Still a good show IMHO and worth investing the 40 minutes a week for. Something the wife and I like to DVR and watch later.
However we’ve both been questioning the writers lately who seem to usually get all the characters motivations and reactions correct. Joel seems to be acting way out of character and his reactions seemed forced to direct the seperation storyline. It just seems unbelievable.
There’s no impass there that usually leads to a seperation or a long running build up that lead to a split. One incident happens and he wants to ditch his wife and kids seems way out of character.
So, is this rare poor writing for the show or are they hiding some other issues he has that might be revealed later?
I still watch it, pretty much exactly the way you do.
The Joel situation is maddening, b/c those two have spent an astonishing lack of time trying to work on their marriage. While I can understand that Julia’s actions may be enough for some people to call it quits, it’s out of character for Joel to be one of those people. His acting is also pretty rough in that storyline. I used to have trouble figuring out whether he was angry or sad, until my wife pointed out that when he’s sad he uses the same pout but adds some cracking up to his voice.
The latest plot thing that kills me, though, is Kristina Googling “How top open a school” and then deciding that she should open a school for special needs kids. Why, all you need is a building and some teachers, and someone to make hot food! No fancy advanced degrees in Special Education are necessary! Certainly there can be no sort of regulation issues, or any sort of licensing with some sort of local or National Board of Education!
I’m sure my friend who works with special needs children would find that the most hilarious scene in the history of comedy.
My wife watches this show so I end up knowing a lot about it. I, too, agree with the idiocy of the separation storyline. Yeah, there was an instance but it isn’t like they’ve had problems for years. If anything, you’d think he’d at least pretend to be happy for the kid’s sake.
Regarding Joel/Julia… I’m not sure that the writers aren’t planning on pulling them out of this tailspin before the season is over. That said, remember how Joel was written in season 1? He was the stay at home dad and was getting a little too close and personal with another Mom, a storyline dropped in season 2.
The way Joel is reacting to Julia is either written poorly and over the top - or the character is hiding his own problems by piling all the blame on Julia. I wouldn’t be surprised if we find out that he had something happen with his boss (Penny from Lost) and we just haven’t learned of it yet.
He’s acting like somebody that feels guilty for his own transgressions but is taking it all out on his spouse. It happens in real life all the time.
Of course, it could just be a badly handled storyline.
Love Ray Romano on the show. Such a great addition.
Parenthood is running on fumes. It was “cancelled” last season but viewer support brought it back. It appears to be on the chopping block again. Perhaps the writers have already given up on a quality script. If you watch closely, NBC is already airing promos for a new NBC series where the Parenthood executive producer is already moving on.
FWIW with Joel/Julia, I think Joel is hiding an affair with his boss.
I haven’t watched last night’s episode yet, but is the actress playing the mother (Camille?) even still on the show? Even before she went to Italy, she had about two minutes in each episode. I’m wondering if they’re slowly writing her out.
(I started and continue to watch the show because I always liked the original movie.)
Wife and I still watch and enjoy the show. Oddly enough, she said the exact same thing as we were watching last night - “Joel’s leaving over one kiss?”
I think it goes way deeper than that, as others have mentioned. Either he’s hiding something and acting out of guilt, or there are some deep resentment issues. Personally, I think he’s reached his limit with Julia running their lives. She was the bread winner, then decided not to be, then decided Joel should go back to work, but got mad if he worked long hours, then decided they needed to hold their adopted son back a grade, then decided…etc etc…
I want someone to grab Joel and just shake him, they’ve got problems but none worth walking away over. Oddly, I bet if they gave him more screen time to talk about it honestly, it’s not just that kiss at all, that’s the tip of the iceberg. Infertility and treatments and the disappointment over the surrogate keeping her baby and the discombobulation of bringing Victor in and the resulting parental conflicts over how to best handle the inevitable problems, Julia’s rocky reentry into staying at home, Joel’s reentering the workplace… I wonder if it’s not a case of a couple whose marriage always went smoothly because they were so often on the same page that they didn’t develop good conflict resolution skills.
I get Kristina’s frustration with the many kids who don’t fit neatly into either mainstream or special ed schooling. To think that she can get an entire school up and running and staffed and paid for in time for Max to go to high school there? Well, it is Berkley so maybe if it can happen anywhere it can happen there.
It being TV, it will of course work if the writers want it to - but I don’t think either Adam or Kristina actually thinks opening the school is going to be easy. It seemed pretty obvious that they know it’s a huge lift, and they were just kidding around - “Solve these three problems and we’re good to go!”
Of course, from some of what I’ve heard about charter schools, in some places it may actually be that easy . . .
I’m still watching as well, though my motivation for doing so has morphed into a case of “well, I’ve made it this far, so might as well stick it out till the end.”
The Joel/Julia plot breaks my heart as they were always my favorite couple. I don’t know what happened to the people who once had a relationship based on respect, open communication, and partnership but I miss it. I agree that it’s out of character for Joel to leave without even trying to reconcile with his wife. And it’s frustrating that the writers aren’t providing much insight into why he’s reacting this way. Maybe he does feel guilty about a mistake of his own, maybe the actor wants to leave the show, or maybe the writers just wanted to mix it up this season by having one of the core couples break up. I hope that the writers won’t keep us in the dark for much longer.
As for Adam and Kristina, their parenting skills continue to boggle my mind. Rather than consider the possibility that Max is in dire need of discipline, they’ve jumped to the conclusion that their best solution is to open their own school? While I acknowledge the difficulties in raising a special needs child and in ensuring he receives the best education possible, Adam and Kristina are completely disregarding the effects that Max’s behavioral issues have on his fellow classmates. I mean, come on, they didn’t even bother to find out why Max was constantly being sent to the library? It never occurred to them that perhaps their precious snowflake could indeed be disrupting class? If it’s been established that Max understands rules and can abide by them, why haven’t his parents explained that certain behaviors are not acceptable in a classroom setting?
I also find it amusing, in the usual tv universe way, how Adam and Christina can afford their lifestyle put pretend they’re having to make difficult financial decisions.
They have what looks to obviously be a million dollar+ house for the Berkley area, he used to work for a failing shoe company, but they somehow found the extra cash for an expensive best in the field therapist for Max, send a daughter to Berkley, dump a bunch of money into a recording studio, sign a band that has yet to put out an album, have a stay at home wife that can run for Mayor, and now will attempt to open a special needs school?
That whole “So what if my kid disrupts the entire class and makes it hard for them to learn, how dare you put the needs of 29 kids over my special (needs) snowflake!!!” thing they had going really sickens me. Yeah, your situation sucks, but you shouldn’t visit your misery on others unless you’re an incredibly selfish prick.
About the only think I liked about the ep was when Max and Ray were talking in the dark room.
I echo what everyone is saying about the Joel/Julia storyline. I hated it when it looked like Julia was going to have an affair with that guy. I hated that one kiss was (appears to be) enough to send Joel packing. I get that it wasn’t the kiss itself, it’s that she said nothing happened, when something had, but still. I was kind of waiting for the boy they adopted to cry out something like, “Fathers always leave! I knew this family wasn’t any different!” and then run away. Then the crisis of having to find him and bring him home, etc. would bring Joel back to his family.
As for the Max storyline with his schooling. Why didn’t the principal or the teacher explain that Max just plain will not shut up when asked to. Why didn’t they say that they give him a chance to talk for a bit, then expect him to let the teacher talk? Surely parents would understand that if the teacher cannot get a word in edgewise it isn’t good for any of the students, not even Max.