Ordinary Joe

I like that NBC is trying a new idea with this show, and it works out well, for the most part. The biggest issue with the show is the lack of focus, because there's 3 different realities where Joe made different decisions. This results in a messy episode that's very unfocused, and can be tough to follow at times. But even with that, each story is interesting and engaging, with Joe making different decisions and has to struggle Joe is also a solid protagonist so far. He's likeable, and relatable with him unsure what he wants to do. As the audience, we are engaged in Joe's stories and the struggles he has to overcome. Some of the other characters were also solid to, such as Amy and Jenny Overall it's a solid show. It may have an unfocused story, but has engaging characters and handles it's concept in a fascinating way.

I wanted to like this show. I like James Wolk. Acting is decent. Interesting concept. However...

As others have said, it jumps around way too quickly. As each "life" is made up of the same actors, it becomes hard to follow. But the biggest problem I had with the show is, other than the same characters living three different lives, there's no real purpose... no reason for the links. There's no payoff. You're literally watching the same actors playing three different parts telling three variations of three essentially unrelated stories. As such, none of the stories are told particularly well and really, the "what if" premise just becomes, "oh, okay, so that would happen instead." So what?

Left me bored and wondering why.

I have been interested for years in the concept where a series of random events and choices we make have a great influence on the direction our lives take. My first wife died recently and, even though we are no longer married, for our children I wrote a 10,000 word history of how we met and the series of random events that led up to it, plus all the random events that resulted in each child being born. The kids loved it.

This new series borrows on that, where Joe at graduation and the immediate aftermath, has the opportunity of three different choices. What the program does is show us what happens in each of the different choices. It takes a bit of effort to keep up with which life we are seeing but is done very well and color shading is used, green when he is the nurse, blue when he is the policeman, and red when he is the rock star. It makes for an interesting, and thought-provoking, TV show. My wife and I have continued to watch it.

This sort of has a "This Is Us" vibe to it and that is a good thing as far as we are concerned. Another plus is that each show is available streaming on Peacock the next day so we can watch it at our leisure if we want to use the initial broadcast time for something else. Or simply re-watch parts of an episode to gain more insight.

Update FEB 2024: Seems the COVID pandemic and its aftermath just lost this TV series with no explanation.

You've got to be kidding. This was one of the best 3 shows on TV and they've canceled it.

With all the trash TV and reality TV why do they always get rid of the good ones.

I really like this show. I don't understand peoples issues with this concept. It seems like people can't handle and intelligent program. They don't want to have to think and pay attention to anything long. This is interesting and fun to watch.