic. To that point, Three’s stories are also less supported by the characters overall, and thus less ideal… Meanwhile, there’s an interesting addition to this ensemble in the form of Erin’s insubordinate niece Amy, of whom Erin and Christopher get temporary custody. Now, usually, a new teen signals a sitcom’s acquiescence to demo-based network demands, but Titus, to its credit, instead uses her to exhibit its dysfunctional identity, exploring her harsh upbringing. This yields a few strong situation-approved episodes… And yet, Amy still can’t help but look more like a device than an actual character, and the necessity of her inclusion to invite such stories suggests that Titus’ novelty of premise is indeed dwindling. (The same goes for Christopher’s half-sister, who recurs this year and I think is meant to complicate his relationship with his dad… but doesn’t.) Ultimately, though, if Titus’ maintenance of tone and quality has slipped a bit from its peak, it still goes out as a dynamic, lesser-known effort with a great three-season run that renders it one of the finest Wildcard sitcoms I’ve ever had the pleasure to cover. I’m so glad the series’ best episodes are now registered here.
01) Episode 35: “Amy’s Birthday” (Aired: 11/21/01)
Erin and Christopher are shocked to see where her niece is living.
Written by John R. Morey | Directed by Gary Shimokawa
Erin’s niece Amy debuted last season, but this is the entry that sets her up as a recurring player, when Christopher and Erin (who becomes a social worker this year) visit her terrible home and realize she is not safe. As noted above, I find Amy more a device than an actual character, but her inclusion allows the show to tonally and narratively reinforce its premise about the way trauma breeds dysfunction, and this story is a prime example of Titus still feeling like Titus, even as its writing is also getting sillier and less character-rooted. (Octavia Spencer guests.)
02) Episode 36: “Tommy’s Not Gay” (Aired: 11/28/01)
Christopher’s friends beat up Tommy’s gay father.
Written by Christopher Case | Directed by Gary Shimokawa
This bar-set outing has a Norman Lear-esque tenor of topicality, as the characters talk about sexual orientations and confront prejudices regarding gay people when Tommy’s father — who’s just come out of the closet himself — is beaten up by some of Christopher’s casual bar friends. It’s a tight, revealing show for all the leads — especially Tommy, whose metrosexuality has heretofore been a running joke but is now used for something more dramatic, and ultimately premise-corroborating: familial dysfunction. A seasonal highlight and an MVE contender.
03) Episode 40: “The Trial” (Aired: 01/02/02)
Christopher and his friends testify in his mother’s trial for murder.
Written by Christopher Titus | Directed by Jack Kenny
Connie Stevens assumes the role of Christopher’s mother Juanita in this installment that’s among the broadest of the entire series — with less literal realism than we expect, as the characters behave more cartoony and not as believable as usual. I don’t love this, but it’s a story that fundamentally reiterates Christopher’s history (why he is who he is) via his relationship with his mom — who’s on trial for the murder she committed at the end of Season Two — and it’s narratively dark in a way that’s both memorable and quintessentially Titus, even if, again, how the show is being written now is otherwise less ideal. (Jane Lynch also appears.)
04) Episode 41: “Grandma Titus” (Aired: 01/09/02)
Christopher must attend to his loopy grandmother.
Written by Shawn Thomas | Directed by Brian Hargrove
The great Phyllis Diller notably guest stars in this excursion (which was produced during Season Two) as the titular Grandma Titus, who has memory issues and is causing problems down at Christopher’s old high school. It’s a fresh and unexpected narrative setup that packs in big but nevertheless strange laughs, and it speaks to the series’ core themes while using subject matter that feels situation-validating. (Oh, and as for performance, Phyllis Diller is a material elevator!)
05) Episode 42: “Errrr” (Aired: 01/16/02)
Christopher tells a suicidal Amy about when he started dating Erin.
Written by Chris Sheridan | Directed by Jack Kenny
Although this is ostensibly an episode built around Amy that even includes the serious notion of her attempted suicide — don’t worry; it’s played with laughs that are in the spirit of the series, but also don’t undercut the dramatic idea — it’s mostly a flashback show that has the main cast portraying high school versions of themselves, as we’re privy to Christopher’s initial pursuit of Erin. It’s therefore a character-building, history-supplying segment, and while I think the humor in these scenes is again too broad and not as tonally well-calibrated as it would have been in past years, this is a memorable addition to the season and Titus’ catalogue.
06) Episode 49: “Same Courtesy” (Aired: 03/20/02)
Christopher plans revenge on Erin for humiliating him in therapy.
