Apparently, parenting drives you crazy.
That certainly seems to be the message conveyed by Thursday night’s three new family comedies, which vary in quality but are similar in approach. On “The Millers,” a divorced man’s life is upended when his meddling mom moves in with him. On “Welcome to the Family,” two sets of parents’ lives are rocked when their teenage kids announce they’re having a baby together. And on “Sean,” a single gay man’s life takes a turn when he gets sandwiched between his live-in teenage daughter and his judgmental mother.
The most promising of the three is “The Millers,” based on the talent involved – a fab four made up of producer Greg Garcia and stars Will Arnett, Beau Bridges and Margo Martindale - and the story they’ve launched, more than the pilot produced. If nothing else, it seems set to provide the best, most empathetic role yet for Arnett, who plays Nathan Miller, a local TV reporter who recently dumped his wife and gained a single pad.
Arnett is a master of fluster, and Bridges is befuddled charm personified. The revelation, though, for those who only know her from her Emmy-winning dramatic work, is Martindale, whose comic timing rivals the best in the business.
Like most CBS comedies, The Millers is going for big laughs. And like many, it goes a bit too far. There’s a little too much sniping, and far too many jokes about passing gas. Not that gas can’t be funny. But a little, as they say, goes a long way.
Where “The Millers” is going for broad comedy, Welcome to the Family ‘s approach is quieter, particularly when Mike O’Malley, an increasingly welcome TV presence, is throwing away some comic aside. There are laughs; they just tend to be gentler.
Based on a premise as ancient as Abie’s Irish Rose, “Welcome” stars O’Malley and Mary McCormack as parents who are thrilled that their underachieving teenage daughter Molly (Ella Rae Peck) is about to make an unexpected exit for college. And then they find out she’s pregnant, which also comes as a surprise to Molly’s Stanford-bound Latino boyfriend (Joseph Haro) and his parents (Ricardo Chavira and Justina Machado).
The two dads immediately hate each other, which provides the conflict.
The humor, however, mostly comes from O’Malley and McCormack. 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, and in a competitive TV environment, that could be a fatal lapse.
On the other hand, “cute” still puts Welcome above Sean Saves the World , a return-to-TV vehicle for Sean Hayes ( Will & Grace ) that continually mistakes frantic for funny. And that’s despite the presence of not just Hayes but of one of our best stage and TV actors, Linda Lavin.
Hayes plays Sean, a divorced dad taking care of his daughter with some unwanted help from his mother (Lavin). His world also includes a new, insanely eccentric boss (Thomas Lennon) and a co-worker and best friend (Megan Hilty).
Hayes is a TV star through and through, with an enjoyably distinctive delivery and a gift for physical comedy. But he’s being pushed too hard to carry the show, and he’s pushing too hard in response. Watching him struggle to get laughs out of a novelty-store weasel, or by climbing out of a bathroom window, is painful.
The best part about this family comedy is, indeed, the family, especially when Hayes and Lavin are sharing the screen. The workplace, however, seems to exist in another world, where no one and nothing is at all amusing. Dump the job and stay closer to home, and we’ll all be happier.
Anything else would be crazy.
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