Jimmy’s son is Gerald (Josh Peck), a loner with a 3D printing business of sorts and a mom, Sara (Paget Brewster), who he spends most Friday nights with watching Kramer vs. Kramer on infinite repeat. Sara and Jimmy had a fling back in the 80’s and she didn’t so much as keep Gerald away from him as let the kid decide on his own when, or if, to ever meet him (“What if I were gay and met him in a bar?” Jimmy wonders aloud, one of the pilot’s funniest lines). There’s a playfulness to the weirdness in gags like that, and the way certain characters act and speak – Sara’s repeated adherence to not becoming “the scolding protective mother stereotype” – that elevates the show above the expected.
But, only ever so slightly. This is still leaps and bounds from anything approaching the heightened brilliance of Happy Endings, or even the endearing simplicity of The Office. The pilot also, unfortunately, showcases one of the most pilot-y plots of the fall, giving Jimmy the classic two-places-at-once conundrum which he solves in an predictably inept way, paving the way for some last-minute conflict and some even-more-last-minute peace-making conclusions. I’m not sure where the show will go for the remainder of the season, and the writers will need to bolster the supporting cast stat (Christina Milian has almost literally nothing to do here), but there’s reason enough presented in the first 22 minutes to stick around and find out at least.
Thankfully, Grandfathered shines even in the slight deviations it takes from the norm (Gerald’s ultimate motive in reaching out to Jimmy is appreciatively less mawkish than initially broadcast to the audience) and the more expected, pedestrian aspects of the show are written and presented well enough that they feel less trudging than other sitcoms. It’s not high art, and it’s certainly a few script revisions away from being anything beyond enjoyable, but for now Grandfathered at least does one thing right: it doesn’t make you feel like you’re wasting your time.
