Thoughts on A Million Little Things: “Pilot”

A Million Little Things is a new show on ABC that follows the aftermath of the unexpected suicide of one of a group of four close friends.  The friends, Eddie (David Giuntoli, Grimm),  Jon (Ron Livingston, Band of Brothers, Sex in the City), Rome (Romany Malco, Weeds, No Ordinary Family) and Gary (James Roday, Psych)  met in a broken elevator and forged a friendship through their shared love of the Boston Bruins.

After Jon jumps from the balcony of his high-rise office, the remaining friends, his widow Delilah (Stephanie Szostak, The Devil Wears Prada, Satisfaction), Eddie’s and Rome’s wives Katherine (Grace Park, Hawaii 5-0, Battlestar Galactica) and Regina (Christine Moses, The Originals), and new girlfriend/friend with benefits, Maggie (Allison Miller, 13 Reasons Why, Incorporated) come together, struggle with what led him to jump and with the frustrations and uncertainties in their own lives.

The story is told both in regular time and flashbacks and the viewer gains small pieces of the bigger picture as the story moves along as we see how intertwined all of their lives were in some ways, but distant in others. The overarching theme, oft-repeated, seems to be that “everything happens for a reason.”

Cay and Rueben share their thoughts on the pilot below:

David Giuntoli , James Roday and Romany Malco [Photo Credit: ABC]

Cay

AMLT is clearly ABC’s answer to NBC’s This Is Us – it tells the story of a group of friends over time, features a sports obsession, a prominent death, and tears will definitely be shed by characters and viewers alike. Instead of Steelers football, we trade for Bruins hockey as the sport of choice. This is typically not my kind of show – I don’t like to watch sad things on TV – but I am a huge fan of David Giuntoli from Grimm and that was enough to get me to watch at least one episode and I found the pilot intriguing enough that I just might keep watching. The way the story is rationed out in small pieces (hopefully not a million of them!) and jumps around in time is interesting and they seem to be setting up a bit of a mystery aspect as well. What is Jon’s assistant up to? Why did she hide the folder he left?

On the downside, the time jumps were hard to follow at times (I watched a screener that was not a completed version and had no time stamps or overlays) and some of the lines were a bit clichéd (“everything happens for a reason”) and cheesy, but I’m willing to see how it develops.

Stephanie Szostak, Christina Marie Moses and Allison Miller [Photo Credit: ABC]

Rueben

I freely admit that I’m a big sap! To prove that point, I watch all of the Hallmark Channel movies, I watch family-friendly programming and I – like millions of other viewers – ball my eyes out over every single episode of This Is Us. When watching the pilot episode of A Million Little Things, I found myself crying over all the sad moments, just as TPTB behind the show, I’m sure, hoped would be the case with the show’s viewers. I also found the overall story intriguing, how the men know each other without REALLY knowing each other, as that is more than likely how many of us are with our friends if we REALLY think about things.

As for my downside, I was troubled with the affair that was revealed at the end – could that have been part of the reason for Jon’s suicide? – and I have to admit that his assistant Ashley (Christina Ochoa, Blood Drive and Valor) hiding that folder – the one that was marked with his wife’s name on it – was very troubling to me. Why would she do that and then lie to everyone about its existence?

What are your thoughts on the new drama? Please share your thoughts with us in our comments section.

The next episode of A Million Little Things will air on ABC on Wednesday, October 3 at 10/9c.