Jeff Foxworthy plays a man of the same name, but not the world-famous comedian. Jeff is just a regular guy with a witty wife named Karen (Ann Cusack), a wise-cracking but adorable son named Matt (a very young Haley Joel Osment) and an annoying younger son named Justin (Jonathan Lipnicki). Beginning in Season Two, the family has moved back to Jeff's childhood hometown of Briarton, Georgia and he is now the supervisor of a loading dock for a trucking company. Karen is having trouble adjusting to life in the South and more specifically, in the small town of Briarton and in Jeff's grandfather's creaky old home. Fortunately, Jeff's many-times-divorced Dad, "Big Jim" Foxworthy (G.W. Bailey), is never more than a few minutes away. His womanizing ways account for more than a few jokes throughout the season, as does his penchant for get-rich-quick schemes. While he was annoying at first, I grew to love him as a character and he really brings the laughs on.
Karen plays the straight man to Jeff's corny comedy, as she comes from a very different background and a family who is focused on higher education rather than beer and wrestling. She plays off Jeff quite well and is very witty. Jeff's best friend since childhood is Bill Pelton (Bill Engvall) and he is absolutely hysterical. I gained a real appreciation for Engvall's comedic timing and genius. Another colorful character is the trucking company's resident dummy, Florus Workman (Neil Giuntoli), who always seems to steal every scene he is in. My least favorite character was youngest son Justin (Lipnicki, the "cute" kid from Jerry Maguire) whose only seeming purpose in the show was to inject some "cuteness" into things. I merely found him annoying, especially when he said "Show me the money!" during an episode. I nearly gagged. Quite the contrary was Haley Joel Osment, who was absolutely terrific. He truly was cute, but in an easy way. He didn't have to try and really had his comedic delivery down pat. I gained an all-new appreciation for his acting skills and comedic ability.
Most episodes during the season were one-offs and didn't really follow any continuing storyline aside from the fact that the trucking company changed hands and Jeff had to deal with some new managers. They just focused on things like Karen going back to work as an RN or Bill getting enamored with a motivational speaker and changing his life for the better. The season finale and last episode of the show finds the family and friends hunkered down in Jeff's basement contemplating their futures, and when the show comes to an end and they emerge from the basement, the house is in rubble. The last line of the show has Jeff saying, "If you've ever had to look for your roof, you might be a redneck," which was actually a pretty funny way to end the show.
The Jeff Foxworthy Show only ran two seasons and both of those seasons are vastly different from one another because the show made a network change after being dropped by one and picked up by another, and apparently, only Jeff Foxworthy and Haley Joel Osment remained in the cast from Season One. I thought the cast of Season Two worked together really well and I found myself laughing out loud during most episodes. As J.R. Nip and I have discussed many times, the 90's was the era of really good comedy series and The Jeff Foxworthy Show: Season Two only serves to further prove this. If you are a fan of Foxworthy, you'll definitely want to check this show out because it's just plain funny. Even if you don't consider yourself a fan, the cast is a great blend of comedic actors that gel together really well and the season is worth a watch. There are no special features, so it may not warrant a purchase, but it's worth a rental and at 23 episodes at about 22 minutes each, you could run through it in a weekend.
