Lauren Graham had a great summer vacation in Venice in between seasons of 'Parenthood,' but she'd rather not say too much about it. It's not that she's too private a person, it's just that her boyfriend is Peter Krause, who plays Adam Braverman, her TV brother, on 'Parenthood.' She thought that might be too much for the Friday morning audience on 'Today' (weekdays, 7AM on NBC).

"I went with my boyfriend, I just don't like to talk about it because I don't want to freak people out," said Graham. It was pointed out to her that Krause is her brother. "Oh my god! Wait! What? Look, it's America. My boyfriend is my brother. You can do anything you want."

(S01E08) "I am an irrational hardass with rage issues. Don't piss me off." - Zeek to Damien

First of all, a big Woot! that 'Parenthood' was picked up for a second season. That's awesome! And second, many thanks to Danny Gallagher for allowing me to take over the reviews on this show. Not only do I love it, but my daughter does, too, so it's always fun to watch stuff together.

(S01E07) "Would you boys like to come over for a play date?" - Yoga girl to Crosby

I love 'Parenthood.' Yes, there's a lot of people to keep track of, but it's all good. The show has some great players, but really, all I need is Peter Krause and Lauren Graham. And Dax Shepard and Jason Ritter. He reminds me of his dad, which makes me both happy and sad, but mostly happy.

The kids on this show are awesome, too -- Max Burkholder, Mae Whitman, Tyree Brown ... ok, since I'm filling in for Danny, I'll stop crushing on all the actors and get to the review. Follow me after the jump.

(S01E06) "Wow, Crosby, you're a dad." - Zeek, after hearing about Crosby's son for the first time

I'll admit it. 'Parenthood' has been a hard show to read. It tries very hard to connect the audience with the human drama of the American family, but at the same time, it expects you to understand and appreciate every problem they come across.

It drags you through their cornfield of sadness and expects you to come out feeling as happy and reserved as the characters do in the end. It makes me wish life actually worked this way. Then it just makes me angrier.

'Parenthood' star Peter Krause appeared on 'Live With Regis and Kelly' (weekdays, syndicated) and revealed that his eight-year-old son Roman has a vivid and somewhat scatological imagination.

Krause told Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa that the letters "WC" are emblazoned in one of the bathrooms in his home, and that his son assumed they stood for "wet crap" rather than "water closet."

Watch the video after the jump.

(S01E05) It's really getting hard to watch 'Parenthood,' and not in a "Gee, this show is so painfully real that it makes me question the true nature of love and family devotion" kind of way.

It's quite the opposite.

The seams are really starting to show as the episodes try to stretch across an entire season. It now feels so unbelievable because of the lackluster characters and dialogue that I'm starting to feel just as bored as the people look on the screen.

(S01E04) If you are watching 'Parenthood' with the idea of learning anything about how to be a parent, you should consider finding another form of education. The Bravermans seem to be more about how not to parent or "how to get lucky and not screw up our children too much" school of learning. Every week is a lesson in how parents can really make a muddle of their parenting.

Adam and Kristina's attention this week shifted from Max to Haddie. Sarah's advice to Adam was so rigid -- practically lock up your daughter and don't let her out of the house. Considering Sarah's troubled relationship with Amber, why was Adam listening?

(S01E03) "You know Crosby, however hard you think it is having a kid, just double it." - Adam to Crosby as Crosby cleans kid puke out of his car

This week, things have slowed down a bit, compared to the land speed record that last week's episode achieved. And the show has started to grow on me a little bit.

It scored some great moments of sentiment and honest drama that were endearing and drew me a little closer to the characters, but it's still lacking in that other, all important area of the dramedy: the comedy.

(S01E02) "I can deal with anything: disease, illness, broken bone. Give me something I can fix, but I don't know how to deal with this. This is for life." - Adam to Kristina after learning that Max has Asperger's Syndrome

Ferris Bueller once said, "Life moves by pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

And while that bit of movie trivia is actually true (unlike say "Stupid is as stupid does" or "Pain don't hurt"), if actual life went at the speed that 'Parenthood' does, stopping to look at it would require some kind of anti-lock braking system.

Martha Stewart, breeder?

Stewart and actor Peter Krause talked about their respective farms on 'The Martha Stewart Show' (weekdays, syndicated). Krause has an apple farm in a small town in Northern California while Stewart has a farm with horses, miniature donkeys and "lots and lots of chickens and some geese now."

But there's trouble in paradise: Donkey Billie wants to get pregnant but male donkeys Clive and Rufus have been altered. "So we have to figure out how to do that," Stewart said. "I'm sorry for her," Krause added.

Watch the video after the jump.

(S01E01) There are moments in 'Parenthood' that are so uncomfortably realistic that you might think it's a re-telling of the PBS series 'The Loud Family.' Yes, it's that real in some ways, but is it entertaining and inviting? Would you want to keep up with the Bravermans week after week? That depends. The show offers promise, but it's a jell-o that's yet to be jelled.

It would be hard for any series to go wrong with Lauren Graham and Peter Krause and Craig T. Nelson top-lining the cast. They all acquit themselves well, although the characters are all under more pressure than a pressure cooking with a faulty lid. You just sense explosions around every corner. And that's the way it is with a lot of pilots, especially where there's so large a cast.

After what has been a long time coming, NBC's new version of 'Parenthood' is finally premiering tomorrow night. And if the anticipation wasn't already high, TV Squad received an unexpected, very nice little invitation to tune in from Opie himself. Or Richie Cunningham if you prefer.

Yes, that's right, Ron Howard, the executive producer of 'Parenthood,' did a handful of shout-outs to the media and we were included. Aren't we special?

A lot of times, when a show that we love gets canceled way too early in its run, we like to trot out the mantra: "It was before its time." But looking at a television landscape with The Office, 30 Rock and Parks & Recreation (and that's just one night on one network), I really do think Sports Night may have been too innovative for its own good.

Creator Aaron Sorkin even wanted the sitcom to air without a laugh track, but ABC balked and there is one evident in the first season. It was dropped by the second season, but unfortunately the show was dropped as well after only 45 episodes.

Character relations were front and center, and the humor was much more subtle and dry. In 1998, comedies were still dominating the television landscape, led by traditionally formatted shows like Frasier, Friends, The Drew Carey Show and ABC's TGIF lineup. Maybe the very non-traditional Sports Night should have been an hour long, and acted more like FOX's Ally McBeal.

Here's a play date you won't want to miss: NBC has just announced the premiere date for its new midseason drama series 'Parenthood.'

The one-hour dramedy, from the creative dream team of writer/producer Jason Katims ('Friday Night Lights') and producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer ('Arrested Development') will debut in a post-'Chuck' slot on Monday, March 1 at 9PM (this is after both the 'Heroes' season finale on Feb. 8 and the Winter Olympics have aired).