Parenthood

So um, yeah. I checked out the premiere episode of Parenthood on NBC tonight (which, by the way, was sponsored by Nissan). Ahem. Well. Let's get on with it, shall we?

The show seems to be about an extended clan named the Bravermans. Or would that be Bravermen? Never mind. There are four adult children, two of them married, most of them with kids. But each of the Braverman siblings have issues, ranging from the mundane (Julia is a workaholic lawyer whose little girl who wants her daddy to do everything for her) to the more serious (such as Adam and Christina's son being diagnosed with Asperger's). Lots of potential drama in there, I suppose, what with Sarah moving home with her two delinquent children and Crosby being forced into life-changing situations.

By the way, did I mention that Parenthood was brought to us tonight with limited commercials because of NISSAN? No? Well, there you go . . .

So why would I watch this show at all? It's not my typical fare, that's for sure. You can blame Lauren Graham. It's no secret that my wife got me hooked on Gilmore Girls a while back. And while Amy Sherman-Palladino disappointed me post-Gilmore, I was curious to see if I could watch Graham act in another role without having my brain lock up in cognitive dissonance and wonder why Lorelai isn't in Stars Hollow where she belongs.

Sadly, my internal IFF refused to accept Graham as Sarah. Perhaps Graham's range as an actor prevented that from happening, I don't know. Maybe it's the way the character was written. Hard to say. It probably doesn't help that the writers seem to be recycling a character arc from the first two seasons of Gilmore Girls. In the season preview at the end of the episode, it was revealed that Sarah was going to crush on her daughter's teacher (who looked an awful lot like Rider Strong, although I could be wrong; his IMDb page doesn't list this as one of his roles). Gee, where have I heard that before?

Oh, and before I forget: NISSAN!!!!!

A pleasant surprise was realizing that Sam Jaeger played a very scruffy Joel Graham. It took me a while to realize I had seen him in something else recently and it took a trip to the official website to realize he had been on Eli Stone.

I really don't know what to think of this show. It didn't ring any bells for me, not the way, say, Castle or Chuck does. I might keep watching; I suppose that'll depend on if my wife wants to. I know I can take it or leave it, especially given the ridiculous pandering that was done for a certain car company that shall remain nameless.