Winnie Clark

Really wanted to love this. Was attracted to the premise, I like Jason Segal and of course Harrison Ford. Plus one of the producers is the excellent Brett Goldstein (Roy from Ted Lasso, a show I miss so much). I didn't expect a ton of realism--for example, the therapy group supposedly specializes in cognitive behavioral treatments, but I can't point to one scene where this approach is used. Regardless, I like the idea of a series where the therapists are revealed as human. But as the episodes continue, the lack of boundaries that the cast of characters displays shifts from passingly humorous to irritating to troubling, and everything that had seemed fresh becomes crass. The main character's issues with substance abuse start as an interesting angle, but that's basically smoothed over. There's the token gay couple; the actors try, but they're not given much to do after their early episodes. They're just prettier, less verbally interesting versions of the couple in Modern Family. You have the racially diverse therapist in the cast, Gaby, who starts out with amusing quirks and asides but ends up tossing out bon mots about old white men and the horniness of teen girls. You can almost hear the writers say to each other,, "Maybe if we keep padding with stuff that sounds cool, people will think we know where all this is going." My biggest complaint is how the teen daughter's sexuality is handled. She's 17 and one of the dad's patients--who has PTSD and anger management issues--just moves in to their house one day. He's 22. (Statuary rape is still a thing, folks.) Of course, there's awkward sexual tension, but the adults laugh the situation off; the adult women in particular just joke about their own randy pasts. In a particularly jarring scene, Gaby chortles about having sex with her dad's 50 year old friend when she was 18, to get back at dad. I don't care if the issue of safe sex is brought up briefly to make the audience feel a bit less uncomfortable; since when is stuff like this considered funny? I wish I liked this show more. I do like Jason Segal's energy, Ted McGinley's irreverence (he steals a lot of scenes), and the emotional connection between Harrison Ford's character and his daughter (one scene in particular shows what this series could be if it tried). But if you're looking for a warm-hearted ensemble comedy like Ted Lasso, this just isn't it.