Purely Joyful Movie!

Perfect cast and a good story

Better Late Then Never

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Polly Green-Tatham (Sarah Chalke) leaves her husband Julian Tatham (Jon Dore) and is forced to move back home with her daughter Natalie. Her mother Elaine Green (Elizabeth Perkins) is a free-thinking liberated woman. Her stepfather Max Green (Brad Garrett) is traditional. Her husband keeps coming over. She befriends her much younger co-worker Jenn (Stephanie Hunt).The parents are both just caricatures. It's hard to see the love or chemistry between them and the family. Sarah Chalke is the only good thing in this show. And it's not enough to keep the show going. Half a season is all there is and that's probably enough.

Love this show!! All the actors are believable in their roles and there is inclusion of some Hippie life for those of us who an relate to that generation and their children. So glad not to have another idiotic show where the acting is too exaggerated to be funny or the storyline is written for teens with an "OMG" and "Oh yeah, like really, like" conversation. Great entertainment - I look forward to it on Wednesday nights, but i see it is not listed tonight - ugh. probably replaced with some idiot thing like Anger Management. If you like Modern Family, you'll like this show too. It capitalizes on combining family humour in the context of families that Boomers can also relate to.

I watched the first two episodes, Polly seems a bit too old to have the parents that she has, not trying to be offensive or anything. Also, the parents, especially her mother is trying really hard to be funny by trying to be old, which makes her very annoying, definitely NOT funny!Not crazy about her acting in this show. The parents are very irresponsible, which is kind of unrealistic because Polly seems like she has grown up quite alright. Also Polly's ex-husband is very childish (that's why she left him) same old, same old. Everybody is childish and irresponsible in this show except for Polly, which is exaggerated. Nothing interesting here! I was expecting so much more because Sarah Chalke, Elizabeth Perkins and Brad Garrett are very good actors, and the actress who plays Polly's daughter seems adorable. The only way I would watch this TV show is if I would need the TV as background sound so I wouldn't feel lonely while working.I'm sorry but it just wasn't interesting to me.

I'm more of a lurker than a reviewer, but I find that current reviews and ratings of this series (the pilot episode) deviate too much from its true worth. First the good: This series has higher than average (sitcom- wise) production values. It doesn't feel plastic, and it doesn't feel like everything is happening inside a studio (except the job scenes). Then the acting, especially that of the parents is really solid (and even the daughter's, and kid actors nailing a part is hard). The script doesn't exclusively rely on pun quantity (in other sitcoms actor's just sit there saying weird outlandish stuff one after the other in the hopes that one of them clicks...) and it does deliver some real laugh-out-loud moments (few though) and I haven't laughed with a sitcom in years. OK, maybe I chuckle with every fourth episode of Modern Family (it's getting better) but that's it. The bad: there are some cliché stuff and a little contrived sentimentality, there are some unfunny situations, and while weird characters are interesting, the divorced husband guy and the mother is more of a caricature (BTW parents are more or less ripped off from meet the Fockers I think, but funnier)