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9JKL

Credits

Cast

Network

Reviewer

Paul Asay

TV Series Review

Ah, parents. They’re great, aren’t they? Just great. Greaaat. We love them. We learned so much from them. We’d do anything for them.

But when we become adults ourselves, is it really so great to live with them?

Admittedly, Josh doesn’t live with his parents anymore, but he’s doing the next best (?) thing: living right next door. The unemployed actor—fresh off the cancellation of his show Blind Cop—has moved back into his old New York City abode in apartment 9K. His parents live in 9J. Oh, and his brother and sister-in-law? They’re in 9L.

Yep, they’re all one big happy family again—literally right down the hall from one another. The only thing they don’t share is the family bathroom.

But give ’em time.

The Annoying Tenants Next Door

It’s not that Josh’s parents are bad people. They’re deeply caring. Loving. Doting, even.

And therein lies the rub: Mother Judy would still make Josh peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches if she could—cutting off the crust to boot. Father Harry is quick on the trigger with unsolicited advice or the occasional dad joke. They both love their son soooo much! But for Josh—a divorcée looking to rebound in the romance department—their love can be a little … constraining.

Then (speaking of awkward relationships), there’s Josh’s brother/neighbor, Andrew. Yes, he and Josh love each other as only brothers can, and that means plenty of jealousy and misunderstandings. Eve, Andrew’s wife, can be a mitigating influence at times. But she has her own problems to deal with. Judy routinely sticks her at the end of family photos in case Eve and Andrew ever get divorced, making it that much easier to crop her out if the need arises.

Bad Neighbors

9JKL is apparently loosely based on star Mark Feuerstein’s real life experiences living next to his own parents while working on USA’s airy dramedy Royal Pains, but with one major difference: Feuerstein was married at the time, to 9JKL’s co-creator, Dana Klein. The character Josh is, as mentioned, single. And that status opens the show up to some potential pitfalls.

It’s not that the TV-PG 9JKL is egregiously salacious. But Josh’s dating habits and potential sexual escapades are well within bounds here. Physical relations between Josh’s married neighbors are likely to make a cameo on occasion, too. In addition, the show can sport a bit of foul language—mild, certainly, by today’s standards, but still very much in play. And frankly, the show isn’t even all that funny.

But all that said, 9JKL does reinforce a truth that most of us know but a few of us sometimes forget: Family—as aggravating and exasperating as its members can sometimes be—is a wonderful, even beautiful thing.

Especially if you live maybe a ZIP Code or two away.

Episode Reviews

9JKL: Dec. 11, 2017 “Set Visit”

Josh gets a part for a new movie, working with an eccentric actor he’s long admired. But his new gig is threatened when his parents show up for an unexpected visit—and get cast in the movie, too. Meanwhile, Andrew takes some dancing lessons from the doorman, Nick, in an effort to join his dance-loving wife for a night on the town.

When Andrew (wearing a tie) first sees Nick dance in the hall, Nick mistakes him for a well-dressed serial killer. “I was just watching you move your hips,” Andrew explains, which Nick says “just raises more questions.” And when Andrew says that he’d like to “just climb inside your body for just one night,” Nick takes a picture of him, worried that Andrew might indeed be a crazed maniac. Once Nick begins actually giving Andrew a dance lesson, things get a bit more normal—though Nick does feel the need to hold Andrew’s hips to get them to sway more naturally. “Prepare to be boarded,” Nick says before grabbing hold. Later, on the dance floor, Andrew shows wife Eve some dance moves inspired by his job as a surgeon. Eve makes up a new one for him—mimicking shoving a thermometer up Andrew’s rear.

Back on Josh’s new work set, Judy steals food from the buffet table and dumps several coffee creamers containers into her purse. As part of the movie, Josh talks about how he discovered a dead body.

Eve wears a sultry, red, cleavage-baring dress to go out dancing with her girlfriends (sans husband). He quips that perhaps she’s having an affair with a bullfighter. A scene takes place in a bar festooned with what looks to be flotsam from a psychic reading center (including a neon palm glowing in the window). Characters say “d–n,” “h—” and “sucks,” and misuse God’s name about eight times.

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Paul Asay

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

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