Never saw the play so I don't know how the sitcom holds p against it. I laughed out loud a few times, enjoyed the actors and would watch this again. First episodes are hard because they have to give you the exposition and context of the show yet play like a show we know. This show did the exposition in a rather formulaic manner but managed to set up a few things that could pay off down the line. if you look at the first episodes of many popular sitcoms, you'll find that the characters were reshaped as they went along, i.e, Karen in Will & Grace, Rose & Blanche in The Golden Girls. I liked the relationship between Judd Hirsch and Jermaine Fowler so I'm in to see where this will go.