Sometimes you don't know what you want for dinner so you toss everything into the pot figuring you can't miss w/that shotgun approach. Well, this series tossed everything in the pot to make sure it could attract every demographic of viewer. We have upper middle class (what most strive for) parents with a biological child along w/adopted children from every ethnic/racial group imaginable. They offer every personality type to fill those viewer likes. Of course the series offers sex (of every type), drugs, parties, family issues, community issues, and rock 'n roll (kidding on the last one). Everything is as formula as can be so ff is a good option for all those scenes. On a creative positive note there are frequent actually intelligent discussions which nevertheless might be boring for many. On a really negative note there is this really stupid, doesn't make script sense, or even logical sense of one of the characters seeing (paranormally) the numbers 11 11 which has it's meaning somewhat disclosed in the final episode, but left room for future incarnations I reckon - oh bother! Scientifically speaking it makes as much sense as a pink & purple elephant falling from the sky. Acting was TV series weak, dialogue a few times pretty good.

This captivated me from beginning to end. THANK YOU

(Review based on watching the whole of the first season.)Over-rich series that contains enough themes and issues to supply five or six series. The various storylines, considered individually, are interesting enough, but there's so much going on that the show collapses under its own weight. It's a pity, because the acting is good and some of the questions are intriguing and/or topical. Another problem : the series tries to treat so many themes at the same time, that it becomes a stew of inconsistencies and contradictions. For instance : there is a married couple consisting 1) of a mother who is a pious Muslim and 2) of an atheist father who has turned against his Muslim heritage, presumably because he witnessed a number of atrocities committed in the name of that religion. These two parents have an adolescent son, who likes to participate in Islamic prayers and ceremonies while dressing as a girl. Both parents are pretty cool with this behavior, which strikes me as unrealistic : it is much more likely, much more plausible, that the mother would fret about her son disobeying gender-related rules, while the father would fret about his son bringing rituals and prayers into the home."Here and now" shows courage in tackling some difficult problems, I'll give it that ; but the general confusion is such that the result is weirdly unbalanced and inept.I won't watch the following seasons, but I'm somewhat curious, from an intellectual viewpoint, about the characters next to be unleashed upon an unsuspecting public. Will season 2 or 3 contain a blind English aristocrat who suffers from diabetes, anorexia and AIDS and who falls in love, chastely, with a pro-choice Roman Catholic nun from Siberia ? Is the public about to meet a lesbian ballerina, born without hands or feet, who harbours strongly royalist convictions and who is persecuted by a Buddhist sect of Australian beaujolais tasters ? Will the world be destroyed by computer-generated djinns, save for an elite of vegan, ambidextrous, gender-fluid Scotsmen (or Scotspersons) ?Sadly these fine prospects will remain shrouded in mystery, at least for me.UPDATE 20th of May 2018 : I discover, belatedly, that HBO cancelled the show after one season. I apologise for not noticing this sooner !

I am so sad that this show is not coming back. I have to agree w/the post of No Ignorance Here by Brave traveler. 02/22/2018. Unfortunately we live in a society that is so closed minded and so sensitive . It makes it hard for viewers to enjoy TV anymore. This show was a great show. But because viewers today don't have an open mind and take everything they see on TV as an insult. This is the reason why we are losing so many great shows on TV. SO SAD.