Do Over

The main character Joel is zapped by his drug-addict sister and returns to his adolescence--disbelieving at first, he soon enthusiastically works to correct the problems with his life and his family. For every realistic viewer, this situation is highly appealing. Who doesn't have some situation or action they'd like to correct? The execution of the show isn't as good as it could be: it's never really laugh-out-loud funny, and the various plot developments aren't particularly original. Penn Badgley is OK as the lead character (Joel as a teen); Tom Everett Scott briefly plays him as an adult and narrates, much in the manner of Daniel Stern on "The Wonder Years." I liked the parents best among the rest of the characters. I wonder, though, how this situation can resolve itself (assuming, of course, that the show isn't cancelled before it gets a chance). His return to 1981 is not the result of a magic spell or a wrinkle in time--if they try to claim it is happening for real, rather than inside Joel's head, then their credibility goes right out the window. Even fantasy requires internal consistency to be taken seriously.