Crumbs

Hey! It's the kid from The Wonder Years! With that out the way there's not a whole lot left to enjoy in this dysfunctional family series that was cancelled after five episodes - although there were 13 made.

Fred Savage plays a closeted gay screenwriter who returns home from Hollywood to look after his mother (Jane Curtain) who has just been released from a mental institute after trying to run over her husband, because he left her for another woman. Based on the real-life experiences of the creator/writer Marco Pennette (who co-created Caroline In The City) it's good to see a gay person portrayed on TV who isn't effeminate and overly camp, and there are some decent moments in here. However, gags about mental illness, drug use and depression might not be everyone cup 0f lithium.

It moves from attempts to get a laugh to outright schmaltz in a way that The Wonder Years got away with, but here the subject matter is a lot darker, and it's hard to tell if it really works.