Parenthood: Lorelai Gilmore, I Expected Better.

Last night, I decided to check out the much-hyped-about new series on NBC, Parenthood. I'd heard great reviews about it, and I was a huge fan of Gilmore Girls, so I thought, why not?

Why not, indeed.

The show's premise is almost exactly like Brothers & Sisters': The trials and tribulations of a sprawling white, middle-class family in suburbia. In fact, that IS the premise of Brothers & Sisters.

The show kicked off with Lorelai Gilmore calling her brother, Peter Krause, who's out jogging. Lorelai's daughter has disappeared, probably with her boyfriend, and Lorelai doesn't seem too concerned, just frazzled. Peter is about to pass out because he's out of shape. Oh and then Peter's dad calls. He's the guy from Coach. And then something with Peter's blond wife (who looks like Nicollette Sheridan from Desperate Housewives) and their son who doesn't want to play baseball. In the final scene before the first commercial break (at which point I stopped watching), Peter Krause is tackling the first-base umpire at his son's game because the ump made a bad call.

Big, fat, ZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Why was I bored? Because the show offers nothing new. It follows a boring family doing boring clichéd things, like fixing their cars and forcing their sons to play sports. It's not funny, it's not clever, it's not heartwarming, it's not anything. In fact, I'm trying very hard to stay awake even as I type this.

Some might say I shouldn't judge a show by its first 12 minutes. I say, life's too short to watch dull TV.