Tonight ABC premieres the hilarious new family comedy The Kids Are Alright. Set in the summer of 1972, the series follows the lives of a working class Irish Catholic family with eight boys. Mike Cleary (Michael Cudlitz, The Walking Dead, Southland) works at a local aeronautics facility doing contract work for the government. His wife Peggy (Mary McCormack, Falling Water, In Plain Sight) is a tough, no-nonsense, housewife who makes all the boys’ clothes, cooks all the meals, and pushes her children in the right direction (whatever she deems that to be). 20-year-old Lawrence (Sam Straley, Chicago P.D.) is a bit of a hippie, and is on track to becoming the priest of the family when he decides that’s not the direction he wants his life to go. Next in line is Eddie (Caleb Foote, American Horror Story) who has a secret girlfriend he’s been keeping from his mother, and is worried that his parents will want him to be the priest if Lawrence quits the seminary. Frank (Sawyer Barth, Public Morals) is the snooper of the family, who always seems to be eavesdropping outside doors to overhear what his brothers are up to so he can either blackmail them or snitch to his mother. Then there’s Joey (Christopher Paul Richards, Me, Myself and I), the cool, popular one, with his own treehouse hideaway. He serves as a mentor to 12-year-old Timmy (Jack Gore, Billions), the artsy one and the center/narrator of the series. Timmy shares a room with younger brothers Pat (Santino Barnard) and William (Andy Walken). And rounding out the family is the newborn.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two episodes of the series—the second of which had me constantly laughing out loud. Who knew that Mary McCormack could be so hysterical?! She also has great chemistry with TV husband Michael Cudlitz, and all their boys. The child actors are all so much fun. Each of the boys has his own unique personality, and there are so many different dynamics between them that the show can explore. The series has a Wonder Years like vibe to it, with episode narration provided by an older Timmy fondly recounting his family’s adventures from when he was growing up. The Kids Are Alright provides a great mix of heart and humor, like many of ABC’s other comedies, plus it checks off another decade in ABC’s arsenal of period comedies, which now cover the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s! This is definitely a series worth setting a season pass for!

In tonight’s premiere, “Pilot”, Lawrence returns home from the seminary and tells his family that he’s dropping out for good, leaving Mike and Peggy upset; Timmy decides he wants to audition for a children’s theater production; Eddie tries to keep his girlfriend a secret.

Tonight I’ll also be watching/recording blackish, The Rookie, This Is Us, The Gifted, The Flash, Flipping Out, Mayans M.C., The Guest Book, and The Purge.

For additional suggestions on what to check out tonight, including The Rookie, Black Lightning and New Amsterdam, check out the If We Controlled Your Remote… 10/16/18 post at TVisMyPacifier.com.