User Reviews

This is a television show that for its three season run consistently had some of the best writing ever seen on television. Comedies are rarely given much recognition and commercial shows for kids, never, but Honey, I Shrunk the Kids episodes are really well-crafted, witty spoofs that stand up over time. The best episode I feel is about Morpheus who rules the dream world. In this show, Nick is worried about dissecting frogs and keeps having nightmares. His sister, Amy, is worried about taking her SAT's. The plot weaves together their fears and their personal strengths and weakness (nick is logical/Amy is intuitive) in a humorous, dramatic and meaningful way. If there were any justice in the world, this script should have won an emmy and be discussed in film and English classes. If this show ever comes out on DVD, it is definitely worth purchasing.

I rarely ever write reviews but I stumbled across this show and it has genuinely surprised me with its quality. I've only purchased Season 1 and seen 6-7 episodes but it's been consistently some of the best family fare TV I've ever seen, hopefully it holds up in seasons 2 and 3.

At its core it's a family sitcom but the sci-fi elements allow it to mix in much more varied plotlines than usual, in the few episodes I've seen they've already got the ghost of a 1930s gangster possessing the dad's body, Canadian secret agents recruiting the dad to help save their nuclear submarine (James Bond parody), and two time travel episodes to the Old West and the 70s. The costuming, writing, acting and cultural references all work together extremely well so there's a real sense of momentum and immersion in each episode - it really creates a setting and you're rarely ever bored in it. At the same time you don't get whiplash from moving all over the place as the core family cast does a great job off connecting the audience and keeping the show grounded.

There's generally several key guest characters in each episode (a badass cowboy, the Canadian secret agent, the 30s gangster, etc) that are critical for setting the tone for that episode and I have to really commend the acting job done there. Great side characters are a hallmark of quality TV shows and so far this show has nailed that aspect.

9/10, perfect show for family viewing.

I originally watched this when I was a kid when I think it was going through repeats. I loved every episode I was able to watch. The adventures of an inventor who continually makes world-changing gadgets and devices is just an incredible notion to me (I really love fun sci-fi like this). I loved the movies and, honestly, I think the show is better. All the different inventions and family dynamics were done so well for the show. All the characters are fun and have their own identity which is something I find refreshing and bright.

One thing I absolutely hate is that this series has never been put out on DVD. I think you can buy them off Amazon but I much prefer having a hard copy for collecting sake. As well as just making sure I have a physical object to own instead of being given license to watch.

If you're able to find a way to watch this show nowadays, good luck. Pretty much most main links you could think of don't really exist. Probably have to go off the beaten path if you want to recover this gem.

Just watch the thing if you can. I doubt emails to Disney would wind up doing any good.

When I first heard of this series, I thought it was going to be a stupid, corny, throw-away series. After a few episodes, however, I was pleasantly surprised. The family is perfectly casted (they're better than their original movie counterparts), and the dialogue is original and funny, which is the basis of this show's success. The plots are extremely corny (e.g. family gets trapped inside of T.V., family harbors a bigfoot couple, and family travels back to the Wild West days with some aliens) but amazingly they are able to pull them off with sharp dialogue and very creative elements (e.g. every comment is punctuated, very humorously, with a laugh track when trapped inside a sitcom, and the bigfoot couple whine and bicker like married humans). It's sad that the show is so underrated and has such a obscure time slot (11:00 AM, Sundays).

The kids are well casted, the parents are loving and humorous. They are truly better casted than the movie. The characters do a fantastic job, and they work. They're compatable, they have loving moments. Even though the fathers problematic inventions can make plans go awry, they make it through and with pleasantly funny moments. The best episode is the one where the father joins a Canadian spy mission, and so does the family. They actually shrunk the moon.

"Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" is the rare film-to-TV series that beats its source material. While the movies are often plodding, cumbersome messes with anonymous characters, "HISTK" the TV series is firmly grounded in Matheson, Colorado, a sort of Anytown U.S.A. where anything can happen. Realistic science is, thankfully, tossed out the window: it's supposed to be a silly romp through suburbia fueled by wild creations from the Szalinskis.

I dare say the casting and acting is better than all the movies. Peter Scolari replaces the recognizable Rick Moranis, and actually does an even better job at the character. Scolari's Szalinski is a family man who invents things that go wrong, but he still has enough charm to make his relationship with his wife and kids reasonable. Barbara Alyn Woods makes what could have been a typical "Mom" character into an interesting, intelligent, and active co-conspirator/victim/commentator on the happenings in the household. Hillary Tuck and Thomas Dekker play the Szalinski kids, with Amy being a witty, sarcastic-but-never-irritating rival to Nick's sensible, science-minded personality. They form a believable family, more believable than most "normal" sitcoms on primetime.

Created by Kevin Murphy (he also created the brilliant "Weird Science" TV show on USA with Vanessa Angel), the show's stories are often breezy, sometimes predictable, but never boring. Unfortunately, HISTK is over (it had a three-season run), but, for my money, it remains a memorable comedy/scifi with truly likable characters.

I too thought that this would be a hacked rip off of the movie. Boy what a supreme surprise. The show was infinitely better then the movie. Then I realised why this series was so clever and so awesomely funny and intelligent -Savage Steve Holland who did the acidic and hilarious 'better off dead' movie, was directing these. And this has even wound up on the Disney Channel - go figure!

I remember watching loads of episodes as a kid and watched the movie only after having watched the TV show and it didn't stand up to the stuff that Szalinskis were pulling on the TV.

There were sub-plots involving all characters and every episode featured a new invention which went awry. It was well-acted and the humor for a kids' show was spot on. There were Bigfoots, aliens, ghosts, international spy agencies even noir. There was goofy humor, some fanservice from the beautiful Diane (red dress), Mr Jennings as the funny boss, Jake Mckenna as the neighbor who inevitably ends up involved in Wayne's schemes.

Tbh most of the Disney live action shows that came after did not even stand close to it. And given the state of live action tv from Disney right now, its better they don't remake it unless they can rediscover the 'fun' spirit of the original

This show is under-rated and deserves more acclaim. It is a fine series of far-out adventures which always keep you entertained. The dialogue is witty, the characters are perfectly cast and despite the low plausibility of some of the material this is always forgiven. The plot of some of the episodes ,aliens taking over the world, a corporate leader turning everybody into choose are as entertaining as many blockbuster films, and the storylines make constant reference to fairytales and make satirical references. This deserves to be bigger than it is, catch it if you can.

There were two things I enjoyed about this show. The first was the actors who actually did a better job than those in the movies. The second was how the show used (odd) science and magic to put a new spin on the problems facing the cast of countless other family sitcoms.

The boy wishes he was an adult, no problem, drink a potion and he becomes an adult. The girl has a stalker, but here he is an alien. The dad doesn't get the credit he deserves at work, but why should he when his invention turns the future into a dystopia.

But while the cast was great, and the action even greater. The one thing I did not like about it was that despite being a comedy show the dialog simply wasn't funny. I cannot remember a single time I laughed watching this.

Before the review, a brief plot summary: Wayne Szalinski is a brilliant and eccentric inventor working for Mr. Jennings at GENTEK. Happily married with a lawyer named Diane for a wife, he has a son, Nick (who follows in the tradition of his father) and a daughter Amy (witty but a bit spoiled). Neighbour to Police Chief Jake McKenna and his family, Wayne is the inventor of the shrink ray, the time hopper, the fully equipped van, and several other wacky creations which, whie functioning almost exactly as they were supposed to, always somehow backfire, sending the family into situations involving crime, aliens and the supernatural.

