Crowded

Together they [Patrick Warburbon and Carrie Preston] put a fair amount of zing into NBC’s New York City-set Crowded, which otherwise has a thoroughly shopworn premise and an increasingly outdated laugh track.

A genial, old-fashioned--nay, prehistoric--family sitcom on the wrong network.

The comedy comes off as a less funny “Modern Family,” with the daughters uncannily similar (one’s dim and fashionable; the other is smart and geeky) to the “MF” girls.

Crowded has a couple of laughs--mostly due to Warburton’s deadpan reactions --but mostly it mines well-trod sitcom ground with jokes on parents smoking pot (they get the munchies!) and old people yelling.

Mr. Warburton is his usual deadpan self as Mike, which makes him seem decidedly out of place in this household, where everyone else is over-energized and overacting. This series, created by Suzanne Martin and inspired by her own life, has a throwback feel, with lots of quick gags and not much depth.

It combos clichéd plots like marriage problems and familial discord with attempted stabs at topical hot-button issues (Stella is gay for a scene), but does justice to neither and appears disinterested in its own goings-on in the process.

Instead of poking fun of modern families with millennials who return home and the awkwardness that can create, viewers are treated to over involved parents who placate their kids and exacerbate their own problems. This is not only frustrating to watch but completely unfunny.