[valeposh]

"PARENTHOOD" "TAKING THE LEAP" 03/29/2011 (10:00PM - 11:00PM) (Tuesday) : ADAM AND KRISTINA FACE A DIFFICULT DECISION, CROSBY TRIES TO REKINDLE HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH JASMINE, JOEL AND JULIA RECEIVE TROUBLING NEWS AND AN OLD FRIEND OF ZEEK’S VISITS—ACADEMY AWARD WINNER RICHARD DREYFUSS GUEST STARS – Adam (Peter Krause) and Kristina (Monica Potter) have an unexpected meeting with the principal of Max's (Max Burkholder) school. Jabbar (Tyree Brown) is selected "Star of the Week" by his elementary school, causing Crosby (Dax Shepard) and Jasmine (Joy Bryant) to work together, creating nostalgia for their past. Meanwhile, Amber (Mae Whitman) encounters a speed bump while working in her new job. Elsewhere, Joel (Sam Jaeger) and Julia (Erika Christensen) receive troubling news after a series of medical check ups and Zeek’s (Craig T. Nelson) old friend, Gilliam T. Blount (guest star Richard Dreyfuss, "Red"), shows interest in Sarah’s (Lauren Graham) play. Savannah Paige Rae, Sarah Ramos, Miles Heizer, Bonnie Bedelia and Craig T. Nelson also star.

Source

[LG rocks my socks]

Sick!Lauren is hot.

That is all for now.

[Sophiejune]

Well, a pretty good show. Poor Lauren definately sick.. but I think Erika has a cold too. A lot of sadness in this episode. Julia nearly made me cry. Kristina not wanting Max to main stream was an understandable fear, but she wasn't listening to Adam. Suprised she listened to Gaby. I am looking forward to next weeks episode that is for sure.

[lgfan]

Lauren's voice sounded really bad the whole episode. Many comments and sympathies from people on twitter.

[auntbee]

Yes, I did like the husky-voiced Sarah.

I enjoyed the episode. Poor Amber. But the girl needs to learn how to handle problems. Jasmine has thawed a little, but is so unforgiving. I guess she still has father issues. Sydney keeps thinking that they'rfe getting an aquarium - cute! And I adore Richard Dreyfuss.

[Hannah2010]

Poor Amber. But the girl needs to learn how to handle problems.

I felt so bad for her this episode. So far in this series, people have tried to show her that she's worth more than she thinks. And that college is a possibility for her in the future. And to have a reality check on that must be rough*. She usually would confide in Sarah or Haddie, and maybe Drew. But on this, she felt like she couldn't go to Sarah, because Sarah's been her biggest cheerleader, and has been all "Go College! Yay!" Not in a bad way, but to encourage Amber. And Haddie is a super academic acheiver, so Amber would probably be embarrassed to go to her. And with Drew, Amber probably wouldn't want to put some worries on his plate, since there's nothing he could do about it.

She was so sad, all out of it in Julia's boss' car. I'm so glad Julia found her, and had the good sense to be compassionate and loving to Amber, when you just know inside she was freaking out.

* It was good, in a way, that the show didn't have Amber get into her dream school. With her grades and coursework and lack of extracurriculars, it would have been surprising if she got into a competitive school right off the bat.

All in all, I liked the episode, aside from the Crosby/Jasmine stuff, which seemed a bit off. I did like the Crosby/Sarah scene though - very sweet.

[lancer1993]

I agree Lauren sounds really sexy with a cold, kinda reminds me of Phoebe on Friends that time also love they are talked about it on Twitter.

Sarah - Nice to see Zeek helping her and pushing Sarah to be more, funny that he took the play into the bathroom. The the joke that it was about Amber. Richard Dreyfuss was great as Zeeks old war buddy Gilliam T. Blount, he had great banter with Sarah when debating her play. I'm glad she has something more in the works than being a bar tender.

Also did we know Sarah's middle name before? 'Sarah Tracy Braverman'.

Amber and the work experience. She really needs to get a grip and should have talked to her mother, Julia or someone sooner. The garage guy was not very helpful letting her get high in the bosses car. Also she got the 'small' envelope, very a Gilmore Girls moment.

Julia & Joel - you can always count on them for some lighter moments like Joel's fish and Sydney getting the wrong idea. Then Julia with not knowing what to do with the phone sex. Little sad in the end with it turning out Julia as the problem, months back I thought that might be the case since she always likes to be in control and now she isn't. I wonder is adoption or surrogacy are in their future.

Adam & Kristina with Max - it's good he is doing better and is smart! I hope they made the right choice. The Gaby stuff was a little weird, does it matter if she was helping the Lessing's? I didn't get why Kristina has a problem with that. I do like they talked in the end and worked things out.

Jabbar being 'star of the week' was a nice ploy (by the writers) to bring Crosby and Jasmine together, love the story Crosby told. He is really trying to fix things with Jasmine. I was surprised she ended it with Crosby. But I'm sure there is more to come.

Also nice 'product placement' with the BING search when most others would have gone with Google, they have done that before, and again no Camille or Drew and only a passing scene with Haddie sitting next to Max on the couch. Oh and anyone else hate the 1/4 screen ads for Voices NBC has been showing along the bottom of the screen? Very distracting!

[Danke]

I liked the episode but not loved it. They were really only two scenes that stood out for me and they were all with Julia. Julia´s attempt of sex phone talk ending with "Good luck", that cracked me up and then the last scene. It felt so real, my heart was really breaking for them.

