(S01E01) Just as the new Parenthood series coming to NBC is a re-imagining of the classic movie, 10 Things I Hate About You is a very loose take on the film of the same name. And the film itself is a loose take on Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The only real connection to that source is an early name-drop for the playwright.

If you let yourself get frustrated at how this doesn't even come close to mirroring some of the themes of Shakespeare's comedy, you'll miss out on what the show does offer, besides Larry Miller reprising his role from the movie as the sisters' father. Just think of it as a high school comedy featuring two very different sisters. In this one episode, we got pretty effective glimpses of virtually every social strata that exists in a high school. It's no My So-Called Life, but 10 Things does a pretty good job of being a family high school comedy. And isn't that what it's trying to be?

In the behind-the-scenes interviews the network sent along with the pilot, the entire cast and the creator described Do Not Disturb, premiering tonight at 9:30/8:30 Central, as an "upstairs-downstairs" workplace comedy. Creator Abraham Higginbotham (Arrested Development) based the show on his time at the Paramount Hotel in the '90s. "It's Freaks and Geeks in a hotel," he said. "You've got your upstairs crowd where you have to basically turn in a photo to be approved to work where you come into face contact with guests. And then downstairs, anybody can work there because they're the people doing all the real work."

Unfortunately, if this is going to be the major thrust of the series going forward, they picked a pretty poor episode to establish that for the pilot. "Work Sex" tackled sex and promiscuity, which are such powerful subjects in this country they tend to overwhelm everything. And since the show is trying to introduce its premise, characters, relationships and the dynamics of its ensemble at the same time, it may have been better to launch with a subject a little less dominating. In fact, I didn't really get the struggle between the two groups at all.