Mom is a broad comedy that wouldn’t feel out of place in TV Land’s lineup with Hot in Cleveland and The Exes. While it is not the best show ever, Mom works well and is one of the few shows nowadays that an entire family can watch together.

Mom stars Anna Faris as Christy. At first Christy isn’t the most likeable character, even though she is genuine. As the pilot progresses, we find out that Christy can’t connect with her daughter because she takes after her mother, Bonnie, who was a terrible parent. Both women are members of Alcoholics Anonymous, which is where they run into each other after years of not talking. Christy tries to be a better parent than her mother was, but its hard when her mother is the perfect grandmother for Christy’s daughter, Violet. Despite not getting along with her, Violet take after her mother, Christy. Have you noticed a theme yet?

Christy, Bonnie, and Violet have a tendency to date really stupid men. Baxter is the son of Christy’s youngest son and thinks selling pot is a good way to get money for the child support he is six months behind on. Bonnie will do just about anything that moves. Violet has the most stable relationship with men. She has been with her current boyfriend Luke for around a year. However, Luke’s about as bright as Baxter. The only reason Luke likes bananas is because they come with their own container.

Christy works at a restaurant. The opening scene with Christy crying hysterically doesn’t do the show justice. It is probably the saddest opening to a sitcom ever. Christy can’t get her act together because someone called her a good waitress, which her boss, Gabriel, tells her “that’s not bad, or true.” The actual problem is that the comment reminded her how much she wanted to be a psychologist, which she feels like she can never be because she never graduated high school.

The head chef of the restaurant, Rudy, is sarcastic and downright mean. The first thing he does is tell one of the line cooks to add more butter and salt because the customers “only have to live long enough to pay the check.” Everything else Rudy says is in the same vein. If Rudy was a real person, no one would like him, but he is one of the best characters in the show as long as he only appears in small doses. Mom doesn’t need to become the Rudy show.

The manager of the restaurant, Gabriel, clearly cares about Christy. After work, he visits her at home. They start to kiss. Gabriel and Christy are obviously dating, or at least sleeping together. Did we mention Gabriel has a wife? And that he can’t divorce her because she owns the restaurant and he would lose his job? Hopefully, the writers don’t string out their relationship and the fact that Gabriel can’t leave his wife over several seasons. Christy has enough problems, since she just reunited with her mother. She doesn’t need to deal with Gabriel sort of being there for her, but not really being there.

There are some bright spots in Mom, but the show runs the risk of being branded as one of those shows that gets millions of viewers, yet no one knows anyone who watches it. Only time well tell. Mom airs Monday at 9:30pm on CBS.