Extended Family

Extended Family had a rough start. I won't deny it. But its first season has improved with each episode. Yes - there are come cliches to the story. But I think the creatives took the criticisms of the early episodes and have worked to make it better.

This is what streaming CAN'T do. Let shows grow and improve week by week. With streaming you need a good first season from beginning to end because of it dropping at once. I know some streaming shows do week to week release but they film the season all at once. While that can work for some shows particularly at HBO, it doesn't work for mainstream streaming.

Linear TV is important.

Emmy award winner Jon Cryer is back in a sitcom role as a divorcing father, Jim Kearney, of two in Boston, Massachusetts. Lenny Clarke plays his character's father on a recurring role. Donald Faison plays, Trey, who also owns the Boston Celtics, the popular professional basketball team. Trey becomes his ex-wife's fiance. The kids get along with the new arrangement. The parents are co-parenting in the contemporary age. Boston is a great city to set a sitcom too. The cast is good but could be better. I have seen almost all of the first eight episodes. I would prefer to see more slapstick humor or even physical humor in the show. We need to see more sitcoms. The art of comedy is a lot harder than drama anyway. Jon Cryer and the cast are doing their best with what they have.

After the first few episodes, I thought no, what were they thinking, this is ridiculous and will never work. But I have loved Jon Cryer since Pretty in Pink, and I fell n love with Donald Faison in Clueless. So I hung in there, and I'm so glad that I did. It is a very engaging story about exes who remain good friends. It's a light hearted comedy about family life. It's fun for the entire family. I think it's a well written script, and a good cast whose comedic timing is flawless. Does it get a little cheesy sometimes. Yes. Does it go overboard sometimes. Yes. But that's what makes it fun to watch. Cryer isn't afraid to step outside the box and be a little cheesy. I think it makes for good entertainment.

I had high hopes for this show. I liked all of the principal actors in other shows, and the premise seemed original. But, as with he new "Frasier", the laugh track is tired and trite.

Someone, somewhere thinks that if they throw in a bunch of laughs, giggles and gasps, it will make their bad show worth watching. I have a tip: if it's not funny in the first place, a laugh track won't change anyone's perception of the show.

And now, to make up the required character count, I will create the IMDB "character track" for your amusement. Try not to laugh! Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

There were so many red flags right out of the gate that this was not going to be anything more than a mediocre sitcom. Unfortunately it did not even live up to that minimal expectation.

First was the completely unfunny trailer. When they can't even make you smile, let alone laugh, in the trailer, you know worse is yet to come. Second, once you do choose to give this a try (against your better judgement) you are smacked in the face with a loud, obnoxious laugh track. And while annoying as heck, it also always means there is nothing actually funny happening on screen so they need to provide the illusion of humor via canned laughter. Third is the fact that two of the three main actors are trying to be funny but simply can't pull it off with the dismal writing and plot they have to deal with while the third (yes, it's Faison, he is awesome!) is funny but like the others, has been severely hampered by the writers and whoever came up with this plot line.

I cannot endure more than the few shows I sat through to write a fair review, so I'm done. But still I say give it a try because we all have different tastes in sitcoms. I have liked some in the past that others did not, so watch and make your own call.