CommentsXp Best movie ever!

ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

alv790 The story is told from Henry Fisher's (Eli Baker) point of view. It uses the same grown-up main character narrating his (pre) adolescence in voice-over technique as The Wonder Years. Of course, this show is not as brilliantly inspired as Wonder Years, but it would be unfair to judge a new TV show by such high standards. Eli Baker has a lot of boyish charm and does a convincing job.Nowadays, it feels a bit old fashioned to have a traditional family sitcom. It's true that the parents are divorced, but they have such a good relationship that there's not such a large difference.Any new show needs a differentiating element, and here the Mel's (J.K. Simmons, playing the father) blindness plays that role.One problem is that, for a comedy, Growing Up Fisher is not very funny. A lot of jokes are made from Mel's blindness and how he doesn't let that keep him from any activity. Some of those are enjoyable, but that premise only takes us so far. Another problem is that it relies too much on clichés. Henry starts awkwardly noticing girls, which is a reasonable plot point for a protagonist this age but one we have often seen. Joyce (Jenna Elfman), his mother, has gone back to the university and is obsessed about being cool and being friends with the other students and with her teenage daughter and her friends. There's nothing wrong with her interpretation, but beyond this not too promising plot element she is not given much to work with. The same can be said about Katie (Ava Deluca-Verley), who plays Henry's older sister. She does fine, but is not given much to do. Henry's best friend Runyen (Lance Lim), is an Asian mouthy kid who also feels like a sitcom cliché.The show is at his best with heart-warming family lessons, like when Katie stands up for his father when he is almost expelled from a musical where she is starring because his guide dog started barking. This came after Mel had told her that he was so obnoxious and outspoken because when he was a teen his rowing coach had not liked having a blind kid in the team and had asked him to leave. Mel had left and he had always regretted it. Katie standing up for him in spite of being mad at him for spoiling her date was a nice moment. I fear that in our cynic times such simple feel-good messages are seen as too corny.It's a pity this show was cancelled so soon. I enjoyed it and felt that it had potential to grow beyond the clichés that were holding it back. Unfortunately, we won't have the opportunity to see whether that's the case.

sues-2 Warning spoiler within: Great show, fresh idea, relatable characters, family show and a lighthearted comedy.The Dad is a blind lawyer who has a seeing eye dog and is dealing with normal family challenges, recent separation from his wife, raising teenagers and re-entering the dating world. The characters have that quirkiness that makes you root for them. You know you can watch this show and feel good afterwards.It is just too bad that NBC could not see it's potential and cancelled it. That's the spoiler. Hoping another network will pick it up. If About a Boy was renewed, which is not as good as Growing Up Fisher one really hopes that another network can see the potential.

kaceho17 It is not often that NBC has a good show to play, but this is the best show they have had in a long time. It is funny, witty, and just an overall good show.It is a show that has caught my attention week after week, this is not an easy task (I have the attention span of a gnat) to grasp my attention. The only other show I had seen J.K Simmons in was The Closer, it is nice to see him trying to branch out and try new things, he makes a great comic for a comedy. His voice and dialect is just witty. It is amazing that producers are getting new talent, i.e. Henry and Runyen, to play in these types of shows; instead of using people who have been in many of shows. Props to these producers for giving new actors a chance in their shows.One of the best things I can think of about this show is the opening, with the song "Tell the World" by Eric Hutchinson, it is a great song to go along with this opening. If it were up to me, I would renew this show in a heartbeat. Too bad it is in the hands of the critics.I have said it before and I stand by it, this is the best show that NBC has had in a long time, there are only two shows I watch on this network: Parenthood and Growing Up Fisher. NBC has a winner with this show, could be around for a long time if they can stay out of the teeth of the critics.

mbv-934-190763 We were pleased to see that NBC has tried a couple of new family centered series of which this is one and the other being About A Boy.We think the star in this series will turn out to be young Henry (Eli Baker). He is a fresh young talent and we think he has great potential.J.K. Simmons as Mel Fisher the Dad is an enjoyable character. It was especially nice to see how Henry listens to everything Dad says and there are many large underlying "teachable moments" in this first episode. Mel is a good Dad.Jenna Elfman is someone we enjoy seeing anytime, and here in her role as Joyce she was true to type. We enjoyed this episode and will tune in again next week. Growing Up Fisher and About A Boy are a welcome relief from watching NCIS Los Angeles on that other network. That means it fills a time slot where the market is hungry for something new and in this case NBC did it.Keep up the good work and we may tune in to NBC for more than Grimm.