'Parenthood' review: Sepinwall on TV (original) (raw)

The cast of NBC's "Parenthood." (l-r) top row; Peter Krause, Sarah Ramos, Dax Shepard, Lauren Graham, Miles Heizer, Sam Jaeger, bottom row; Monica Potter, Max Burkholder, Craig T. Nelson, Bonnie Bedelia, Mae Whitman, Erika Christensen, Savannah Rae

NBC's new family dramedy series "Parenthood" is either the third or fourth take on the material, depending on your point of view.

First, and most famous, was the 1989 movie, directed by Ron Howard and starring Steve Martin and Keanu Reeves (among others). It was a big hit, and quickly led to a 1990 TV version (also on NBC), whose cast included Ed Begley Jr. and a young Leonardo DiCaprio. It was canceled in less than a dozen episodes. (DiCaprio got over it, I think.)

That was it for a while, until Howard’s production company got writer Jason Katims (who already produces "Friday Night Lights" for them) to re-adapt the material for the 21st century, with Peter Krause from "Six Feet Under" and Maura Tierney from "ER" anchoring a large ensemble cast.

NBC loved the pilot Katims made, ordered it to series and scheduled it for fall. Then Tierney, who was easily the best part of that pilot, had to bow out to get treatment for breast cancer. NBC replaced it on the fall schedule with "Mercy" and set about looking for someone to fill Tierney’s shoes, eventually landing "Gilmore Girls" mom Lauren Graham. And Katims took the opportunity created by the recasting to reshoot large swaths of what had been a fairly dark pilot, injecting more humor to come closer to the tone of the original movie.

Point being, something about Howard’s film resonated with people (or, at least, people who wound up working at the network two decades apart) enough that NBC keeps plugging away at adapting it 20 years later.

While "Parenthood" isn’t a great film comedy, the genius of it is its something-for-everyone format. If you didn’t relate to Steve Martin’s desperation for his anxious kid to do well in Little League, you might have empathized with Dianne Wiest’s difficulty at being a single mom with two teenage kids. Or maybe you knew parents like Rick Moranis who trained their little girl for academic excellence like they were Soviet gymnastics coaches, or you could understand Jason Robards’ disappointment whenever con man son Tom Hulce came back into the picture, or...

"Parenthood" the 2010 series isn’t a straight adaptation of the film, but some of the broad character types are familiar, as is the smorgasboard approach to the agony and ecstasy of having kids.

Our lead here is Krause as Adam Braverman, who does indeed worry about how his son Max (Max Burkholder) does in Little League; the wrinkle here is that in the pilot Max is diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, which rocks the world of Adam and wife Kristina (Monica Potter), as well as Adam’s parents Zeke (Craig T. Nelson) and Camille (Bonnie Bedelia) and his three adult siblings.

(For more on the "Parenthood" Asperger's storyline, see my story from Sunday's paper. For more on the enduring popularity of "Parenthood" the film, click here.)

Graham is Sarah the single mom, escaped from a bad marriage to a junkie musician, with alienated teen kids Amber (Mae Whitman) and Drew (Miles Heizer). The child development-obsessed parents have been replaced by Julia (Erika Christensen), a lawyer who feels estranged from the young daughter her stay-at-home husband Joel (Sam Jaeger) is largely raising on his own. The youngest son here is Crosby (Dax Shepard), who has a job as a sound engineer but a severe commitment phobia that has girlfriend Katie (Margerite Moreau) keeping another man’s sperm in her freezer, just in case.

It’s a big cast with lots of storylines, and your mileage may vary on which one works best. Katims based the Asperger story on his experiences with his own son, and the personal touch shows. There’s a specificity to it — say, to Adam turning to Google to see what the phrase "Asperger cure" turns up, or Adam and Kristina being intimidated to meet a couple who are veterans at raising an Asperger kid — that isn’t quite there yet in the other stories. (The regretful career woman plot in particular feels like a rehash of something I’ve seen on six other recent shows.)

But the actors are all good, some playing to type (Krause as well-meaning but easily-frustrated hero), some against it (Nelson as an aging ex-hippie), some in between (Graham’s again a single mom with a teenage daughter, but only occasionally comes across as Lorelai Gilmore). The tone is effectively breezy — even the Asperger story quickly turns into a vehicle for humor (Crosby plays the "my nephew has Asperger’s" card to get out of an obligation with Katie) — and the focus on parenting in all its forms keeps it from feeling like a recast version of ABC’s "Brothers & Sisters."

Like the movie that inspired it, "Parenthood" isn’t an instant classic, but it’s smart and warm and knowing, and it casts its net so wide that at least part of it should connect with you.

And if not, give it a decade or two, and NBC will try again.

"Parenthood" (Tonight at 10 p.m. on Channel 4) Peter Krause, Lauren Graham and Craig T. Nelson star in a new series inspired by the 1989 Steve Martin film.

Alan Sepinwall may be reached at asepinwall@starledger.com, or at 1 Star-Ledger Plaza, Newark, N.J., 07102-1200. Include your full name and hometown.

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