For one thing, the cast is far better than the movie. Peter Scholari is amazing at Wayne and far better than Rick Moranis, and these actors potray the characters and their relationships far more easily and with more wit. Now potraying Wayne's job and the people at work, this is like a sitcom... only much better.

The titles are always amusing, with examples like "Honey, The House Is Trying To Kill Us", "Honey, We're Past Tense" and "Honey, I'm The Wrong Arm Of The Law", and the one-liners make James Bond blush. "Deader than a Charlie Sheen flick", "When you have a brainstorm, it's a drizzle", and "The mayor will be back in six months, his term was shortened on good behaviour" are some of my favourites. Like Stephen King, When the plots are explained, they sound silly and corny, ie the van is shrunk and falls into Grampa's drink ("Honey, We've Been Swallowed By Grandpa"), a machine sucks them into the Tv ("Honey, We're On TV), and that Wayne inherits a billionaire's brain to re-animate ("Honey, It's A Billion Dollar Brain"). However, also like Stephen King, they are executed well. Unlike "Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves", "Honey, I Blew Up The Kid" and those other cheap sequels, of course.

The spoofs are also very amusing. For example, in "From Honey, With Love" Wayne is showing some foreign buyers some metal at GENTEK, which they try to steal, when Dalton Pierce shows up. He's a Canadian secret agent, and impressed by Wayne's gadgets. He joins Dalton's organization taking the code letter P ("Oh, I can just hear: 'Let's get P on this one'."). When the superspy is accidently blinded by one of Wayne's inventions, P takes his place, trying to trap a villian on the Canadian submarine Scotia. He finds it has been abandoned and the villian has left explination of his death (the way villians would tell Bond) on the computer, where Wayne can listen like on voice mail, "If you were suprised, press one. If you saw it coming, press two." Wayne then finds a bomb left to destroy the ship, and, when failing to disarm it, uses his hand-held shrink ray to turn it into a tiny explosion. Better than Austin Powers, Get Smart or Spy Hard.

Theres so much more about this show I cant list it all, see it for urself!

Let's recap. The first "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" movie was the best of the series and the special effects used in it have held up extremely well since 1989. "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid" was mediocre at best. "Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves" was just plain stupid. Now we have a T.V. series? What the hell? I mean, since the last two sequels to the original "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" movie bombed, what made the writers think they could possibly do a T.V. show without having disastrous results? The story lines for the series are incredibly stupid and range from Wayne getting trapped inside the T.V. to getting sent back in time. Please, just quit now. What is it with Wayne anyway? Why does he keep getting himself and his family into these chaotic situations? Besides, if I remember correctly, in "Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves", didn't Diane Szalinski say that the state had strictly forbidden Wayne from ever using his machine for any reason and he used it anyway? In either case, he broke the law and should have been arrested for endangering the lives of himself, his family, as well as everyone around him.

This is a great series, but with a few problems. One, it takes place at the same time as the first money, not the latest. Two, spending more then 50 cents on special effects might be good. In one episode, the family was meant to be frozen, but you could see them breathing and blinking!

I enjoyed this show a lot during its first season. It was a good kids' sci-fi show and not too violent except in the James Bond parody episodes. Things went downhill in the second season, and by the third season the show had become 'The X-Files' for kids. It was usually funny even then but could be quite dark. Peter Scolari was wonderful as the nutty scientist, and the rest of his family was good too. Lots of crazy situations, and problems parents would never have considered being possible for their children.

I can't believe somebody ever took the time to write and direct such a stupid and nonsense show. And what is worst how somebody could act in this show without feeling some sort of shame. I guess they were without jobs and they needed the money. Peter Scolari was great in bosom buddies with Tom Hanks, but I guess that this show made me realize the reason why Tom hanks went to be one of the greater actors of all time and Peter had to do something so imbecile as this show. I watch it because there's nothing else on TV, but then I get mad cause i am watching something so repulsive. Please if you are a human being that thinks, don't watch it. If you are brain dead, well this is your show.