''The War at Home'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

created by

Rob Lotterstein Rob Lotterstein is an American screenwriter and producer. He has written and produced for numerous television sitcoms including ''Boy Meets World'', ''Suddenly Susan'', '' Ellen'' and ''Will & Grace'', as well as serving as creator and executive p ...

that ran from September 11, 2005, to April 22, 2007, on Fox. It follows the antics of a largely dysfunctional

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

family. The show ran for two seasons, but was not renewed for a third season.

Plot

The show depicts the daily lives of Dave and Vicky and their three children, Hillary, Larry, and Mike, on

Long Island, New York Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18t ...

, dealing with normal family issues. Dave is a

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

insurance salesman. He is often portrayed as insensitive and cynical, and sometimes as a paranoid, overprotective and hypocritical

bigot Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, rel ...

. His family (especially Larry) find it difficult to accept his behavior. Dave is constantly scolded and insulted (and even punched once) by Larry for always picking on him. It is established toward the end of season one that Dave is the way he is because he had a father who constantly badgered him. Dave's wife Vicky is an attractive

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

part-time receptionist at a doctors' office. Generally levelheaded, she usually spends her time dealing with Dave's unreasonable behavior, but can be quite obnoxious herself. Of their three children, the oldest is Hillary (

Kaylee DeFer Kaylee Anne DeFer (born September 23, 1986) is a former American actress. She was known for her portrayals of Hillary Gold in '' The War at Home'', and of Ivy Dickens in ''Gossip Girl''. Early life DeFer was born in Tucson, Arizona. In 2003, sh ...

), a typical 17-year-old who frequently misbehaves, trying to get away with bad behavior behind the backs of her parents, who often regard her with suspicion. Second oldest is 16-year-old Larry ( Kyle Sullivan), an odd misfit given to emotional outbursts (such as when Vicky denies him permission to see

Brian Boitano Brian Anthony Boitano (born October 22, 1963) is an American figure skater from Sunnyvale, California. He is the 1988 Olympic champion, the 1986 and 1988 World Champion, and the 1985–1988 U.S. National Champion. He turned professional foll ...

star as

Bilbo Baggins Bilbo Baggins is the title character and protagonist of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel ''The Hobbit'', a supporting character in ''The Lord of the Rings'', and the fictional narrator (along with Frodo Baggins) of many of Tolkien's Middle-ear ...

in ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's bo ...

On Ice''). Larry is often seen with his best friend Kenny (

Rami Malek Rami Said Malek (; , ; born May 12, 1981) is an American actor. He is known for portraying computer hacker Elliot Alderson in the USA Network television series ''Mr. Robot'' (2015–2019), for which he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outs ...

). Initially Dave believes that the boys are both gay, but it is later revealed to the audience that while Larry is not gay, Kenny has a secret crush on Larry. Dave, and to a lesser extent Vicky, often treat Larry's flamboyancy with wary eyes. The youngest child, the pubescent 14-year-old Mike ( Dean Collins), must deal with issues such as

masturbation Masturbation is the sexual stimulation of one's own genitals for sexual arousal or other sexual pleasure, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation may involve hands, fingers, everyday objects, sex toys such as vibrators, or combinat ...

dating Dating is a stage of romantic relationships in which two individuals engage in an activity together, most often with the intention of evaluating each other's suitability as a partner in a future intimate relationship. It falls into the categor ...

and underage gambling. His character is portrayed as tougher and more cynical than Larry's. The series frequently

breaks the fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

between segments of an episode, during which Dave or other characters deliver a

rant A diatribe (from the Greek ''διατριβή''), also known less formally as rant, is a lengthy oration, though often reduced to writing, made in criticism of someone or something, often employing humor, sarcasm, and appeals to emotion. Hist ...

or other comment directly relating to the scene.

Cast and characters

* Michael Rapaport as David "Dave" Gold * Anita Barone as Victoria "Vicky" Gold * Kyle Sullivan as Lawrence Allen "Larry" Gold *

as Hillary Gold * Dean Collins as Michael "Mike" Gold *

as Khaleel Nazeeh "Kenny" Al-Bahir

Series overview

Episodes

Season 1 (2005–06)

Season 2 (2006–07)

Reception

Critical response

The show originally received negative reviews from critics, scoring a 28 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

and 24% on

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 Wan ...

. It received critical acclaim during its second season for its handling of Kenny's "

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

" story arc, including a

Humanitas Prize The Humanitas Prize is an award for film and television writing, and is given to writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced and meaningful way. It began in 1974 with Father Ellwood "Bud" Kieser—also the founder of Paulist P ...

nomination for Lotterstein, as well as a

GLAAD Media Award The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their liv ...

nomination for "Outstanding Comedy Series".

Ratings

Awards and nominations

Home media

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:War At Home, The 2000s American sitcoms 2005 American television series debuts 2007 American television series endings English-language television shows 2000s American LGBT-related comedy television series Fox Broadcasting Company original programming Jewish comedy and humor Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television shows set in New York (state) Television series about dysfunctional families Religious comedy television series American LGBT-related sitcoms