''Surviving Jack'' is an American sitcom that aired as a mid-season replacement on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

as part of the 2013–14 American television season. On May 8, 2013, Fox placed a thirteen-episode order for the single-camera comedy. The pilot is written by

Justin Halpern Justin Samuel Halpern (born September 3, 1980) is the American author of the Twitter feed "Shit My Dad Says" and the best-selling book ''Sh*t My Dad Says''. He was also the co-writer and co-executive producer of a CBS $♯*! My Dad Says, televis ...

and Patrick Schumacker, and the series is based on Halpern's autobiographical book ''I Suck at Girls''. On October 25, 2013, the order of episodes was cut to eight, due to scheduling restrictions. On May 7, 2014, Fox canceled the series after one season, and 7 episodes broadcast, leaving a single episode unaired, and the remaining episodes have never been circulated. They later aired the last episode, episode eight, in New Zealand on

TV2 Channel 2 or TV 2 may refer to: Television networks, channels and stations *Channel 2 (Iran), operated by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting *Channel 2 (Israel), a commercial television station *, entertainment and music television in Latvia * ...

Synopsis

Set in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

, in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, the series centers on Jack Dunlevy, an ex-

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

man and no-nonsense guy who becomes a full-time parent when his wife decides to go to law school. He takes an unorthodox approach to keeping his kids, a boy, Frankie and a girl, Rachel, in line.

Cast

* Christopher Meloni as Dr. Jack Dunlevy, a blunt talking, former military man, now a doctor, who, after many years, is assuming the parent responsibilities now that his wife is going back to law school. *

Rachael Harris Rachael Elaine Harris (born January 12, 1968) is an American actress and comedian. She is known for her numerous acting roles, such as starring as Dr. Linda Martin in ''Lucifer'', her role in the ''Diary of a Wimpy Kid'' film series, and as a gu ...

as Joanne Dunlevy, a loving wife and mom, who is going back to law school. She longs to have her home be the neighborhood "hangout house." * Connor Buckley as Frankie Dunlevy, a typical, awkward freshman teenager, who is usually the focus point of all of Jack's parenting mistakes. *

Claudia Lee Claudia Lee (born Claudia Lee Mirkowski; ) is an American actress and singer who is best known for her roles as Magnolia Breeland on ''Hart of Dixie'', as Bridget on ''Zeke and Luther'', and as Whitney in '' The Outcasts''. Early life Lee was ...

as Rachel Dunlevy, a super conceited, over confident, super popular senior in high school. She can't stand any of her brother Frankie's friends. * Kevin Hernandez as George, Frankie's best friend since 2nd grade. He has a huge crush on Rachel. *

Tyler Foden Tyler may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tyler (name), an English name; with lists of people with the surname or given name * Tyler, the Creator (born 1991), American rap artist and producer * John Tyler, 10th president of the United ...

as Mikey, one of Frankie's best friends, who comes from a broken home. This is his second year as a freshman. *

Mell Bowser Mell (stylized as MELL) is a female Japanese singer from Sapporo, Japan, who is signed to Geneon Universal Entertainment. She is a former member of the Sapporo-based I've Sound, and one of its main vocalists. Mell has contributed vocals to sever ...

as Craig

Critical reception

Review aggregation website,

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

gives ''Surviving Jack'' a score of 68% average rating of 6.2 out of 10, based on 31 reviews. The website’s consensus reads: "Christopher Meloni's comedic chops help sell ''Surviving Jack'''s fresh twist on gender roles and the traditional sitcom formula, even if the show falls a little flat in other areas."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gives the show a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on reviews from 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Episodes

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 2395482 2010s American single-camera sitcoms 2014 American television series debuts 2014 American television series endings English-language television shows Fox Broadcasting Company original programming Television shows based on books Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television series set in the 1990s Television series set in 1991 Television shows set in California