Having watched the first two episodes of this new offering by TLC, I love it. Imagine a cross between "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" and Kathy Griffin's "My Life on the D-List".
Leah and family don't bother with ignoring the cameras. They talk to the crew, they talk to us through the cameras, they sit down and discuss (with us) the events of the day. It has the feel of a real-life sitcom where the actors make asides to the audience.
Leah is the wise-cracking wife that we have come to love in "King of Queens". Seriously, did she write all her own lines on that show? She is versatile as a comedienne. One moment she is the stand up comic doing her shtick, the next she is playing straight man to one of her family members.
About her family, she says, "We are loud...annoying...judgmental..." That pretty much describes most sitcom families. She calls her husband Angelo "The Silver Fox". They have a give and take relationship. He takes her grief and he gives it back to her. Their daughter, Sofia, is a budding comic. She offers some of the best lines.
Leah's parents are Vicki and George. Vicki may remind you of Kathy Griffin's mother. In the second episode, they give her faux funeral eulogies that are half roasts and half tearful tributes. This is a close family full of love.
Shannon and William are the sister and brother-in-law. Shannon has some of the family comedy genes. They laugh about their sisterly competitiveness.
The nanny is Trish. Did they pick her up at Central Casting, because she seems to be a hoot.
The Remini's have some famous friends. Cheryl Burke from "Dancing With the Stars" is a personal friend. I have always enjoyed her on that show. Other famous friends appear at the party they throw to celebrate those who stuck by them when they left the Church of Scientology. Some serious moments are spent discussing the church and its strict, controlling rules.
It must be a hilarious experience to be a member of the film crew. I am looking forward to more of Leah and her family. Can we possibly hope that Jennifer Lopez or some other friends drop by to hang out with Leah and her irrepressible brood?
