Parenthood

It's less the Plot Events that ring true here than the well-played little side moments and background squabbles, the simmering resentments and recriminations, the emotional tugs-of-war.

The show is a birdhouse full of woodpeckers. [24 Sep 2012, p.54]

Tere's real promise in Parenthood. In time, we may all genuinely care whether Crosby and Sarah find themselves, or at least grow up.

All those plot threads could be beneficial in sustaining the series on a serialized basis, but Parenthood's multifaceted vision of family risks feeling too precious in places.

The overstuffed pilot piles on a few too many weepy crises, many involving Adam’s young son (who may have Asperger’s syndrome), but the strong cast’s considerable charm breaks through.

With such a talented writer on board, Parenthood deserves a few more episodes to iron out some of its more trite, movie-of-the-week storylines, allowing its multifaceted characters, and all their routine tribulations, to organically manifest as life consequently unravels.

Watching this dismal intragenerational cluster of families is sort of like seeing a Roots for the cannibal gangs in The Road.