What to expect from ABC’s ‘Kids Say the Darndest Things’
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Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, actress and comedian Tiffany Haddish will take the reins of “Kids Say The Darndest Things” as the pop culture phenomenon is rebooted 19 years after the original Bill Cosby-led series wrapped production.
Based on a segment of the same name from “Art Linkletter’s House Party,” a variety TV and radio show that aired on CBS from (roughly) the end of World War II to the Apollo moon landing, the “Kids Say” concept features a rotating cast of precocious youngsters answering mundane questions in cute, unscripted ways. Check out ABC’s two-minute trailer above for a few examples.
Unlike the original series, which ran for three seasons on CBS from 1998 to 2000, ABC’s “Kids Say” will occupy a 60-minute time slot, “hilariously reimagined” with a mix of pre-taped and in-studio elements. Also new is Haddish as the show’s lead; Cosby will be unavailable to reprise his role as host for at least the next two-to-nine years.
According to ABC, Haddish’s “Kids Say” reboot will be wedged in the middle of a “solid three-hour block of family-fun programming” on Sundays, starting at 7 p.m. with “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and wrapping at 9 with “Shark Tank,” providing an alternative to the football-centric Sunday schedules of Fox and NBC.
An early advance review offers a less-than-rave take on the new “Kids Say”: “Haddish, a competitive comedian, can’t help but mug over the kids she’s supposed to be introducing,” Variety’s Daniel D’Addario writes, “and redirects the conversation perpetually to her celebrity status, including in an opening monologue about her fame that seemed strangely out-of-place.”
