What’s the name of this show? Crowded
When does it premiere? Sunday 20 March at 9.30pm EST on NBC
What is this show about? There is a staircase in the kitchen.
Come again? You know how in all of those 80s sitcoms like The Cosby Show the houses had staircases in both the living rooms and the kitchens? The house in Crowded is set up the same way. These houses do not exist in real life.
Does that matter? Yes. It’s to say that Crowded, no matter what it is about, is distinctly old-fashioned. It even has a therapist who sees clients out of the home just like on Growing Pains.
This is about a psychiatrist? Kind of. Martina (Carrie Preston), the shrink in question, and her husband Mike (Patrick Warburton) have been enjoying the carefree life for the past four years, their grown daughters Shea (iCarly star Miranda Cosgrove) and Stella (Mia Serafino) having left home. Now both young ladies are out of work and moving back in. Mike’s father Bob (Stacy Keach) and his stepmother Alice (Carlease Burke) also spend an inordinate amount of time over at Mike’s home.
So it’s a family comedy with a twist? Yes, a very small twist. Otherwise it would just be a dad making jokes about how he wants to beat up the guys who sleep with his daughters, because we’ve never heard that joke on television before.
Do you think it needs more of a twist? No, it needs a viewpoint. ABC is killing it right now with family sitcoms such as Black-ish, Fresh Off the Boat, The Goldbergs and The Real O’Neals. They are as traditional as family sitcoms get and while they could be stereotyped as the black one, the Asian one, the 80s one and the gay one, what really makes them successful is that each of these shows has a distinct and original voice. Crowded does not have that.
NBC keeps trying this three-camera format and so far the only show that feels anywhere near fresh is The Carmichael Show, which is no great shakes. After getting rid of 30 Rock and Parks and Recreation, the network is trying to create its very own Big Bang Theory, a huge hit that will last for a million seasons and get 20 times that many viewers. They’re not going to find it if they keep producing these lame, retro shows with nothing to say.
What does it have going for it? Not much, sadly. There are a bunch of tired jokes, such as one about the cobwebs in a character’s vagina because she hasn’t had sex in so long. These are the kind of jokes your parents were moaning about when they were punchlines on Maude. There are some moments when the show tries to take on the dangers of being a child’s friend rather than a parent and how our culture of inclusion may be causing unintended consequences, but that’s not really enough to sustain a series.
Is it funny? It’s hard to find original laughs. Mike and Martina want to sneak away and have sex while their kids aren’t around. Shea is the uptight sister, Stella is the artsy one. Bob is the father who married a person of color. These are all set-ups right out of Modern Family, which at least has a faux-documentary style that feels modern (or at least did about five years ago). Suzanne Martin, the mind behind TV Land’s Hot in Cleveland, created this and it feels like, well, the reruns on TV Land.
The show’s second episode, in which Mike and Martina try to spice up their marriage through using porn, almost verges on being charming and finds some new avenues to explore about just how open parents can be with their adult children. But by the third episode (which guest-stars Hot in Cleveland’s Betty White and Jane Leeves) all of that is washed away.
What are the best parts of the show? Warburton and Preston are absolute pros. Warburton’s resigned monotone wrings what little humor he can out of lackluster material. Good thing for us he’ll reprise his role as The Tick when the show returns to Amazon and he’ll also star as Lemony Snicket in the Netflix adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events. That doesn’t give us hope for the long-term potential of Crowded. Maybe it will get cancelled and free up Preston for that The Good Wife spin-off we’ve been promised.
Should I watch this show? Yes, but only if you live in a house with a staircase in the living room and the kitchen. Which you don’t.
