Josh Peck and John Stamos return to television to give the audience a sitcom worth watching.
“Grandfathered” tells the story of Jimmy Martino (Stamos), a lone-wolf restaurant owner who only tells women he wants a family to get laid.
Life turns upside down when Gerald (Peck), a nerdy, unemployed guy who only wears one set of clothes arrives at Martino’s restaurant. Not only does Gerald turn out to be Martino’s son, but Gerald brings along his daughter, making Martino a grandfather. The news hits him rather hard, and he determines he simply does not know if he wants to be a part of Gerald’s life.
After contemplating it, he decides to give parenting a chance. Gerald lives in his mother’s pool house and sharing time with his daughter with the baby’s mother. Despite having a baby together, the mother only sees Gerald as a friend. The reason Gerald reached out to Martino was to get help with women — and because he cried after reading a BuzzFeed article about the top 28 reasons having a dad is the best.
After one day of improvised parenting, Gerald trusts Martino to babysit his daughter as a last resort. All goes well until Martino is called into the restaurant because former football player Deion Sanders and his entourage arrive for dinner. Choosing his work over his new granddaughter, Martino puts the baby in a makeshift play pen in the back of the restaurant kitchen in order to entertain the VIPs.
Things go haywire and the baby keeps acting up until she finally runs through the restaurant and stops everything. It turns out the baby has a high fever, and Martino personally runs his granddaughter to the hospital. Despite getting in trouble with Gerald, his new son is happy with the way Martino handled the situation.
“Grandfathered”’s pilot episode was a strong episode right out the gate. The characters work well together and have good chemistry on screen. The jokes are strong and happen often.
The novelty of the story comes with Martino’s genuine confusion and not knowing if he wants to be a part of his son’s life. He doesn’t jump right in, and part of the story arch going forward will have to do with Martino learning the ins and outs of parenting and deciding whether he wants to continue being involved.
Comedy fans will enjoy the new sitcom for the jokes and the semi-serious storyline. The show provides many laughs while documenting Martino’s change in character and is definitely worth the watch.