Parents' Guide to B Positive

Can a sitcom based on the inherently unfunny topic of organ replacement actually be funny? With a cast of comedy veterans and a focus on kindness, signs point to a good match. Just when you think Chuck Lorre can't add any twists to his oeuvre -- which includes The Big Bang Theory, Mom, and Two and a Half Men -- he offers up a show based on a simple premise that doesn't sound comedic: single dad Drew (Thomas Middleditch, best known from HBO's Silicon Valley) needs a kidney. Loosely based on Mom writer Marco Pennette's own story, B Positive gets the pee-related kidney humor out of the way early (and often) so we can focus on Drew and his high school acquaintance Gina, the only donor who's both willing and debatably able to offer a kidney. Gina is played by Annaleigh Ashford, an acclaimed actor in stage musicals, as well as a Masters of Sex series regular. Her party-girl Gina is a combination of bravado and vulnerability, whose camp counselor tendencies are on full display when she leads her elderly charges in the assisted-living van in a chorus of "I like big butts and I cannot lie." Her outsized energy complements Drew's deadpan depressive demeanor.

In the pilot, we only briefly meet Drew's uncommunicative pre-teen daughter (Izzy G, who last co-starred with RuPaul in Netflix's AJ and the Queen), and it's clear their relationship will likely provide fodder for "growth" storylines. Gina's friendship with fellow partier Gabby is promising from the start -- in a bit of typecasting, Kether Donohue plays a version of her I'm-a-pain-but-so-fun Lindsay character in You're the Worst. Familiarity can breed comfort. Likewise, the familiar beats of a multi-cam sitcom are a welcome respite when every day can feel a bit too new and surprising.