Extended Family – Pilot – Advanced Preview

Meet the Kearney’s – they’re anything but your typical family. After getting a divorce that ended on good terms, Jim and Julia Kearney have decided to continue to live together while raising their two children, Grace and Jimmy. While many people would be devestated by a divorce, Jim and Julia were extremely happy about it – they may even seem a but too happy about it. But throughout the episode, things start to get rocky as the couples realizes divorce isn’t easy all the time.

We first meet Jim who is coming home and filming a video diary for his teenager daughter, Grace. She’s off at summercamp so he’s recording videos when he takes care of the goldfish to show her when she returns later that day. Except during this recording, he finds the goldfish, named Googles, dead and floating at the top of the bowl. In an attempt to save him, he starts giving Googles CPR, and then accidentally inhales him.

As an introduction to the show, I thought that they did a really good job setting up the characters. I was definitely enticed to keep watching the show – but the humor was a little too unrealstic for my taste. For some, this humor may work, but I personally didn’t enjoy it. Although, the jokes and dialogue did get much better as the show went on.

What we later find out is that after seventeen years of marriage, Jim and Julia got divorced and decided they wanted to turn a negative event into a positive event. They even hosted a reverse wedding which consisted of ripping up vows, a handshake instead of a kiss, and backing away form the alter. This was a unique event to this show and was something that really made this stand-out as a sit-com. Little unique story details make me keep wanting to watch more and are actually funny.

The divorce is going extremely well until Julia meets Trey – the manager of the Boston Celtics. Jim doesn’t seem to be Trey’s biggest fan, and in fact when Grace finds out that her goldfish died, Jim blames it all on Trey. This leads me to believe that the rest of the season will explore whether Jim and Julia really are happy that they got divorced and whether they still have feelings for each other.

When Jim and Julia find out that their daughter Grace is struggling with their divorce, they are quick to apologize and didn’t realize how their outlook on the divorce could be harmful for their children. Although, a bombshell was dropped on Grace moments before this happened, so it will be interesting to see how she copes with the changes that are coming to her family’s dynamic.

Overall, I really enjoyed the Pilot episode of Extended Family and plan on watching the rest of the season! It’s a great weekend show to watch. It’s overall funny, lighthearted, and an interesting watching. Do you plan on watching the premiere of Extended family tomorrow on NBC? Let me know in the commments!