Common Sense Media Review
By Melissa Camacho
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Confusing "what if" drama has mature themes, drinking.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
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Ordinary Joe
What's the Story?
ORDINARY JOE is a drama series that shows us what may, and what may not, happen once you choose a certain path in life. It's graduation day at Syracuse University, and after the ceremony aspiring singer Joe Kimbreau (James Wolk) is choosing between meeting up with his best "friend with benefits" Jenny Banks (Elizabeth Lail), meeting up with his mom (Anne Ramsay) and Uncle Frank (David Worshofsky), an NYPD police officer, for dinner, or spending time with Amy Kindelán (Natalie Martinez), a woman he just met at the ceremony. What Joe doesn't know is that this seemingly insignificant decision will decide the trajectory of his life. But before he decides, viewers get to see the life that each of the choices will lead to.
Is It Any Good?
This well-intentioned but convoluted series shows three versions of a man's life ten years after he makes the decision that will determine its course. Joe Kimbreau's (James Wolk) life unfolds as three parallel universes, in which he is either a nurse raising a disabled son (played by John Gluck), a single NYPD police officer, or the rock star he wanted to be. Each of these narratives offer their own set of weighty, prime-time drama worthy situations, leading to moments when Kimbreau thinks about what his life could have been had he made a different choice a decade prior. But there's a lot that's going on in each episode, and the seamless shifting between his three possible lives is confusing. Meanwhile, thanks to the lackluster writing, Ordinary Joe feels surprisingly predictable from the onset, and leaves you questioning how far the show's overall story world can really go without it becoming silly or boring. It's not an ordinary drama, but doesn't seem to hit its mark.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about making choices. In what ways can choices that we make today impact our lives in the future? Do all the decisions we make now eventually have long-term consequences?
Are each of Joe Kimbreau's lives really a result of that single decision he had to make on his graduation day? Why does Ordinary Joe limit his possible lives to three? In real life, does the number of choices we have about something limit the number of ways our lives can be impacted by the decision we ultimately make?
TV Details
- Premiere date : September 20, 2021
- Cast : James Wolk , Natalie Martinez , Elizabeth Lail
- Network : NBC
- Genre : Drama
- TV rating :
- Last updated : January 13, 2022
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