Written by Christopher Case | Directed by Bill Shea
Building off the previous entry, where Erin humiliated Christopher in group therapy when not telling him he would be viewed by an audience, this installment finds our hero seeking revenge by making her think a family member has died — a twisted scheme that is congruent with the character and his series-defining dysfunction. It all ends with a big mud fight — a striking centerpiece that again displays the (largely unmotivated) broadening of the season’s style…
07) Episode 51: “The Visit” (Aired: 07/29/02)
The social worker visits to see if Amy should stay with Christopher and Erin.
Written by Christopher Titus | Directed by Katy Garretson
Octavia Spencer returns in this entry as the social worker who’s back to check on Amy at Christopher and Erin’s. That would be enough of a scenario for comic tension given the family’s regular dysfunction, but it’s multiplied when Christopher’s mother shows up after having killed again — well, that’s what we’re led to believe. In actuality, she committed suicide and has been a figment of his imagination all day — another dark suggestion that the series is narratively using to maintain its rebellious bona fides, which are accelerating now that it’s nearing its finish line.
08) Episode 52: “Insanity Genetic (I)” (Aired: 08/05/02)
Christopher fears insanity is genetic while on a plane back from his mother’s funeral.
Written by Jim Hope | Directed by Kevin Charles Sullivan
Part I of the season’s intended finale takes place on a plane as the regulars are heading back from Christopher’s mother’s funeral, and it’s a choice venue for comedy — a pressure cooker basically, especially for the lead, who is having trouble coping with his mom’s death. Eventually this snowballs and culminates in the group being forcibly detained — a tough subject matter in the wake of 9/11, but a wickedly funny and disturbing idea about how grief is affecting the anchor and motivating his premise-corroborating comedic dysfunction.
09) Episode 53: “Insanity Genetic (II)” (Aired: 08/05/02)
Christopher and his loved ones are suspected of domestic terrorism.
Written by Nancy Steen & Matt Ember | Directed by Gary Shimokawa
Part II sees the entire main cast questioned as potential domestic terrorists as a result of Christopher’s meltdown on the plane, and this structure winds up being an easy showcase for all the characters and a smart way to earn new flashback cutaways that rack up the laughs. But it’s all designed to build to a climax, where the other leads discuss Christopher’s tenuous mental state and he is committed to an institution (just like his mother was) — an end to the season that’s also, essentially, an end for the series… (save an online-released two-part reunion special in 2020 that really isn’t worth mentioning). It’s a strong, dramatic conclusion to Titus that works for the character and the show’s themes, even if its tonal calibration is no longer perfect.
10) Episode 54: “The Protector” (Aired: 08/12/02)
Amy confesses that she was sexually abused by a family friend.
Written by Nancy Steen | Directed by Gary Shimokawa
This is the last aired entry, bumped to the week after the two-part finale because its subject was too delicate for FOX (which wanted to bury it). It’s a school-set outing where Amy reveals she was sexually abused by an adult family friend — a heavy, dramatic, Norman Lear-like topic that the teen’s inclusion directly allows, thereby enabling Titus to maintain its traumatic, dysfunctional roots, and show off how these tough but perhaps too-relatable issues can be handled both sensitively and with cathartic comedy, for again, this is a very funny half hour — a winning showcase for Titus’ identity and actually one of the best samples from the entire run. In fact, it’s the strongest offering from the season overall — with the best utilization of Amy, a unique feature of Three — and that’s why I’ve selected it as my MVE (Most Valuable Episode).
Other notable episodes that merit mention include: “Shannon’s Song,” which introduces Elizabeth Berkeley as Christopher’s half-sister — a role supposed to further explore his bond with his father because she’s basically the “favorite” child, but both she and her appearances are not quite as funny as the series’ baseline, “Houseboat,” a Christmas-themed excursion that’s heavy on Stacy Keach’s Ken and has the right idea, but with a textual quality that lets it down, and “The Session,” the group therapy entry that sets up “Same Courtesy” above, along with “Into Thin Air,” which has a memorable setting, “Too Damn Good,” which is helpful for the Christopher character, and “Hot Streak,” a decent show about Ken and Christopher bonding that’s predicated on their relationship being complicated, even though it can’t help but reveal how their dynamic’s rough edges have been smoothed out a little too much since Season One.
*** The MVE Award for the Best Episode from Season Three of Titus goes to…
“The Protector”
Come back next week for another Wildcard and the final season of Two And A Half Men!