Critic Reviews

What makes Welcome to the Family interesting, and rather sweet, is that it confounds expectations.

Welcome to the Family may have the most potential of the new Thursday comedies, for the simple reason that it depends largely on careful character development as the grounding for its humor.

Welcome to the Family is not as bad as it sounds, mostly because some of the writing is clever, and all the actors are good. But Ms. McCormack in particular brings a likably tough, funny texture to the often thankless job of mother of the pregnant bride.

Everyone does their bit, performance-wise, but O'Malley, who came to everyone's attention as Kurt's father in "Glee," is the key player here. He and McCormack instantly create a dryly endearing couple, while he and Chavira may turn out to have the most fruitful antagonism since Maude met Archie Bunker.

There are no awful characters and no bad actors; this is a cute little show that exceeds expectations. What it's yet to provide, though, is a compelling reason to watch.

While Family has predictable moments, it has the potential to provide some pleasant surprises.

The sharp performances of the combative in-laws-to-be help sell the overdone situation.

There are moments in the pilot where a smarter, more closely observed Welcome To The Family peeks through.... The most unfortunate victim of Welcome To The Family’s pacing is the pilot’s sense of humor.

Welcome to the Family is a passable half-hour that fends for itself without a laugh track and manages to deliver a few un-goosed grins.

Not great, not terrible, Welcome to the Family is another occasionally amusing but not really funny family comedy.