Have you ever thought you wouldn't like something (like a food dish or some activity) but once you tried it, it became your favorite. That's basically what happened for me when I saw "Melissa and Joey" on Hulu.
The show centers around Melissa Burke (played with daffiness by Melissa Joan Hart), a Toledo city councilwoman who is suddenly the guardian of her niece and nephew, Lennox and Ryder Scanlon (played by Taylor Spreitler and Nick Robinson respectively), while her sister is in jail and her brother-in-law is on the run for running a financial scam. Joe Longo (affably played by Joey Lawrence), who lost his job, money and wife because of that financial scandal, offers his services as the nanny.
Admittedly, I didn't think much of the premise, but I watched it because Melissa Joan Hart is one of my favorite actresses. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that this show had quality. The writing is funny and the cast has superb comedic timing plus Hart and Lawrence have definite chemistry together. They bicker near constantly but at the end of the day there is a strong friendship between them (and perhaps more).
Which brings me to my one minor quibble about this show: having the opposite-sex main characters fall in love with each other. I was hoping that the powers that be would avoid that cliché (remember "Moonlighting" or "Who's the Boss"?), but I seem to be in the minority judging from a poll on ABC Family's website where 89% of those polled want them to "make Joelissa happen" (ABC Family-Melissa & Joey-Official TV Show SIte). To their credit, though, they seem to building up to it slowly so that it doesn't just happen all at once (although as of this writing, I haven't seen the season finale yet). To be honest, having them get together would be ok, but personally, I'm rooting for them just being best friends. It sometimes seems in this world that it is just unbelievable that a man and a woman can be friends without there being some underlying attraction. Granted, the best relationships and marriages often start off as friendship, but it is not a foregone conclusion that they will fall in love. Take Rachel and Joey from "Friends". They were friends and even attempted to have a relationship. In the end, though, they realized they were better off as friends.
So, we'll have to see where Melissa Burke and Joe Longo take their relationship, but I hope the writers show that friendship doesn't always have to lead to marriage.
"Melissa and Joey" is shown on ABC Family (check listings for times) and it can be found on Hulu (http://www.hulu.com/melissa-and-joey).
Source: ABC Family-Melissa & Joey-Official TV Show Site http://abcfamily.go.com/shows/melissa-joey
