In the US: Tuesdays, 9/8c, NBC
The average number of children per family in the United Kingdom is 2. In the United States it’s 3.1.
I mention this purely because of the above picture. Seriously, that’s one pair of grandparents, their children and most of their grandchildren and partners – at least in the US show Parenthood. Really, some kind of Chinese-style child-reduction policy is needed here because, at the very least, keeping track of all these characters is way too difficult. Look, NBC have even had to create this family tree for us to deal with all the characters in Parenthood, and they’re not all on it. There are more than this:
Parenthood, as you may recall, was an 80s comedy about the ‘Buckman’ family that looked at the trials and tribulations of being a parent. Apparently, being a parent isn’t easy – who knew? Oh wait – everyone. That’s the correct answer. Everyone knows.
This TV series, exec produced by the movie’s original producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, is an at-best loose adaptation of that movie, with the Buckmans having become the Bravermans, and comedy having become misery.
I’m not going to lie to you – it’s not fun and it’s not great, but RGBE denizen Monica Potter in it, so it might worth a look-in.
Here’s a trailer, but you’ll notice that Maura Tierney is in it. She’s been replaced by Lauren Graham off Gilmore Girls, as you can see from the behind-the-scenes featurette beneath it, and the teenage girl’s been recast/hair-dyed as well. But you get the idea.
