S01.E01: Pilot

[Lady Calypso]

Quote

Only child JULIA BECHLEY (Brittany Snow) finds her life turned-upside down when her father reveals that, over the course of his prize-winning career as a pioneering fertility doctor, he used his own genetic material to conceive upwards of dozens of children. Reeling from this explosive revelation, Julia discovers two new sisters - former best friend EDIE PALMER (Megalyn Echikunwoke) and ex-Olympic athlete ROXY DOYLE (Emily Osment). As these three young women begin to embrace their new reality, Julia must figure out what life is like without her father by her side; Edie comes to grips with her burgeoning sexuality, as her marriage falters; and Roxy faces adulthood out of the spotlight. Against all odds, the three women will attempt to form a bond as sisters, even as they must welcome a tidal wave of new siblings into their rapidly expanding family. Don't miss the all-new "Pilot" series premiere episode of ALMOST FAMILY airing Wednesday, Oct. 2 (9:01-10:01 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (AFM-101) (TV-14 D, L, S, V)

[Lady Calypso]

So....I came out of this pilot, feeling....like it was just ok. There was a few moments that were really clunky. I thought that Roxy was obnoxiously annoying. I thought Edie was a little over the top at times. The idea of Timothy Hutton playing such a sleazy character who might get "redeemed" but shouldn't be redeemed is...icky. 

But I liked Julia and I love Brittany Snow. I liked some moments. I think I need to rewatch this episode or watch episode 2. But it didn't grab my attention like I hoped it would. It has potential, for sure. 

[UNOSEZ]

I watched the Aussie original.. But I think I like this one even better… More diverse.. And they changed up a few things to make it jucier.. Looking fwd to next week

[memememe76]

I love Brittany Snow so much that I will give it more of a chance, but they have some big issues to deal with. The other two women were actively unlikeable. 

[Lady Calypso]

Just now, memememe76 said:

I love Brittany Snow so much that I will give it more of a chance, but they have some big issues to deal with. The other two women were actively unlikeable. 

Yep.

Also, that husband of Edie's is just a....really bad actor (or he had a really bad first episode). When he went over to Julia's to comfort her or something, his acting was making me cringe. And that's a shame, because I remember seeing the actor on Pitch and I think he was decent there? 

Maybe my cringe factor was at an all time high this episode because if the only character I could actually stand was Julia, there must be something wrong with me, and not the show...right?

I mean, I appreciate that all the actors weren't monotone and they were trying to be expressive, but....I think some of them went way too far.

[kelslamu]

I actually liked it.  Now, I'll have to see the second ep before I'll really know. lol  The theme of the show is pretty interesting as to how that would affect everybody.

[memememe76]

Pitch! That’s where I saw him. Most of the main cast is somewhat recognizable to me so I hope that once the writing improve, they will be more comfortable.

[meatball77]

It was a pretty close copy of the Australian pilot (which you can watch on netflix), they even had her sleep with her brother.  The changes they made were better.  I liked that Dad was being investigated and wasn't almost dead having just confessed, and I liked the changes to the characters.  I think the Dad being more of a character will help. 

[RealityCreator]

It was OK.  I'll watch a couple more episodes before I decide if it's a yes or no.  I saw the original Australian version, and I liked it much better as far as the tone and the acting are concerned.  It's loopier, and to me, the main character is a more compelling version of the character.  

[marketdoctor]

Quote

Maybe my cringe factor was at an all time high this episode because if the only character I could actually stand was Julia, there must be something wrong with me, and not the show...right?

Maybe, but I had the same reaction, and there are two other explanations:

1.  The characters were turned up for the pilot, so between that and exposition, we saw the worst of them.

2.  The show, so far, has been driven more by concept than by likability.  Since the people were all fathered by a bad person, it's assuming that some of that rubbed off into their kids...which fits the concept but doesn't make me want to watch the show, since they're less likeable.  I didn't even like Julia, but Brittany Snow made her better than she could have been. 

I hope it finds its footing, but it's not for me right now.

[sadie]

I liked it. Definitely will give it a few more eps. 

[jay741982]

Am I supposed to like Edie and the woman so willing to sleep with a married woman? Cause I really dont. I get her marriage is rocky but I despise cheaters, not as much as actual sickos and Murderers but I do. I also hate the "pretend to hate them but actually want them " crap shown earlier in the episode.. I really like the show though. Felt bad for Roxy when she walked in on her horrid Parents talking with the lawyer. Love me some Brittany Snow!

