Your Family or Mine

With executive producer Greg Malins (Friends, How I Met Your Mother, Will & Grace) on board, it's clear TBS was hoping for a little throwback sitcom magic. Unfortunately, Your Family or Mine is a throwback in the worst sense of the word, serving up the same stale and expected laughs -- the only surprising thing is just how few jokes land. A central plot point on the show's pilot revolves around pearl-clutching Ricky (JoBeth Williams, doing her game best) mis-reading one of Kelli's daughter's drawings as a cry for help from an abused child; when she brings it up to Kelli, Kelli mistakenly thinks Ricky is referring to her recent return to work. "Sure, they cried the first few times I did it," she says, oblivious to the shocked look on her in-laws' face as only a sitcom character can be. "But I get paid good money to do it!" Ugh. Come on. Sitcom plots that hinged on one character misunderstanding another's actions or motivations were quite the thing -- in the 1950s! The premise is unique, and it's nice to see families choosing to spend time with each other (each week Oliver and Kelli visit a set of in-laws), but the execution is disappointing. Darned shame too, since the cast is choice. Old pros such as Williams, Dreyfuss, and Begley deserve better. So do viewers.