I picked up watching it at the start of the second season. I don’t find it to be all that great but I love Peter Krause so I’ll probably watch it till it’s canceled. At some point I’ll go looking for the first season but it doesn’t seem like its a series that requires you follow it from the beginning. It has entertainment value and fills time but it’s not exactly groundbreaking.
Anyone else have thoughts on this series?
I watched the first few episodes of season one. For a show that’s spun off a comedy movie, it was oddly laugh-free.
My wife and I watch it, usually 2-3 episodes at a time On Demand.
We’ve gotten sucked into the stories. But that’s not to say there isn’t at least two or three things per episode that has us rolling our eyes-- most likely something Sarah does. I mean seriously, could the woman be any more immature? She approaches men like she’s still 15.
I adore this show. Absolutely love it, in fact it’s why I finally got a DVR.
As the youngest of four sisters, I love the conversation-interruptus dialogue style. It’s one of the things my (not from a big family) husband can’t stand but it rings true for me. I like the way the adult siblings are shoe-horned into their roles, the irresponsible one, the flighty one, the smart one, and how they often work to be seen within the family as individuals. I like that the parents get to have a life besides the role of doting grandparents, too.
A realistic portrayal of parenting an autistic kid? In primetime? Never thought I’d see it, and they do a really great job with it. How it effects the family dynamic, how much time the parents spend trying to figure out the right things to do, etc. That’s what got my attention to begin with, having a special needs child myself, and then I just got sucked into caring about the rest of the characters.
I just wish Haddie would fix her hair.
I like it quite a bit too. And in the opening credits, aren’t those authentic childhood pictures of the cast?
We’ve been watching the show since the beginning too.
The only thing that bugs me is that the producers have some set designer that makes every setting ultra-hipster cool. Out of reality over-the-top cool.
-The parents oversized bungalow with christmas lights in the back yard complete with man cave garage.
-The ultra-hip shoe factory.
-The ultra-cool boat that Crosby lived in.
-The ultra-cool studio Crosby & Adam are buying.
-Julia’s hip law firm.
-Crosby’s over-the-top quaint and cute fixer upper.
-The John Hughe’s like McMansions.
-Amber’s new hipster apartment.
What drove me crazy during the latter part of the first season was when Amber was applying to college. I believe she applied only to one or two schools, including UC Berkeley, but wasn’t admitted. So she gave up and this year appears to be living on her own and not planning to attend school. Now, that’s fine if that’s what she wants to do, but the implication was that she couldn’t go to school anywhere. The fact is that the majority of the colleges in America are either open admissions, or not very competitive and presumably a student who had a realistic shot at Berkeley (as an in-state resident, for which I’ll bet that admission to Berkeley is really competitive) can find many schools, even other public schools, that she could have attended instead.
I stopped watching when I realized I thought the acting was far better than the writing and even Peter Krause could not make up for it.
I think it’s better this season…can’t stand Kristina or Julia, though. Might have to start skipping over their storylines.
I think the problem the writers have is trying to negotiate like 10 different major storylines into one episode.