A surprise hit of the past TV season for me was the Minnie Driver led sitcom Speechless on ABC in America. The basic formula is one we’ve seen a lot of in recent years: lower income family gets into situations each week. Speechless adds an extra bit into it by having one of the kids have cerebral palsy and is unable to speak, using instead the aid of a laser pointer attached to his head and a board attached to his wheelchair to communicate. This could have gone horribly, and devolved into a show of stereotypes. Instead, while there are still stereotypes present as with any sitcom, there is a treasure of a show that has a lot of heart in it as well.

Minnie Driver has always been a bit hit and miss for me. I have never doubted her talent. It’s just that sometimes her performances just don’t entertain me. I loved her last foray into the sitcom world, About a Boy, but more for the other actors than for her. In Speechless, she brings the overbearing mother role she had in About a Boy but makes it so we feel for her. She has spent her adult life caring for her disabled son, while also caring for the rest of her family, fighting for her disabled son to get what he needs to be able to live his life, and so the audience understands why she’s a little high strung. Here is where the heart of Speechless comes through because not only do we see Driver’s character Maya being an advocate for her son, but we see her journey as she realizes that she can’t always be the big bad mama bear for J.J., the disabled son. She has to choose her moments. And her trips and falls along the way are sometimes the most heartwarming and funny moments of the show.

That doesn’t mean that Driver outshines the rest of the cast. Mason Cook plays Ray, the middle son, who is the typical awkward sitcom teenager. He is the logical one of the family, typically trying to reign in the more outlandish actions of the other members of the clan. The undertone of his character though comes through in some of the later episodes in that his older brother has gotten so much of the attention that he’s had to kind of be more mature in a lot of ways. I enjoyed watching him navigate the perils of high school while trying to individualize himself and find his place in his family.

Kyla Kenedy plays Dylan, the youngest DiMeo, who is kind of a tomboy. Like Ray, I think she had to seek attention in a different way because of J.J.’s disability and the attention focused on that, so she became  a track star. She doesn’t get a lot of characterization, unlike Ray, but you get some tender moments between her and her dad, as well as her brothers, showing that she has a soft side behind the tomboyishiness.

John Ross Bowie plays Jimmy Dimeo, the father. Most people may know him better as Kripke the guy with the lisp on The Big Bang Theory, but I’m so glad he has gotten a chance to shine on this show without some cheesy gimmick. Jimmy is a bit more reserved compared to Maya, and tends to try to bring the focus to the whole family rather than just J.J., but will do anything for any of his kids, and I feel like is the true heart of the family.

But where a lot of the laughs come from are Mason Cook and Cedric Yarbrough as J.J. and Kenneth, J.J.’s aide who is hired by the family to help him out at school and becomes part of the family. They become the dynamic duo of the show, and Kenneth’s interactions with the kids at school and the family, especially Maya, are hilarious. I look forward to a good Kenneth and Maya scene, and I love a good Kenneth and J.J. heartwarming talk because I think J.J. feels he can “talk” to Kenneth more than he can talk to his family because his family a lot of time takes pity on him because of his disability, which is a journey we see his family take throughout the first season.

Again, this show could have been horrible. It could have been just full of stereotypes and bad jokes. It isn’t though. It’s so much more. It’s the one sitcom I look forward to every single week. As cheesy as it may sound, no matter what adventures they may get into each week, this family shows they love each other at the end. Yes we get some typical sitcom adventures, and that’s okay, but we also get a journey for each character.
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I was so excited last week when it was announced that Speechless was renewed for a second season, as I feel it’s the best sitcom on TV right now. If you like a good laugh, a misty eye from a heartwarming moment every now and then, and a great family sitcom, I hope you check it out. The entire first season is available on Hulu right now, and I’m sure it’ll show up on other streaming services soon!