Extended Family

From the corny deliveries to the spoon-fed laugh track, this show is clearly not a winner. But hey, they cant all be winners. That's what pilot season is for. But this one most likely won't make it past its first season. Great actors for sure, but this comedy format doesn't play to their strengths very well.

Jon Cryer needs to leave silly sitcoms for a while so audiences don't immediately see Alan Harper of "Two and a Half Men". He played that role for so long, that the only way for audiences to disassociate from that character is if he came out 100% a different character. But another wimpy dad role? C'mon. They had to know that was a bad call.

I've always been an Abigail Spencer fan, and she has surprisingly good timing for sitcom-style comedy.

Donald Faison was perfect for Scrubs, so it's hard to accept him at anything less than that.

Lenny Clarke is too much. And not in a good way. Loud, frying-pan-over-the-head delivery on his jokes. It's sort of his style, but it doesn't fit here.

I had high hopes for this show. I liked all of the principal actors in other shows, and the premise seemed original. But, as with he new "Frasier", the laugh track is tired and trite.

Someone, somewhere thinks that if they throw in a bunch of laughs, giggles and gasps, it will make their bad show worth watching. I have a tip: if it's not funny in the first place, a laugh track won't change anyone's perception of the show.

And now, to make up the required character count, I will create the IMDB "character track" for your amusement. Try not to laugh! Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Emmy award winner Jon Cryer is back in a sitcom role as a divorcing father, Jim Kearney, of two in Boston, Massachusetts. Lenny Clarke plays his character's father on a recurring role. Donald Faison plays, Trey, who also owns the Boston Celtics, the popular professional basketball team. Trey becomes his ex-wife's fiance. The kids get along with the new arrangement. The parents are co-parenting in the contemporary age. Boston is a great city to set a sitcom too. The cast is good but could be better. I have seen almost all of the first eight episodes. I would prefer to see more slapstick humor or even physical humor in the show. We need to see more sitcoms. The art of comedy is a lot harder than drama anyway. Jon Cryer and the cast are doing their best with what they have.

There were so many red flags right out of the gate that this was not going to be anything more than a mediocre sitcom. Unfortunately it did not even live up to that minimal expectation.

First was the completely unfunny trailer. When they can't even make you smile, let alone laugh, in the trailer, you know worse is yet to come. Second, once you do choose to give this a try (against your better judgement) you are smacked in the face with a loud, obnoxious laugh track. And while annoying as heck, it also always means there is nothing actually funny happening on screen so they need to provide the illusion of humor via canned laughter. Third is the fact that two of the three main actors are trying to be funny but simply can't pull it off with the dismal writing and plot they have to deal with while the third (yes, it's Faison, he is awesome!) is funny but like the others, has been severely hampered by the writers and whoever came up with this plot line.

I cannot endure more than the few shows I sat through to write a fair review, so I'm done. But still I say give it a try because we all have different tastes in sitcoms. I have liked some in the past that others did not, so watch and make your own call.

It has only been one episode, so this may be unfair, but it looks very unfunny with lame, hackneyed attempts at jokes. Abigail Spencer showed she can act on "Suits". I am not sure she can be funny.

Jon Cryer is still playing Alan from "Two and a Half Men". That shtick is old.

I may tune in again, just because there already no new episodes of any other network shows, but episode one was terribly disappointing.

There really isn't much more to say. Read the other reviews that are all saying the same thing. The jokes just are unoriginal and I don't think I laughed once in the whole half hour of the show.