Summary
An entertaining-enough family vehicle for one of WWE’s most visible stars, The Big Show Show is a proudly middle-of-the-road sitcom with some big-guy charm.
This review of The Big Show Show Season 1 is spoiler-free.
Fronted by WWE superstar Paul Wight, who is technically retired from pro-wrestling insofar as anyone ever truly leaves that business, The Big Show Show (Netflix) is a kid-focused multi-cam sitcom in which Show, as he’s referred to by everyone, plays a slightly fictionalized version of himself attempting to start a new life as a stay-at-home dad away from the bright lights and big stages.
Endorsed by WWE, unashamedly a family brand, The Big Show Show is typically fun-for-all-ages stuff, with broad-strokes comedy and earnest, almost saccharine family drama. It’s warm without being particularly touching and lightly charming without being all that funny, and perfectly content to be all these things. It doesn’t attempt to be edgy or challenging, instead resting mostly on the novelty of Show’s size for cuddly giggles and an always-amusing visual beat in amongst all the rote sitcom ones.
Show’s wife, Cassy (Allison Munn), helps to give some shape to the family unit that isn’t novelty-sized, and Show’s teen daughter, Lola (Reylynn Caster), makes for his most interesting foil when she comes to live with him, his wife and her half-sisters in Tampa. Mandy (Lily Brooks O’Briant) and J.J. (Juliet Donenfeld) make for a more typical sitcom pairing and never really ring true.
Of course, this is explicitly and unashamedly designed to entertain younger viewers and families, even though the obvious WWE connection will drive a lot of eyeballs to the product. For them, the appeal of Show out of his usual element will be enough to sustain them for a while, though perhaps not all the way through; everyone else will find a perfectly acceptable middle-of-the-road family sitcom – though nothing more than that.
