Cheryl West (Virginia Madsen) decides to make her criminal family walk the straight and narrow after her husband goes to jail for 5 years. Lesson #1 don't trust your insecure cousin JJ to get your sentence shortened like he promised.
It's not a bad premise, exactly, but the goal is one of boredom and entertainment will be derived more from how often they fall of the wagon than any of their successes.
Then you have the cast of not so interesting characters. Cheryl is organized, but she doesn't come across as very strong, and that I blame on the actor or the director, rather than the dialogue. I just couldn't believe she really had strong convictions or that she was truly invested.
We didn't really get to know her husband, but by the end of the episode, when he was laughing at the notion that his wife might succeed in her endeavour, I couldn't help but think he was a prick and that should ought to divorce is jailed ass.
As for the kids - the perfect lawyer, his twin the screw up, the blond ditz, and the young smart ass who skips school to work on her own projects - well, for one thing they are really bad stereotypes, and for another, they mostly weren't likable.
And that was generally my problem. All sorts of things went wrong in one day, bringing a family from crime to redemption, but no real plot surfaced, and none of the characters had enough going on to sink your teeth into.
I'd love to hear your thoughts. If any of you really enjoyed the pilot, please let me know and tell me why.
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