The 21-episode third (and final) season of Titus aired during the 2001/2002 TV season, starting in the winter of 2001 and continuing (due to schedule interruptions) until the summer of 2002. Titus was a show that pushed a lot of boundaries. In some ways, it was a sitcom in name only because it could get dark and dramatic and then turn on a dime and be extremely funny. It was a show, much like in the vein of Family Guy, American Dad, and Arrested Development, that would make fun of anything at any time and most likely could not get past the censors if it was on the air today. You can actually see much of the style of this show in the original Fox run of Arrested Development, which is another show Fox gave short shrift to. I really look at this show as the trailer park version of Arrested Development, showing a more real dysfunctional family.
The show is based on comedian Christopher Titus' one-man comedy show called Norman Rockwell is Bleeding, where he basically tells a bunch of stories about his screwed-up life. While things have been fictionalized for the show and to make them more funny, most of the events depicted, if you listen to the commentaries and watch the DVD extras, were based on events that happened in his life. The core cast of Titus, Zack Ward, Cynthia Watros, David Shawtraw, and Stacy Keach was tremendous. Keach continued in season 3 to steal nearly every scene he was in. Elizabeth Berkeley was also added as a recurring character playing Titus' sister and blended with the cast very well.
The third season of the show got very dark, tackling topics of suicide, sexual abuse, and mental illness, and had a two-part finale that, frankly, I am amazed made it on the air given it aired after 9/11, which involved the whole group getting arrested as suspected terrorists trying to bring down a plane. One of the standout moments of the season, and really of the series, appears in the episode Tommy's Not Gay, where they go from an extremely funny joke to Titus in the "neutral space" (which is basically inside his head talking directly to the audience) where he comments on the murder of Matthew Shepard, which was a perfect example of how the show went from funny to serious within a couple seconds. The cast and showrunners felt that the dark bent to the series probably had a lot to do with its demise, but I think the show stuck to what it wanted to be, regardless of how controversial, and would not have worked as a watered-down production.
The show ended way before its time. The series ended with a big cliffhanger. Most likely anyone reading this by now knows what it was, but on the off chance, someone reading this does not know I will not spoil it. In some ways, it was a perfect way to end the series, but in other ways, it left a lot up in the air. The DVD includes an episode that either aired way after the finale or never aired, that did not address the events of the prior episodes but itself had a very powerful theme.
For those who do shell out for the DVDs (which you will have to pay more for, given they are out of print), the extras include commentary tracks on select episodes, interviews with Stacy Keach, Cynthia Watros, and Zack Ward, and Blooper reels from seasons 2 and 3. The interviews and commentaries were interesting in that they were done years after the show was already off the air, so they were much more reflective on the experience of working on the show as a whole than they were specific to Season 3. If you want to get a copy of the season 3 DVD set, I suggest watching the auction sites and third-party sellers like a hawk because it takes some patience to get it at a good price. I have seen them ranging from about $50 to well over $100 for a new or like new set. Sometimes, even sets that are pretty beaten up are listed for pretty high prices. But if you are patient, you can find it for a decent price. The show will definitely not appeal to everyone, and there is not likely to be a lot of middle-ground feelings toward it. You will likely either love the show or hate it, but it is one of the best sitcoms of all time, and definitely worth getting if you can find it at a reasonable price.