[shantown]

Ooof, I didn't realize how squicky of a concept this was until I was watching it. They have a tough line to walk with not underplaying the seriousness/illegality/grossness of what the dad did and not getting bogged down in all that. I thought the pilot did a decent job in trying to manage the two very opposing sides (criminal sexual assault vs sisters, yay!) while also having to establish everything a normal pilot does. It was overstuffed and characters were a bit over the top, but that's par for the course with pilots. I liked it enough to check it out so I'll give it 3 episodes to hook me for real or not.
 

2 hours ago, marketdoctor said:

1.  The characters were turned up for the pilot, so between that and exposition, we saw the worst of them.

Totally agree with this, but somehow I found myself weirdly liking the former child star character. Something about her bringing Brittany Snow a coffee and trying to add her on Facebook and stuff was so awkward it came back around to endearing. It looks like she had a pretty solitary childhood and all that awkwardness of trying to make a friend and being so bad at it, even without the awkwardness of being newly discovered half-siblings. I think she's got potential to be a really good, interesting character. (I mean, she also has the possibility to be the worst, most annoying character but I'm choosing to be glass half full!)

[greekmom]

I didn't realize this was a remake of an Australian series. I should check to see if it's any better on Netflix.

1. I enjoyed Brittany Snow's character.  I feel that she has alot of "daddy" issues and that is why she was dealing with ontop of the clusterfuck that dad created.

2. Like Emily Osment's character.

3. They need to work on Megalyn's character. But it's only the pilot.

4. I didn't realize that Leon Bechley was played by Timony Hutton!!  Geez, he looks alot like a younger John Billingsley.  

5. I hated the discussion that Leon Bechley had with his daughter in regards to her hooking up (potentially) with her half brother.  It was like, "meh, I knew it could happen -what's the biggie?!"  Just EWWWW!!! What if the situation was different and she was planning to marry this guy?  

6. I'm shocked that lawyer friend Tim didn't explore all the ramifications of Julia handing the laptop over to the police?  Julia looked really distraught when she found out that they were going to prosecute him for assault rather than just fraud.  I dunno, Julia's other option was to just hide or destroy the laptop. 

7. Since Amanda and Edie hooked up, wouldn't that put Amanda's case in jeoprady since Edie is a Bechley baby?

At this point, maybe I am overthinking this?

[shantown]

38 minutes ago, greekmom said:

7. Since Amanda and Edie hooked up, wouldn't that put Amanda's case in jeoprady since Edie is a Bechley baby?

I'm hoping this is something they explore between those characters!

[biakbiak]

14 hours ago, meatball77 said:

on netflix), they even had her sleep with her brother.  The changes they made were better.  I liked that Dad was being investigated and wasn't almost dead having just confessed, and I liked the changes to the characters.  I think the Dad being more of a charac

I hate that because I know they are going to try and redeem him and I can’t stomach that, I bet they are going to gloss over a lot. When he was dead on the original it allowed the focus to be on the sisters and not on creepy bio dad’s crimes.

[Racj82]

Must be a new 2019 show. There must be at least 1 lead on the queer spectrum. Representation is not a bad thing at all but this is happening a lot and it's usually attached to a coming out storyline or a it's hard for someone in the LGBT community instead just being characters that happen to be that in the community.

But, also all the characters are quite stock for this type of show.

It was pleasant enough. I really can't take people complaining about the lack of love for network shows come Emmy time. All these shows coming out have been so basic and obvious. No creativity.

[ouinason]

I don't like how horrible they are making Roxy's parents seem.  I don't remember if they looked this bad in the first ep of the original series, but here they come across very bad in that scene with the lawyer.  

and... I hate Edie.  

Edited October 3, 2019 by ouinason

[slasherboy]

Blech, no way.  I'm outta here.  Y'all enjoy!

[Sakura12]

I saw the Australian original and they kept most of it pilot the same. The differences they did do I liked. The dad being arrested for his crimes instead of being on his deathbed was better but it might take away from the focus being on the sisters. 

I hated Roxy on the original in the beginning as well. So I'll see if this one gets better. Although did they make her a former athlete not a child tv star? Not sure why they needed to change that since Emily Osment is a former child tv star. I guess I'll have to see where they take her story since they changed hers the most. Edie is pretty much an exact copy of the original. 

Julia was my favorite in the original and this one seems a little more together than the Australian version. I liked that she had a little more backbone and turned her dad in right away. 

I'm interested to see what other changes they made. 

