PILOT REVIEW: Grandfathered

GRANDFATHERED

Starring: John Stamos, Paget Brewster, Josh Peck, Christina Milian, Ravi Patel, Kelly Jenrette

Created by Daniel Chun
Written by Daniel Chun, Directed by Chris Koch

THE SYNOPSIS
Jimmy Martino (John Stamos) is a happy bachelor and restaurant owner who has never settled down and likes it that way. His life changes when a son he never knew he had, Gerald (Josh Peck), comes to visit and reveals that he's a grandpa to a baby girl. Others in the main cast include Gerald's mother, Sara (Paget Brewster) and Gerald's estranged girlfriend, Vanessa (Christina Milian) as well as restaurant employees Annelise and Ken (Kelly Jenrette and Ravi Patel)

THE REVIEW
This can safely be called the sweetest new show of the 2015-16 season. It goes for all schmaltz and cuteness but it largely succeeds at the show it's trying to be. John Stamos is embracing his type in a big way and he does a good job with it. He recognizes what he does well and he's milking it for all its worth with success. The entire cast is strong with Paget Brewster another standout. She already has good chemistry with Stamos and they are great adversaries here. Josh Peck seems very promising and I enjoyed Kelly Jenrette as the assistant.

I really did enjoy this pilot but my only complaint would be it didn't provide a ton of laughs, at least above what I had already seen in the trailer. The show was very cute but it needs to up the humor quotient in future episodes. I'm not saying it should ever veer away from the sweetness, shows like The Middle and The Goldbergs mix humor with sentimentality extremely well. This show can do the same, it just needs to strike the right balance. I'm confident the pieces are in place for it to get there.

I think this show has set itself up well for future episodes by focusing mostly on relationships in the pilot. It established the characters well, especially the lead but it didn't do too much exposition. It spent most of its time allowing the characters to interact with each other. I'm not sure the show needs to resort to gimmicks like celebrities in Jimmy's restaurant (Deion Sanders and Don Rickles in the pilot). The main characters are good enough in this show. It's off to a good start.

WILL I WATCH IT AGAIN?
Yes. I'm curious to see what future episodes look like.