The fourty-eighth TV show: #584 My Family
There are a lot of comedies that, essentially, revolve around the family. Roseanne and King of the Hill, for example, draw a lot on it. My Family draws on similar roots, in a wealthier family (read: more conventional TV family) that feels a bit more like the standard comedy family. Here the family has older children (starting at 12-18 years old, I think, and growing up as the season goes on) and the general tenor is one of parents who hate their children and would rather be on their own. It somehow feels incredibly rote and predictable early on, and it's not something the serie tries to avoid.
In the early seasons, it's the kids that stand out. Being older, they can talk back more, and in particular Kris Marshall sticks out. He's the happy, optimistic one in the group, and his silliness really brightens his storylines, especially where he can also inject some more emotion into it. It makes him feel like a more realised character. Daniela Denby-Ashe, playing their daughter Janey, mostly pulls off the same, while Gabriel Thomson had to grow in front of the cameras. Early on he still managed to pull off quite a bit, but it's not as easy.
Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker clearly have comedic chops and pull off a lot, but the writing hems them in a lot and doesn't allow them to grow and develop as character. While the others go through things that change them, I feel the two of them just play the same stereotypes (type A housewife, put upon annoyed father) who, fatally, don't get many chances to show affection towards their children or each other. While it's often said they made a mistake, them staying together feels more like a drama than a comedy.
The main flaw seems to be the repetitive, unnuanced writing that doesn't give anyone a large chance to go anywhere. That might have been fine in the past, but now it seems dated and just doesn't work as well in a show. If it had ended earlier, it would have been amazing, but watching later seasons, it doesn't work as well.