Oliver Beene

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Oliver Beene is a 2003 American sitcom set in the early 1960s, and ran Sunday nights on FOX as a replacement for the then-cancelled Futurama. It is about the titular character's struggle to survive his unpredictable family, consisting of his dentist dad Jerry, homemaker mom Charlotte, and womanizing older brother Ted. Oliver's friends Michael and Joyce, however, make things a lot more bearable.

This show ran for two seasons with 24 episodes in total, with only the last two episodes never airing in America.


Tropes used in Oliver Beene include:
  • Anachronism Stew: Happens on occasion for comedic effect, such as when Jerry and Charlotte spying on other people at their apartment and referencing current TV shows as if they were watching television, such as Joe Millionaire and Queer Eye.
  • Butt Monkey: Oliver.
  • Camp Gay: Oliver's best friend Michael by far, if not Camp Straight.
  • Girl Next Door: Bonnie to Oliver.
  • Midseason Replacement: When Futurama got canned, this was put in its place.
  • The Nicknamer: The aptly-named "Nickname", whose nicknaming is so pervasive in the school that many kids are only known by them.
  • Not What It Looks Like: During a field trip, Oliver's thermos of chicken soup flies out the window as the bus hits a bump, with some of it spilling on his shirt. He then says that he "lost his lunch", which is slang for vomiting. The other kids continue to take this figuratively no matter how many times Oliver tells them otherwise.
  • Retraux: Fox's Sunday night promos were done in a 1960s style when this aired.
  • Ship Tease: Between Oliver and Joyce.
  • Vomit Discretion Shot: In the episode where Oliver and his dad spend some quality time together, when Oliver vomits, the scene cuts to a fountain statue spitting water.