I am – Hercules!!
In a couple weeks we get to my favorite new series this season, an FX crime drama titled “Justified,” and tonight we get my second favorite. The guy in charge of NBC’s new iteration of “Parenthood” is Jason Katims, who simultaneously serves as showrunner of the excellent “Friday Night Lights” (which itself has at least two more seasons to run on NBC). This “Parenthood,” set in Northern California, occasionally feels like the pricier, blue-state version of the West Texas-set “Lights.” It also reminds me a lot of the strongest storylines found in “thirtysomething.” As has been widely reported of late, this “Parenthood” is actually NBC’s second run at turning Ron Howard’s superb 1989 Steve Martin dramedy into a TV show. The hourlong version is more loosely based on the movie than was the sitcom. The Buckman clan has become the Bravermans. Black sheep Larry Buckman (Tom Hulce in the movie) is now womanizing Crosby Buckman (“Punk’d” refugee Dax Shephard), who seems to have more of a real career going than did Larry. Helen Buckman (Diane Wiest) is now Sarah Braverman (“Gilmore Girls” icon Lauren Graham), and Sarah’s ex is a rocker rather than a dentist. Changes abound, but every character from the movie seems to have a an easily identifiable counterpart in the hourlong. Some trivia related to the half-hour sitcom version of “Parenthood” that hit NBC in late 1990: * Leonardo DiCaprio played the sitcom version of Garry Buckman-Lampkin, embodied by Joaquin "Leaf" Phoenix in the movie version. In the 2010 version, a different version the character, played by Miles Heizer, is named Drew Holt. * MTV's "Remote Control" host Ken Ober played Nathan Merrick, the sitcom version of Rick Moranis' Nathan Huffner character. The 2010 version is a stay-at-home dad named Joel Graham and played by Sam Jaeger. * Joss Whedon wrote on the “Parenthood” sitcom two years before the movie version of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” marked his feature debut. Sarah Watson (“The Middleman”), whom I introduced to Whedon at a “Superman Returns” screening, is on the writing staff of the 2010 version. The terrific cast includes also Craig T. Nelson (“Poltergeist”) and Bonnie Bedelia (“Die Hard”) as the parents of the parents, Peter Krause (“Six Feet Under”) and Monica Potter (“Saw”) in the Steve Martin and Mary Steenburgen roles, Sarah Ramos (“American Dreams”) and Mae Whitman (“In Treatment”) as teen cousins, and Erika Christiansen (“Swimfan”) as the family’s youngest mom/lawyering overachiever. Like all Katims’ “dramas,” “Parenthood” is at its core a finely honed character comedy. I love the passive-aggressive means Crosby’s girlfriend uses to herd him toward compliance and commitment. I love the expressions on the faces of the stay-at-home moms following a crack the working mom makes to her dad (that an errant microphone inadvertently captures and amplifies). I love that NBC let most of the adults end up smoking their kids’ confiscated marijuana in a parking lot at the end of an episode. Given the well-mined subject matter, the series is good about subverting clichés. The two episodes NBC sent along for review had scenes I loved, but none I wholly disliked. (A rarity for any project.) And Katims – whose credits include “My So-Called Life,” “Relativity” and “Roswell” in addition to “Lights” – has a track record solid enough I can only imagine this already-sharp series improving from here. The New York Times says:

… unexpectedly compelling … “Parenthood,” with its polished scripts and beautifully shot exteriors, seems like a last gasp of television past …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… what "Parenthood" lacks in edginess, it more than makes up in nuance. … has a talent pool and a pedigree that puts it in a class of its own. …

The Chicago Tribune says:

… Even when the show gets a bit melodramatic or overwrought, however, "Parenthood's" good intentions radiate throughout its many story lines. But do good intentions make for reliably compelling family drama? That depends on your tolerance for its frequent tonal shifts and occasional manic intervals. …

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… turns out to be a wonderful adaptation and revision of the original movie … If the two episodes NBC made available are any indication of the quality going forward, "Parenthood" would rocket to the top tier of family dramas on network television. That's because it does the near impossible for any extended-family drama: It manages to be poignant and funny without becoming ridiculously soapy and larded with cliches. … This is a series that seems to understand that family is complicated (though in this case, thankfully, not too dysfunctional, which has been a writing crutch in our modern times). The portraits of each are both adult in nature but gilded with humor.

The Newark Star Ledger says:

… it’s smart and warm and knowing, and it casts its net so wide that at least part of it should connect with you. …

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… executive produced by Jason Katims, who also wrote Tuesday's premiere and has been the guiding force behind "Friday Night Lights." But anyone expecting as nuanced a portrayal as the family of Coach Taylor on "Lights" may be disappointed. "Parenthood" is so over-stuffed with characters that depictions of the realistic, messy details of family life get squeezed out in favor of broader strokes. …

The Washington Post says:

… Packed with appealing actors (Peter Krause in the Martin role; Craig T. Nelson in Robards's paterfamilias role), this new "Parenthood" is boring, disorganized and weirdly missing the tender texture of its original source. …

The Boston Herald says:

… It’s a series that zips along in one direction, suddenly accelerates in another and veers out of control into a swamp of sugar and schmaltz. …

The Boston Globe says:

… a fairly promising ensemble dramedy … One advantage to the cross-generational approach is variety. “Parenthood’’ is brimming with characters and issues, one or two of which will probably engage your interest. …

USA Today says:

… Despite good intentions and a few good performances, too much of this Parenthood rings false — and almost all of it pushes far too hard. …

Variety says:

… a credible dramedy … Katims has worked magic with "Friday Night Lights," and some of the family drama here is certainly promising. Castwise, moreover, the bench is impressively deep. …

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… NBC's sweet, extraordinarily well-cast dramedy is worth the wait. … Even if much of the show is pretty fantasy -- like those lights strung up over the picnic table that perfectly fits the entire extended family -- the Bravermans' story is one everyone can get into. "Parenthood," like the experience itself, is an evolving tale, and one worth watching.

10 p.m. Tuesday. NBC. Follow Herc on Twitter!!

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