The Millers

Occasionally, you find a show that takes a while to find its groove, like Scrubs. The Millers seems to think it has found it from the start. The talented cast seems ready and willing to dive headfirst into the roles with abandon, herein lies the big problem.

Almost everything here is so overblown that it is almost reaches farce level. Kinda like watching Scrubs, sans the whimsy, and the charm and the clever banter and smart humor and the likable characters. If the 1980 cult turd Flash Gordon was to be serialized, it would be and apt comparison to the tone of this mess.

Lets be honest, when Will Arnett is the actor showing the most restraint you either have a horrible idea or have no directorial control over the cast. Director Kevin Smith once mused that he was not strong enough to control Ben Affleck during the making if Dogma. The Millers leave you with similar feelings.

Out of all the new shows that were debuting this season, this was one of the ones I had mixed reactions about. The cast sounds incredible. With the talents of people like Will Arnett, Margo Martindale, Beau Bridges, JB Smoove and Jayma Mays, it sounds like they would have great chemistry. Also, Greg Garcia is the creator of the one of the most underrated shows right now Raising Hope, which I also had mixed reactions toward before watching it, and it turned out be one of my favorite shows from 2010. The premise sounded really generic and the jokes sounded really lame from the preview. But that was the least of my problems.

This show really wasn't that good. It wasn't all that funny. Fart jokes are not funny anymore...oh wait...EVER! As for the cast, they're all being underused. Will Arnett wasn't funny, Margo Martindale was annoying, Jayma Mays was boring, JB Smoove wasn't funny either and Beau Bridges just annoyed me almost as much as Margo. The writers think by having her character as a chatty person and Beau Bridges's character as a total idiot is funny. However, they use lame jokes that we've seen over and over and over again and we'll probably continue to see them in the next few years. I haven't gotten to my biggest problem with this show.

The laugh track, is so damn annoying. They use the laugh track like every two seconds. They use it for situations that are not even funny. My love of laugh track sitcoms are dying and they're dying fast.

My biggest question with this show is why did it get paired up after The Big Bang Theory? The Big Bang Theory is probably the last laugh track sitcom that I still like, but CBS picked the wrong show to put on after it. The Crazy Ones and Mom are better than this and one of those shows should be on after The Big Bang Theory, not this generic and repetitive garbage.

So in the end, if you liked the preview, you'll like the show. If you didn't like the preview, you won't like the show. The cast is incredibly underused and I hope this show can get better from the pilot at least.

Nathan Miller (Will Arnett) is a self-obsessed local TV reporter who is shocked by his parents Carol (Margo Martindale) and Tom (Beau Bridges) announcing that they're getting divorced. Now his parents split up to live separately with him, and his sister Debbie (Jayma Mays) and her husband Adam (Nelson Franklin) and her daughter Mikayla (Lulu Wilson). Nathan is best friend to his cameraman Ray (J.B. Smoove).

This started awkwardly with the parents splitting up. It's just more annoying than funny. The show is better off to start off after the split. Also for a separating couple, the family keeps hanging out together. The family does grow on me. I love Martindale and she's terrific as the bossy matriarch. The old couple's constant fighting fades more to the background. It is a little uneven. There are some likable laughs. The awkwardness starts to fade. Then the second season tries to bring in Sean Hayes to do a bad recurring role. It's one more mistake that the show doesn't need.

A disappointing waste of a talented cast. Margo Martindale and Beau Bridges are two terrific actors that who have been handed dialog that makes them come off as bad actors. Quick! Get new writers! I could not believe that hateful fight scene between Margo and Beau. Divorce isn't a particularly funny subject but it's going to need special handling when the script is centered around a couple who has been married for more than 40 years. When Debra's parents decided to divorce, on another sitcom with Raymond in the name, after being married a long time the writers didn't stoop to adding venomous conversations between the two partners. The Millers writers obviously thought the mutual attack scene was funny. I found it sad.

Quick! Get new writers - please!

Some of the reviews here are ridiculous. This is one of the best TV programmes on telly. People cribbing the fact that they have seen the concept before when it's rare to see something unique. The writing is witty and snappy and in Arnett and Smoove it has possibly the two best comedy actors around. Ignore the IMDb score and ridiculous reviews this is an excellent programme, the jokes are clever and there are some nice tie ins with previous jokes. In one scene Nathan (Arnett) gets home to find his best mate Ray (Smoove) in his apartment with Nathans mother, Ray says he is staying in Nathans for a few night and Nathan asks what is wrong with his apartment, Ray says he had a big lady back and he wants to give the memory foam mattress a chance to forget, excellently delivered by the two mentioned actors. Watch a couple of episodes and thank me later