You may have seen the promos for a new drama series called Parenthood:

Bill and I were lucky enough to get our hands on the pilot episode (you’ll get to see it on TV on March 2nd). Bill was beyond psyched.  He remembers the movie Parenthood (I just sort of remembered it.  He was directly related back to me how this was just like the movie).

Ron Howard and Brian Grazer (from Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon) and Jason Katims (Friday Night Llights) are the men behind this show.  Those names alone had me ready for a really good show (which is what I got!).  The family that Parenthood focus on is the Braverman family.  I’ll be honest, they could be any family in America.  Sarah Braverman (Lauren Graham — which I have to say is perfect casting) is a financially strapped single mom who decides to move back home with her two teenagers who are less than thrilled.  To welcome her home is her father Zeek (Craig T. Nelson — another perfect casting call) and mother Camille (Bonnie Bedelia).

Sarah also has 3 siblings.  First there is Julie (Erika Christensen).  She is the exact opposite of Sarah.  She is juggling work as a lawyer and motherhood.  In the pilot, we see the struggle she has when her daughter prefers her husband Joel (Sam Jaeger) who is a stay at home dad (I know a lot of us can relate to this!).    Next, there is Crosby (Dax Shepard — again spot on casting).  He is Sarah’s younger brother.  He is definitely afraid of commitment and in this pilot episode is already thrown for a loop when a past girlfriend shows up with a little surprise he didn’t know about.   (If you’ve seen the movie, you know what the surprise is).  Lastly, there is Adam (Peter Krause — I absolutely adore him!  He plays a great father.).  He is the oldest Braverman sibling.  He buts heads with his father in relation with his son, but the big surprise is when his son is diagnosed with Asperger’s (which is something I saw coming from the scene we saw with Max).  Honestly, I can’t wait to see how this plays out — how they deal with it (in the pilot they just find out), how the extended family deals with it, and how they will show how real families live when one of them gets an autism diagnosis.  If done right, they can really be a voice for the autism community.

Okay, now that I’ve set this all up for you (with a few side comments), what did we think.  Honestly, we loved it.  We knew from the previews that this was a show we were going to watch.  Having seen the pilot, I can tell you this is a show we will watch week to week (and have scheduled to tape on our DVR).  There are so many story lines that can be told.  It is a drama series but it is quite funny.  As a stated above, I can’t wait to see how they deal with the autism storyline and how much more trouble Sarah’s kids can get into.  Her kids aren’t bad kids, but they are teenagers.  The dad has his own issues and I can’t wait to see a softer side of him too.  They allude to some marriage problems with Zeek and Camille, so that will be interesting to see how that plays out.

I will be watching on March 2nd and I recommend you tune into Parenthood too!  (10 pm EST on NBC).