Normal Life

was the cast AND the set were all recognizable from other places. Max Gail and Cindy Williams were charming together and I'm surprised neither of them went on to better projects. Leah Remini was on this show at a time in her career where she wasn't yet famous, but recognizable, having been on Cheers and Evening Shade. With a cast like this with so many hit shows behind them (Barney Miller, Laverne and Shirley, Cheers...) this show should have done much better than it did. It was cute and humorous, but not unique. And it came along just as the 1980's family sitcom was losing popularity.

The set was the California house from Laverne and Shirley that's now getting used in Two and a Half Men.

I know, I know, this probably isn't the most "useful to you" comment, but things like trying to remember where I saw a staircase before can drive me nuts.

This was kind of the original Osbournes, and had Frank Zappa starred instead of Max Gail maybe it would be thought of that way. Instead, hippie writer Gail and Cindy "Shirley" Williams are the parents of Frank's kids, Moon and Dweezil. The kids are liberally minded artists and so are the parents, so where's the hook?

Well, the parents are old, which makes anyone conservative: not politically but just... not so wild.

Dweezil is a would-be rock guitarist, which seems original and edgy being that his dad here is a writer, and not a famous rock star: that would have rendered this character useless like Dweezil might have felt through his life.

Moon Unit is cute, Dweezil plays a mean (if rather glossy-sounding) guitar, their little brother is straight outta central casting, and basically, this show didn't have a chance because it just wasn't edgy enough. At an attempt to break the "normal sitcom" envelope they simply mailed it to another address.

This show was hilarious. Max Gail was the father, who sometimes gave good advice, but was mainly there to show that a nuclear family existed. The real plot was Shirley Williams trying to interact with the kids, played by the real-life Zappa siblings. Moon Unit and Dweezil were very believable in their parts as teenagers trying to survive their mother's interference. This was a tragedy that it was cancelled and that Shirley went on to do the abysmal "Steel Magnolias."