Skip to content, or skip to search.   What Parenthood Gets Right
About Families and Drama — and Three Things It Just Gets Wrong
Parenthood sure knows how to pluck some heartstrings. Last
night's season finale, "Hard Times Come Again No More," squeezed
a superhuman amount of tears into a mere 44 minutes, and in
doing so highlighted everything the sophomore drama does right
(pick it up for a third season, NBC) — and a lot of what it does
wrong. Cue the Bob Dylan!  Let's start with the good.  The show
features best crying on television. Mae Whitman and Lauren
Graham can go from furrowed-brow screaming to open sobs in a
heartbeat, and Parenthood has put that to superb use. As
previously mentioned, Whitman in particular gets that adolescent
frustration-cry exactly right, joining Claire Danes in the
Teenage Weeping Hall of Fame.  All the performances are good,
and some are actually great. Crosby should be annoying and
awful, but he's not: Dax Shepard gives him an energy and
vulnerability that make him not just lik