This was a TV show that debuted in 2015, just about a month after the debut of Significant Mother. I loved both shows, but neither one lasted beyond its first season. At least this series got a full 22-episode season, unlike the other, which only had a short 9-episode season.
Created by Daniel Chun, who also wrote the first 2 episodes, Grandfathered starred John Stamos as Jimmy Martino, a 50-year-old successful restaurant owner. He is single, and his character reminds me of a less-perverted version of Charlie Sheen’s character on Two And A Half Men. He’s not a womanizer, exactly, but he’s a bit of a ladies’ man. He gives lip service to the idea of wanting a wife and family “someday,” but has never seriously pursued it and enjoys his current lifestyle. This lifestyle is rocked with the sudden arrival of a 25-year-old man named Gerald, who is played by Josh Peck, and who reveals that he is Jimmy’s son. Gerald is a single father of a baby girl named Edie, making Jimmy an instant grandfather.
Rounding out the lead cast is Paget Brewster as Sara, Jimmy’s ex and Gerald’s mother, who never told Jimmy that they had a son together because she didn’t think he was responsible enough; Christinia Milian as Gerald’s best friend/baby mama Vanessa, whom he secretly still has romantic feelinsg for despite the fact that she just want them to remain platonic friends; and Kelly Jerette as Jimmy’s assistant and confidant, Annelise, who’s always got a witty one-liner for any occasion (she’s also a lesbian, just for the record).
The show initially focused primarily on Jimmy’s attempts to be a father-figure to Jimmy, and balance his new responsibilities as a father and grandfather, with running his restaurant and trying to adapt to the way this changes his bachelor lifestyle. The pilot episode has him agreeing to babysit Edie, but then while he’s doing it he gets a call that a major celebrity is at his restaurant so he want to go greet them, and another episode has him agreeing to spend a “family” day with the others, but this means he has to miss a big party. Another episode has him trying to get out of spending Thanksgiving at Sara’s house with Gerald and Edie, in order to go on a long weekend trip with a hot young model.
Another early recurring plotline is Jimmy’s attempts to help Gerald who, unlike himself, doesn’t have much experience with women, try to win over Vanessa’s affections. Plus there’s ongoing tension between Jimmy and Sara, as he resents her for hiding the truth about Gerald from him (in one episode, it’s revealed that her whole family hates him because she lied and told them Jimmy abandoned her when she got pregnant), and she doubt that he’s any more responsible than he was before, but they try to get along for Gerald and Edie’s sake.
As the season progresses, episodes start to focus a bit more on the experiences at the restaurant. Ravi Patel, A.J. Rivera, and Abby Walker become regulars on the show as various employees, making this show a perfect mix of a family sitcom and a workplace comedy.
But I personally prefer the dynamics between the family. Based on his history on Full House, John Stamos is gold when interacting with babies, so Jimmy’s scenes with Edie (who is played by the Golfieri Twins, Layla and Emilia) are a joy to watch. I’ll admit, the show got a bit silly at times, such as in one episode where Jimmy and Gerald pretend to be a gay couple in order to get Edie accepted into an elite private pre-school, but generally speaking, it had a lot of heart. This is helped by the chemistry with the cast, especially Stamos and Peck, you can buy them as an estranged father and son who are happy to finally be in each other’s lives.
Paget Brewster was also very good in a role that could have come off as unsympathetic if played by a lesser actress, and while I knew Christina Milian as a singer, she turned out to be a decent actress as well.
Interestingly, with a diverse cast, the show never made an issue of race. I could be wrong, but I don’t think the fact that Vanessa is Afro-Cuban and Gerald is White, and thus Edie is mixed-race, was ever explicitly referenced. Likewise, later in the season, Jimmy started dating a Black woman, played by Regina Hall, but the conflicts they encountered stemmed from the fact that she was an even more successful businessperson than he was, which is something he wasn’t used to.
I’ll also note that Drake Bell guest-starred on one episode as a venture capitalist to whom Gerald and Vanessa are trying to pitch an app. I never watched Drake & Josh and wasn’t aware of his and Josh Peck’s history together, so it didn’t stand out to me at the time, but, apparently, they made some in-jokes about it that I’m sure old fans would appreciate..
I thoroughly enjoyed the show, but not enough other viewers did, I guess. So, the season ended on a bit of a cliffhanger that will never be resolved, but it was fun while it lasted.
iBLOGalot 