Parenthood, NBC
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Caution: spoilers.

So... this 2010 show is based on a 1989 movie that I never saw, and there was a 1990 TV series also based on that movie, which I also never saw. But I wanted to check this show out because the cast includes some actors I like. There's Lauren Graham (who we quite like, and who was awesome in one of my favorite shows ever, Gilmore Girls). There's Mae Whitman (who we like, and who was awesome in several live-action as well as animated roles, including my very favorite show ever, Avatar: The Last Airbender). There's Peter Krause, from yet another of my favorite shows, Sports Night. There's Craig T. Nelson (who was in "Coach," which I was never big into, but he did voice work in my favorite movie ever, The Incredibles). There's Sarah Ramos (who we like, and who was good in American Dreams). And... a bunch of other people, who are mostly unfamiliar to me. It's a sprawling ensemble cast.

Anyway. Nelson and Bonnie Bedelia (who we kinda like, and who I must've seen in at least one TV movie, and who I am not ready to see in a grandmother role) play Zeek and Camille Braverman, the grandparents in this large family. Their grown children include Sarah (Graham), who has just moved back in with her parents (in Berkeley), as she's suffered some financial trouble. She's divorced, and she and her two kids, 16-year-old Amber Holt (Whitman) and 14-year-old Drew Holt, had been living in Fresno. Amber is rather rebellious and sarcastic. Drew seems a bit withdrawn, and would apparently rather be living with his dad, though his dad... hasn't got time for him. Then there's Adam (Krause), who is probably the most stable and successful of the middle generation of Bravermans, who the others often go to for guidance (he seems to have especially good chemistry with Sarah). But he has problems of his own. He and his wife, Kristina (who we like), have two kids, 15-year-old Haddie (Ramos), who has always been a good kid, but apparently starts cracking under that pressure; and 8-year-old Max, who has just been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome. This is something that's hard for Adam and Kristina to deal with, and Adam's hoping for support from his own father, though he has never been happy with how Zeek raised him and his siblings. Then there's Julia Braverman-Graham (who we like; not to be confused with Lauren Graham, heh), who is successful at work, but stressed out, and who is clearly not happy that her husband, Joel Graham (a stay-at-home dad), seems to be better liked by their precocious 5-year-old daughter, Sydney, than she is. Finally, the youngest of Zeek and Camille's kids is Crosby, who isn't big into responsibility or commitment. He's dating a woman named Katie (who we like), who wants to have kids, and he reluctantly agrees to do so (in three years). Then out of the blue, he finds out that an old girlfriend, Jasmine Trussell (who we like), has a young son named Jabbar, and he's the father.

Anyway... it's a show about family, and in particular, as you might have guessed from the title, about the nature of parenthood, and its various joys and challenges, I suppose. But, of course, it's about all types of family connections; being kids, being siblings, being cousins, whatever. And, of course, there are various ongoing plot threads throughout the first season. Amber has a crush on her English teacher, Mark Cyr, but her mom eventually starts a relationship with him, though... they kind of put that on hold for awhile. Also, Amber has a boyfriend back in Fresno named Damien, who Sarah doesn't want her seeing anymore. Drew starts looking to Adam as something of a father figure. Crosby starts getting more involved in Jabbar's life and really seems to take to being a father, which is rather unexpected. He also eventually gets involved with Jasmine again. Haddie has a boyfriend named Steve, but eventually she breaks up with him (partly on Amber's advice), and that... leads to some major drama between Haddie and Amber, for a reason I won't mention. Zeek made a bad investment, which could ruin him financially, he might end up losing his house. But there's also an incident from years ago that combines with various issues to threaten Zeek and Camille's marriage. At the end of the season, Jasmine gets a job in New York, and Crosby contemplates moving there to be with her and Jabbar. And throughout everything, there are ongoing issues for the various characters, like Sarah worrying she's making mistakes and not a good mother, Adam and Kristina worrying about Max, as I mentioned, and... well, lots of different things going on in everyone's lives. It's complicated.

But, I like the writing and acting, I find all the characters interesting. Plus, I should say I have a personal interest in Asperger's (which I may have myself; it's not really something that generally got diagnosed when I was a kid, though it seems to have become quite trendy, in the last few years). So that whole storyline is important to me. But really, I'm interested in all the various storylines pertaining to all the characters....