NBC’s “Parenthood” should loosen up its family values — salon.com

Watching “Parenthood” can be quite the melancholy viewing experience. Since it premiered, Adam and Kristina Braverman have wrestled with their son Max’s frustrating and often alienating Asperger’s syndrome. Mostly aimless Sarah Braverman has struggled to raise two teenagers on her own. This past season, Adam and Sarah’s younger sister Julia split with her husband, Joel, over a fling, tearing their seemingly perfect family apart. Their brother Crosby found mold in his home and was forced to move his little brood back in with their parents. Or take last week’s episode, the penultimate of the season: A family friend died of cancer and a young man, already suffering from PTSD, returned home from a self-imposed tour of duty severely injured. It’s pretty dark stuff on the surface. But if you pay attention to the way “Parenthood” chooses to reconcile these troubles, you’ll realize the show may express one of the rosiest worldviews on television – provided you understand its core values.

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