Sarah Chalke of "How To Live With Your Parents (For The Rest of Your Life)"

Credit: ABC

[In case you've Forgotten, and as I will continue to mention each and every one of these posts that I do: This is *not* a review. Pilots change. Sometimes a lot. Often for the better. Sometimes for the worse. But they change. Actual reviews will be coming in September and perhaps October (and maybe midseason in some cases). This is, however, a brief gut reaction to not-for-air pilots. I know some people will be all "These are reviews." If you've read me, you've read my reviews and you know this isn't what they look like.]

Show:"How To Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)" (ABC) [Midseason]
The Pitch: You know how it's weird when guys have to help raise their kids? It's even weirder when grownups live with their parents. Or that's what the trend stories say.
Quick Response: I don't mind the premise here. I generally think Sarah Chalke is fantastic and I've been known to really like both Elizabeth Perkins and Brad Garrett. But just because I would happily watch a show with EXACTLY this premise and EXACTLY this cast doesn't mean that I want to watch THIS version of that show. Execution is everything and the pilot for "How To Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)" --- or HTLwYPFtRoYL, as I like to call it -- is probably the least enjoyable version of itself that it could possibly be. It doesn't help that Chalke is playing just another iteration of the exact same ditzy-yet-earthy-yet-flighty-yet-maternal quirky-hipster-mom that Dakota Johnson is playing on "Ben and Kate" and Georgia King is playing on "The New Normal" and her on-screen daughter (Rachael Eggleston) is just another variant on all of the season's interchangeable accessory daughters. If you're going to be part of a trend, it hurts to be the last show from the set to premiere and "HTLwYPFtRoYL" is the last [and least] of this group. ["Happy Endings" was the last of a group of "Friends"-style comedies in its season and is now the only survivor, so it's not impossible to overcome, if you happen to be funny.] For what it's worth, "HTLwYPFtRoYL" has a fair amount to say about the nature of parenting and the ways in which the mistakes of one generation inform the mistakes of the next generation. It just isn't funny in saying those things. The script is almost entirely designed to make likable actors unlikeable. Chalke, about as winning an actress as you can find, is flailing and shrill. Perkins and Garrett are the rare TV "Parents with No Filter" who you almost immediately wish would just muzzle themselves, without producing any compensating laughter [maybe it's not-so-rare, actually]. There's the tacit implication that you don't want to hear Perkins talking about having sex with a basketball team or Garrett talking about the results of testicular cancer because the characters are old and it's embarrassing when old people talk about such things. No. It's embarrassing because these are two talented actors delivering dialogue that's more unfunny than awkward. With bleeped swearing and sex talk, there's actually a lot of "HTLwYPFtRoYL" that's convinced it's cool or edgy or boundary shifting, but doesn't come close to any of those targets. [Am I wrong or is this title cumbersome without being genuinely amusing? Like the rest of the pilot, it thinks it's being cool or edgy, but it's really just long.] Orlando Jones and Jon Dore are wasted in supporting roles.
Desire To Watch Again: Chalke's moving into dangerous territory, because after "Mad Love," this is her second straight starring vehicle that I was convinced had all of the elements to eventually be funny and just wasn't funny in immediate execution. I gave "Mad Love" entirely too many episodes before giving up a week or two before ended. I won't be nearly as patient with this. I'll give "HTLwYPFtRoYL" a couple weeks to rise to the level of the involved talent and then I'm out, because the pilot was unpleasant.

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Daniel Fienberg
Executive Editor

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A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.