PILOT REVIEW: How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life)

HOW TO LIVE WITH YOUR PARENTS (FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE)

Starring: Sarah Chalke, Elizabeth Perkins, Jon Dore, Rachel Eggleston, Stephanie Hunt, and Brad Garrett

Created by Claudia Lonow
Written by Claudia Lonow, Directed by Julie Anne Robinson

How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life) is a new family comedy with some big names attached. Polly (Sarah Chalke) is a newly single mom to daughter Natalie (Rachel Eggleston). With nowhere to turn following her split with Julian (Jon Dore), the uptight Polly moves in with her much more free spirited Mom Elaine (Elizabeth Perkins) and stepdad Max (Brad Garrett).

THE GOOD: This is a really strong cast. Sarah Chalke and Brad Garrett are sitcom veterans and it shows while Elizabeth Perkins is great in her first sitcom role. Also the young Rachel Eggleston is good in a role that  could easily come across as annoying (look at The New Normal). Several sitcoms have trouble finding chemistry early on but this cast seemed to gel from the beginning and there's good dynamics between all of the lead characters including Jon Dore as the ex. That is a hard thing to do so it's impressive that they were able to do it so quickly in the pilot episode and that's a testament to the experience of the lead members of this cast.

THE BAD: The problem is that the strong cast was let down by the writing. There were far too many cheap and easy jokes and plot points that have been seen in a million other sitcoms (for example, the dog snapping at Max over the overly concerned Polly not able to enjoy a date). There were also too many jokes that weren't funny to begin with and then taken too far such as the spelling words out so Natalie wouldn't understand and the fake dog statue. It just really seemed like lazy writing and that would be a shame if that brings an otherwise promising show down. I also didn't like the captions and the excessive narration. There's a fine line with things like that or else it becomes distracting and gimmicky, which is what was happening.

BOTTOM LINE: How to Live with Your Parents (for the Rest of Your Life) has a lot going for it. As I already mentioned, the cast is already solid and playing off each other nicely, which sometimes takes a season to get going (look at Parks and Recreation). However, this whole writing thing is going to be a big problem quickly. You have Sarah Chalke, Brad Garrett, and Elizabeth Perkins in a sitcom together. Give them something good to work with, please!