Titus (TV series)

infobox television
show_name = Titus


caption = The "Titus" logo used in the opening credits.
format = Sitcom
runtime = approx. 22 minutes
creator = Christopher Titus
starring = Christopher Titus
David Shatraw
Cynthia Watros
Stacy Keach
Zack Ward
Rachel Roth (Seasons 2-3)
Elizabeth Berkley (Season 3)
country = USA
network = FOX
first_aired = March 20 2000
last_aired = August 12 2002
num_episodes = 54
list_episodes = List of Titus episodes
imdb_id = 0205700|

"Titus" is an Emmy-nominated American dark-comedy sitcom that debuted on FOX in 2000. The series was created by its star, Christopher Titus, Jack Kenny, and Brian Hargrove. This sitcom was based on Christopher's stand-up comedy act, which was based loosely upon his real-life family. Titus plays an outwardly childish adult (based on himself), who owns a custom car shop. The show follows him and his dimwitted stepbrother Dave, his girlfriend Erin with the "heart of gold", his goody-goody friend Tommy, and his arrogantly lewd, bigoted and multiple-divorced father Ken "Papa" Titus.

eries description

The series first aired as a limited-run mid-season replacement in March 2000 and it received rave reviews. It ran for 54 episodes over three seasons until it was cancelled in 2002.

The characters were essentially a dysfunctional family and the situations the show dealt with were often serious and dark and unusual for network sitcom fare, including death, attempted and committed suicide, rape, child molestation, mental illness, road rage, gun violence, drug abuse, domestic abuse, alcoholism, and terrorism -- especially in the third season, which was to be the last (partly due to the controversial nature of the show).

One episode, "Tommy's Not Gay," dealt with the issue that Tommy — who uses stereotypically gay mannerisms and is called gay even though he isn't — lashes out at his homosexual father for lying to his mother about his sexuality. However, Tommy later defends his dad against others' homophobia when Tommy's father ends up getting beaten by Titus's friends. The episode made reference to the real-life killing of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming.

The format of the show always began with Christopher turning on a dangling lightbulb hanging from the ceiling in a black-and-white "neutral space", often breaking the "fourth wall". A crude wooden chair would accompany Christopher and sometimes be used as a prop. He would do a short monologue, then the traditional sitcom story would begin. During the episode, segments would be intercut to this "neutral space" where he would narrate or comment on what was happening. There were also frequent flashbacks or dream/imaginary sequences to relevant events. However, almost all episodes took place in only one location. In the end, Christopher would do another monologue, with the same beginning as in the show's opening, then turn the light off, sometimes smashing the bulb or even turning it off with a remote. Occasionally, an alter-ego type character of Titus would appear with him and gets abused randomly. These altered versions of Titus included Nerd Titus, seventeen year old Titus, Titus as a ten year old, and a five year old Titus.

The show, unusual for a sitcom, used serious points as a "stopping point" at times during episodes. These "stopping points" included Christopher admitting to being beaten by his ex-girlfriend Noelle, admitting that he loves his mother despite her being a violent manic-depressive paranoid schizophrenic, and how Matthew Shepard died because of his sexual preference.

Censorship by the network

More than one episode was censored/banned by FOXFact|date=January 2008, including a two-part episode made in the months after the September 11 attacks that centered on the premise that the U.S. government believes Titus is a terrorist after Titus suffers a nervous breakdown on a plane from his mother's suicide, Tommy complains to a flight attendant about his mispronunciation of chicken a la king (which sounds like "Allah king"), and Dave comes out dressed with a towel turban, robe, & shaving cream on his face which looked like an Islamic beard, speaking unintelligibly.

Another episode, "The Protector," was not aired until the very end of the last season, and it dealt with Erin's niece, Amy, being molested by the man who babysat her while her parents were in prison (who turns out to be the father of a boy who harassed Amy in school). This episode is clearly out of chronological order as the other characters are unaware that Amy is a lesbian, which was revealed to them in the episode "Errrr." Had "The Protector" aired in the sequence originally planned, it may have made more sense out of why Amy was so asocial (outside of the fact that her mom was a drug addict who constantly neglected her, her stepfather was an abusive alcoholic, and both parents always ended up in prison). Also, the episode "The Session" makes reference to Amy's molestation, which makes little sense if one hasn't seen "The Protector." The episode "Insanity Genetic(2)" also made reference to "The Protector" wherein Tommy said "This one time he went after a kid with a bat, he didn't beat him like he planned."

"The Wedding" was aired out of order as well, as the Season 3 premiere "Racing in the Streets" dealt with Titus's recovery from the accident in "The Pit" and continued in "The Pendulum," yet he seems unaffected and the accident is not mentioned in the Season 2 finale. This is also confirmed by these episodes' production codes, which put "The Wedding" in between "Tommy's Girlfriend II" and "Hard Ass". [ [http://www.tv.com/titus/show/247/episode_guide.html?season=2&tag=season_nav;next Titus Episode Guide - Titus Season Episodes - TV.com ] ]

On a Sirius Radio Interview on Raw Dog 104, Christopher said the show got canceled due to an argument with executives.Fact|date=January 2008 They wanted to split up Titus and Erin because the show Dharma & Greg had done similar. Upon Christopher's refusal, on-air promotion ceased and the show was soon canceled.Fact|date=January 2008

DVD releases

Anchor Bay Entertainment released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 in two packages.

References

External links

* [http://www.tvdads.com/tvdttus.shtml Interview with Christopher Titus at TVDads.com]
* [http://www.tv.com/titus/show/247/summary.html?q=Titus TV.com Article on "Titus"]
*imdb title|id=0205700|title=Titus