Better with You – Season 1

Note: Season’s not done at time of review.

Better with You is a comedy about three very different couples. First, there’s Mia (Joanna Garcia) and Casey (Jake Lacy), who are young, un-married and already expecting a baby. Then there’s Mia’s older sister Maddie (Jennifer Finnigan) and her steady partner not-a-fiancé Ben (Josh Cooke), and finally there’s Mia and Maddie’s parents Vicky (Debra Jo Rupp) and Joel (Kurt Fuller).

It is a typical sitcom that bases most of its humor on the difference between new relationships, relationships that have been going for a little while, and relationships that have already been for years. There’s a few scenes that deal with in-law relationships, past girlfriend relationships, sisterly relationships, and finally parents and daughters relationships — we can’t say the show isn’t trying. It’s got its moments, especially when Finnigan plays Maddie as irrational — Christmas Scene Investigation… ooh, that’s good — and Garcia plays Mia as a bit psycho — eyebrow raise and all when she meets Casey’s ex, Jessica.

Jo Rupp and Fuller add humor whenever they’re in by either trying to one-up their daughters at something or playing against each other to get something.

The problem with Better with You is that it’s a 30 minute show that feels longer. We watch it, but we don’t feel the need to watch it every day. We know the characters, but we don’t feel close to them. They’re a family, but we’re not part of theirs. The show makes us laugh, but it’s got little heart.

Also, according to the premise of the show, if the show lasts five seasons, Mia and Casey will be the steady partners, and so on. Is the show going to add a new couple then? Or is the show meant to wrap up sooner?

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