Growing Up Fisher: Season 1

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 34 Ratings

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8.1

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8.1	User Score Universal acclaim based on 34 Ratings

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Growing Up Fisher

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Season Details & Credits

NBC | Season Premiere Date: February 23, 2014

Starring: J.K. Simmons, Jenna Elfman, Eli Baker

Summary: Loosely based on creator D.J. Nash's life, adult Henry Fisher (voiceover by Jason Bateman) looks back on his life as a 11-year-old (Eli Baker) with his older sister Katie (Ava Deluca-Verley) after the divorce between his father Mel (J.K. Simmons), a blind lawyer and his mother Joyce (Jenna Elfman).

Creator: DJ Nash

Genre(s): Comedy

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Season 1 Episodes

tbd
S1:E13. Growing Up Fairbanks
Air Date: May 28, 2014
tbd
S1:E12. Madi About You
Air Date: May 13, 2014
tbd
S1:E11. Secret Lives of Fishers
Air Date: May 6, 2014

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Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

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Critic Reviews

Alessandra Stanley

Feb 21, 2014

Both shows ["About a Boy" and "Growing Up Fisher"] are well written and actually quite engaging, but what is most interesting is the focus on the brighter side of splitting up. It’s a new genre of heartwarming family show. Read full review

Tom Gliatto

Feb 14, 2014

Growing Up Fisher is a winning, welcome example [of a family sitcom], conceptually novel and solidly cash. [24 Feb 2014, p.37]

Rob Owen

Feb 21, 2014

Growing Up Fisher offers earnest, heartwarming stories about "a new kind of family," as ABC Family promos would call the divorced-but-still-friendly Fishers if the show aired on the basic cable network instead of NBC. Read full review

Matt Zoller Seitz

Feb 21, 2014

The creative failure of Growing Up Fisher is more distressing than the missteps of About a Boy because there would seem to be so much more potential there. These are characters that, in theory, you haven't seen before, but the show makes them feel too familiar. Read full review

Vicki Hyman

Feb 24, 2014

The writers try to imbue the narration with a sense of heartfelt nostalgia that came so naturally to a show like "The Wonder Years," but the contemporary setting and banal plotlines works against it. Read full review

Mary McNamara

Feb 24, 2014

Simmons is great as he always is, but between the divorce, the mid-life crisis, the coming out as blind, the mother-daughter tension and the boy discovering his true self and The Importance of Family, there is simply too much to look at and not enough to see. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Brian Tallerico

Feb 20, 2014

One of the worst comedy pilots of the 2013-14 season relies entirely on two-dimensional character tropes. Read full review

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User Score

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8.1

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User Reviews

bradnmarla

May 14, 2014

Thank you for a good, clean family show! We are so happy to find a wholesome show that we can feel good about watching with our kids. Please keep this show!

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

RitRev

May 25, 2014

The best new sitcom I've seen in a long time. Simmons carries the show. However NBC dropped the ball with About A Boy "boring" Growing Up Fisher is a breath of fresh air!!!!

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

lukechristiansc

Apr 21, 2014

Growing up fisher is heartwarming this show is a major difference to the people that have disable or not . just realize its okay to be different i need to realize it but still remember this - Luke Christian

P.S Grade A+

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Family

Mar 4, 2014

A show I can watch with my entire family and have a good time is a rarity anymore. My family loved the show. Can't wait for the next episode. And by the way, if you think Jena Elfman isn't hot then your eyesight is worse than the Dad on the show.

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

MRAButterfly

Feb 24, 2014

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The show (as of 2/24/2014, after the pilot) has a lot of potential to grow. J.K. Simmons is plays a great father figure, and Eli Baker is as genuine as a kid character can get. Many of the secondary story lines including the apartment and the mom's attempts to find herself again are interesting, but fail to make as much of an impact as the main story line does.

Hopefully the show stays around for more than 1 season because if the pilot is any indication, "Growing Up Fisher" is going to be an amazing feel-good television show.… Expand

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

yukichigai

Mar 11, 2014

Growing Up Fisher does a good job at being a sitcom which focuses on someone with a disability without being either overly sensitive or overly insensitive. JK Simmons is, as usual, pretty darn funny, this time as the blind patriarch of the family. The show isn't afraid to make jokes thatGrowing Up Fisher does a good job at being a sitcom which focuses on someone with a disability without being either overly sensitive or overly insensitive. JK Simmons is, as usual, pretty darn funny, this time as the blind patriarch of the family. The show isn't afraid to make jokes that rely on the father being blind, but it's jokes that leave you laughing with the guy, not at him. It certainly handles that kind of humor better than the also-new Michael J. Fox Show.

The other characters in the show are decent, though not particularly memorable. The son-slash-future-narrator has his definite moments, some with some pretty snarky and unexpected humor, but often falls into the same tired tropes that every sitcom kid does. The daughter and wife sadly are both fairly unmemorable characters doing cliche sitcom things, Jenna Elfman almost parodying herself as she plays a straight-laced woman a-la Greg trying to become more free a-la Dharma.

Still, the show is more often than not funny in ways you don't fully expect, getting the biggest laughs from tasteful-yet-subversive gags. With a little polish, like removing a few of the worst sitcom tropes, this could become a truly excellent show. As it is it's reasonably entertaining. Worth a watch.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

maddagger

Feb 25, 2014

boring, nothing to this show, poor acting and left me feeling like i wanted my half hour back. so what, the state farm guy is acting, yay. dont much like the Goldbergs either, but at least it has a plot. PS Jenna Elfman was hot in Dharma & Greg, lost her luster afterwards.

0 of 7 users found this helpful07

SEE ALL 8 REVIEWS

Seasons & Episodes

54

Series Overview
Season 1

54
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: February 23, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E13. Growing Up Fairbanks
  Air Date: May 28, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E12. Madi About You
  Air Date: May 13, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E11. Secret Lives of Fishers
  Air Date: May 6, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E10. First Time's the Charm
  Air Date: April 29, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E9. Desk/Job
  Air Date: April 22, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E8. The Man With the Spider Tattoo
  Air Date: April 15, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E7. Katie You Can Drive My Car
  Air Date: April 8, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E6. Drug/Bust
  Air Date: April 1, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E5. Work With Me
  Air Date: March 25, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E4. Trust Fall
  Air Date: March 18, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E3. The Date From Hell-Nado
  Air Date: March 11, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E2. Now You See, Now You Don't
  Air Date: March 4, 2014
- tbd
  S1:E1. Pilot
  Air Date: February 23, 2014