[KaveDweller]

7 hours ago, greekmom said:

6. I'm shocked that lawyer friend Tim didn't explore all the ramifications of Julia handing the laptop over to the police?  Julia looked really distraught when she found out that they were going to prosecute him for assault rather than just fraud.  I dunno, Julia's other option was to just hide or destroy the laptop. 

I was hoping they'd address if she legally had to turn it over.  Because after she decided not to destroy it, couldn't she have also just done nothing? Or would that be withholding evidence. What the father did is really, really, terrible and he deserves to be turned in, but it's gotta be really hard to turn in one of your parents.

I liked it overall, will have to wait and see where they go with it. I didn't like Roxy at first, but I felt sympathy for her ones they showed how awful her parents were. Edie was harder to like. It would have been better if they showed why she seems to be so unhappy with her husband. But I guess they don't want to make him a bad person so they can do a love triangle in the future?

[Grammaeryn]

I’m a sucker for found family stories and this story had enough humor plus plot, I’m sticking with it. I’m assuming a nutty crunchy earth goddess sister will show up so every stereotype can be checked? I really hope Brittany’s hair fades to a strawberry blonde rather than sticking with uber RED /shallow

[Guest]

On 10/2/2019 at 7:27 PM, Lady Calypso said:

Also, that husband of Edie's is just a....really bad actor (or he had a really bad first episode). When he went over to Julia's to comfort her or something, his acting was making me cringe. And that's a shame, because I remember seeing the actor on Pitch and I think he was decent there? 

I knew I recognized him but I never would have connected him to Pitch. He was so charismatic there and so blah in this. 

9 hours ago, Sakura12 said:

I hated Roxy on the original in the beginning as well. So I'll see if this one gets better. Although did they make her a former athlete not a child tv star? Not sure why they needed to change that since Emily Osment is a former child tv star. I guess I'll have to see where they take her story since they changed hers the most.

They made her a former gymnast. 

[Accidental Martyr]

1 hour ago, Dani said:

They made her a former gymnast. 

She reminded me a whole lot of Melissa Rauch’s character in The Bronze.

[wonderwoman]

i’m in for at least a few more episodes, if only to catch a glimpse of tamara tunie.

[Danielg342]

I thought this show had some pretty good characters. Great acting, for sure. A script that was witty and it had a story that was not only easy to follow along with but also one that was engaging.

They didn't do too much, like other pilots tend to.

The only problem is...what's the point?

As it stands now, I don't know what kind of stories this series is going to tell. It sure feels like one of those TV series that would be better off as a movie- "three women discover the power of sisterhood after their lives are thrown into disarray because malpractice at a fertility clinic."

That'd be a pretty good movie, maybe even "Oscar bait".

A series? It'd all depend on the writing, but my impression is there are only so many "power of sisterhood" plots you can do before they start becoming stale.

This would work better if it were "a series about nothing"- that is, the drama version of Seinfeld. Of course, a series like that working depends also on the writing. Because, inevitably, someone would ask, "don't soap operas already do that?"

That said, I feel like there may be "something" here if the writers ever figure out what it is, so I don't want to write it off completely.

...but it's still a hard sell.

[ramble]

I enjoyed this! I wasn’t expecting a lot and this exceeded my low expectations. It’s a bit hammy and rough-edged but pilots usually are. I’m in for now. 

[emma675]

I don't know how I feel about this overall but I'm going to watch episode #2.

I don't really have strong feelings towards Julia, Roxy, or Edie. Each one of them annoyed me in their own way but I think there are potential good storylines for each, too. 

I guess it was an okay pilot for me, but not overwhelmingly good. But I know pilots can be rough so I'm giving it a second chance next week before I decide one way or another. 

Edited October 5, 2019 by emma675d

[jay741982]

On 10/3/2019 at 7:24 PM, KaveDweller said:

I was hoping they'd address if she legally had to turn it over.  Because after she decided not to destroy it, couldn't she have also just done nothing? Or would that be withholding evidence. What the father did is really, really, terrible and he deserves to be turned in, but it's gotta be really hard to turn in one of your parents.

I liked it overall, will have to wait and see where they go with it. I didn't like Roxy at first, but I felt sympathy for her ones they showed how awful her parents were. Edie was harder to like. It would have been better if they showed why she seems to be so unhappy with her husband. But I guess they don't want to make him a bad person so they can do a love triangle in the future?

Ugh I hate love Triangles cause I grow to hate the person at the center of it and I'm already not liking Edie and Amanda? The woman who doesnt give a damn shes fucking a married woman 

[Enigma X]

I also saw the original Australian version and like it but am liking this better so far.