Also I´m sad they cut Amber´s drunken self-loathing speach in the garage. Everything was so nicely explained in it.

[the_strawberry_girl]

I thought it was kind of a "meh" episode. Not bad, just didn't excite me.

Not enough good Sarah stuff for me this week.

[lancer1993]

I agree it was an okay ep but not the best, that aside I thing Sarah's new sexy voice more than makes up for it

Katka I'll have to check the sides to remember what of Ambers scene was cut.

ETA - The word Nuclear was used in part of her drunken speech, so maybe in the light of evens in Japan it was cut?

[lgfan]

Honestly, I thought this episode was pretty boring. I feel they went back to spreading the storylines too thin because they had things going on with all 4 siblings here. And the preview for next week's episode went back to being all about Haddie and Alex, which makes me shudder. On a positive note though, I tend to enjoy episodes more when I go into them with my hopes lowered.

[Danke]

I totally agree with this paragraph of this review.

It’s been a while—almost a month!—since we last saw those wacky Bravermans and learned what they were up to. Back in February sweeps, the show found a way to ramp up the drama quotient and simultaneously ramp up our involvement in the program. Now, after most of those storylines (save Jasmine and Crosby’s shattered relationship) have been tied up, the show has retreated again to its veneer of quiet domesticity. That doesn’t make tonight’s episode a bad episode, but it does feel like a bit of a breather, a pause before the inevitable season finale storm. There’s plenty to recommend here, but there’s also stuff that feels a little timid, and the Adam and Kristina storyline mostly just seems to be there to give them something to do. (Hey, it happens.)

[sydsgirl1]

Grr arr...the 'thing' still hasn't finished and it's been 6 hours...but I've caught the first thirty minutes of it.

Sarah/LG is sexy with a husky voice! There's a multitude of postings on twitter to confirm this!!

I am really beginning to dislike Amber, which is a complete shame as for the first half of this season, she was my favorite. I just feel like she's become slightly more generalized - earlier this season she was a much more eccentric and endearing character. I realized after this episode that while I appreciate all the characters and their flaws and strengths, I actually like very few of them. They are all entertaining in their own ways, but if I was choosing friends out of the family, Sarah and Zeek are the only people I'd actually become friends with (speaking honestly - you all know I love LG, but out of the female characters, I'd like Sarah even if LG wasn't playing her).

But yes. Complaints about today's eppy? Not enough Drew again. And Amber is just annoying me - maybe because I empathize too much with her; I know that feeling of finally being able to work yourself up to something and then failing at it, but she's just dealing with it in a very self-pitying way. Which contrasts with Sarah, who tends to wallow for about an hour and then move on when dealing with disappointment.

I still don't like Julia or Kristina at all. Camille, Sarah and Amber have much more depth of character - it's not much to do with the actors but more the way the characters are written. Julia has bothered me since the beginning generally, and I don't like Kristina's almost superiority-complex.

This eppy is reinforcing my hatred for BOTH Crosby and Jasmine, though. Crosby just has this self-deprecating arrogance about him (how's that for an oxymoron?) which I can't get on with at the best of times, and needs to grow up and realize that the few things that have happened to him pale in comparison to what others in the family have been through.

It's that whole thing on the show of making the little things that happen in parenthood equate the larger whole that sometimes misses the mark. Which is a shame, as the premise is fantastic; they just need to work a little on the conception. Telling a child about a dead bird equates to telling children that their father was an alcoholic? I don't think so.

Wow, this was rambling. I quite honestly think that (leaving my devotion to LG aside) what I want now is a spin-off, called 'The Zeek and Sarah' show, with occasional guest-starring spots from Adam, Amber and Camille. THAT would make me happy. Zeek has such more to him than is seen, and there is a perfect combination of good writing and good acting that exemplifies this feeling. There are so many more Zeek stories to be told.

Oh, and one more point. I keep reading on IMDB comments that are a little more than bashing Kristina and Sarah. People just skip over Julia, lol. I still don't think the writers have established these characters enough - it's clear what their primary characteristics are but we don't really see or feel anything that makes us deeply relate to them - it's all a bit surface-skirting, which I guess is the drawback to having such a large cast.

This being said, I will be SO disappointed if the Emmy's don't reflect what great acting this is. Richard Dreyfuss should get a nomination for Supporting Actor, LG for Lead Actress and PK for Lead Actor.

Wow. I feel like I reviewed the whole series, LOL.

[rafatel]

I love Lauren's voice when she's sick

[lgfan]

Wow, this was rambling. I quite honestly think that (leaving my devotion to LG aside) what I want now is a spin-off, called 'The Zeek and Sarah' show, with occasional guest-starring spots from Adam, Amber and Camille.

That made me laugh! Can't say I haven't thought of it myself but in reality it's kinda hard to get a spinoff from a show that is barely squeaking by.

This being said, I will be SO disappointed if the Emmy's don't reflect what great acting this is. Richard Dreyfuss should get a nomination for Supporting Actor, LG for Lead Actress and PK for Lead Actor.

I don't know about nominations. I think PK has the best chance of anyone for an acting nomination- not because I think he's the best, but because I think he gets some of the best material. Poor Lauren, I would be genuinely surprised if she gets a nom. I don't know why I feel that way, because she's a great actress. I hope I'm wrong. And I know this is showing my ugly side, but I will fling myself off a building if MP gets a nomination. I have nothing against her, but Kristina just annoys me sooooooo darned much that I don't want anything to encourage the writers to give her even more material.