The Millers

After watching TV's top rated sitcom The Big Bang Theory, CBS has another sitcom hit it the new show The Millers. Greg Garcia, the man behind such shows as Yes Dear and My Name is Earl, not only created and produced The Millers, he also wrote the pilot.

The pilot turned out to be a very funny episode, though it resembled Everybody Loves Raymond with the bickering parents premise.

The casting is outstanding. Will Arnett, a sitcom veteran from Arrested Development and Up All Night is great as Nathan, recently divorced from his wife and trying to adjust to singlehood. But then, his mother Carol, played by Margo Martindale, moves in and brings a Doris Roberts with a southern accent touch to the show. It's Martindale's first sitcom and she handles the format well. She is also very funny, especially in the scene where she tries to eat ice cream with a spatula. She could be considered for an Emmy nomination if the show stays on the rest of the season. I hope it does.

Beau Bridges is also hilarious as the dad, who has trouble with the remotes in Nathan's sister's home. He also handles his first sitcom well. Also contributing to the hilarity are JB Smoove and Jayma Mays, who also plays Emma on Glee.

Big Bang Theory fans don't need to change the channel when the episode ends. Stick around for The Millers. It's going to be a hit.

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.

It's a perfectly watchable show. The writing is not too shabby and it is actually pretty funny. J. B. Smoove again proves he can't act or speak, but other then him the acting is good. For the second season they decided that they needed a gay character and that kind of messed up the show.

Will Arnett may have finally struck gold with this comedy. He plays Nathan Miller, newly divorced reporter, in an unspecified East Coast city. His parents are played by Emmy winners Beau Bridges and Margo Martindale who is a scene stealer. His parents have split after 43 years of marriage. His father is a klutzy mess who manages to cause messes like a child. He moves into their previous home who is being rented out to his daughter and son-in-law. Nathan gets momma at his place. She can be too much too handle at times. She is bossy and interferes in her son's life. She is also so lonely that the viewers see through the facade. The show was created by Greg Garcia who has created "Raising Hope" and "My Name is Earl" sitcoms. He really grasps family dysfunction into comedy. Hope this show lasts a long time and will with cast and crew.

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.