Let's put aside the fact that, without being a regular watcher of this show, I predicted EVERY coming plot point from how hard the writers telegraphed them each time I caught it while my wife was watching it.Solely on the merits of the characters and their motivations/reactions this show is melodramatic garbage masquerading as realism. Every character is two dimensional with the only development being ones you could expect from the character descriptions (idiot makes good, put together couple falls apart, trouble child actually talented still trouble). Each and every character instill within me a deep and abiding hatred of the writers, and that's for the characters you are meant to like, because with few exceptions the antagonists of the show are one dimensional, serving only the purpose of being terrible people without actually having any humanity of motive to their actions, existing solely for the point of conflict.I hate this show so much I actively leave not just the room, but the floor of the house it is playing on. If I could give it a zero, I would.

This is a great, great show. I'm only on Season 3, but so far I love it and am crossing my fingers it doesn't go downhill from here. The characters all seem more real than any I've seen on any other show, and are beautiful in their flaws (of which they all have many). The episodes are far from boring, and the daily successes and struggles of the Bravermans as they make their ways through daily life never fail to provide entertainment. A warning: when you watch this show, you will cry. You will feel as if you are being emotionally manipulated because, let's face it, you are. You will cry tears of joy and anger and sadness, because all of the stupid mistakes and tragic accidents that befall this family. In short, it's a good show. I may sound sarcastic, but every word of this is true.

I tried to like this show, because my husband enjoys it I thought it was something we could watch and enjoy together. I tried. But the Braverman's have to be the family of the oldest brats in television ever. Whine, whine, whine, ordinary bumps in life are portrayed as tsunamis' every single time. No one can get a word in edgewise they are always talking no screaming over one another and saying absolutely nothing. I have no idea why Adam's wife has not been written out of the show what does she add to it nothing. Last night Crosby and Adam bickering over an incident that occurred between the two of them 40 years prior, well good ole dad sits pained at the dinner table, to whatever to speak up and tell them to shut up, and ever suffering mom looks on to her over grown middle age brats who apparently emotionally are stuck at 12. Watching two grown men whine about childhood hurts that should be a distant memory if a memory at all is like listening to fingernails on a black board. But if any of the Braverman's ever heard fingernails on a black board 30 years ago they would still be crying about it. Ray Ramano should run for his life as far away from this annoying liter of 40 something almost 50 something brats before they suck the life and humor out of him and he turns into an emotionless drone like Adam and his no more exciting than white paper wife. This show should have been six feet under 4 seasons ago. Good bye

This is a wonderful, realistic TV drama about a big family living in the San Francisco bay area.It features a large cast of characters that spans 3 generations who actually love and care about one another. Casting is excellent.To heighten dramatic impact, every human joy and problem is experienced by someone in the group - dating, marriage, teenage angst, job problems, health problems, infidelity, Aspergers syndrome, business problems, PTSD and on and on. Each issue is dealt with in a credible and sensitive way. The dialog and acting work and the series has been informative and entertaining. There's also humor and lots of good will.Once you get into the series, you really wind up caring about the characters - even if you don't share their religion or politics - which are implied but usually not overtly expressed.PARENTHOOD is good quality television that thankfully NBC has kept on and allowed to conclude with dignity - unlike the abrupt boot the network gave to a similar family-themed show American DREAMS which aired in the early 2000s.In all, PARENTHOOD will include 103 episodes that have run from March 2010 to January 2015.---- Unfortunately, the PARENTHOOD writers chose to kill off the family patriarch Zeke in the final episode. What a completely unnecessary downer. WONDER YEARS killed the father off in the last episode as well. I like happy endings and this left a bitter taste for both series.