Ordinary Joe (2021–2022) User Reviews

Hmmmm .... if I had the chance to do it all over again ... Would I? Would You?

[Ed-Shullivan · 8/10 · 21 September 2021]

I get it. I really do. The writers of this new TV series obviously have some issues with their own life choices and now that they are either middle and/or old age they are second guessing the life/career choices that they have made. This is by no means a new concept as anyone who is now past the age of thirty (30) something has most likely looked deep into their current situation and wondered how different their lives would be today if only they had made one key alternate decision and/or life/career choice.

This series simply explores the possibilities of what one man's life would be or could be depending upon the life partner (s)he chooses as well as their career choices.

I am a happily (twice) married retired senior citizen with three (3) adult sons and two (2) grandsons so far and wishing for more grandchildren. The series title is most appropriate as this ordinary Joe (James Wolk) provides his audience how one's man life is lived as a rock star, a hospital nurse, and also as a police officer as his own dad was until his father lost his life saving others during the 9/11 attacks in New York City.

The series has a similar feel as the multiple Emmy Award winning (2016 - 2021) series "This Is Us" as both series explores both the past and present periods of a persons life story. I believe if this series sticks to maintaining a more dramatic presence rather than a sci-fi genre it will sustain a large enough audience to win a few Emmy's of its own.

I give the series a positive 8 out of 10 IMDB rating.

Three Stories, One Joe

[atlasmb · 7/10 · 21 September 2021]

Joe (James Wolk) is rushing to attend his college commencement ceremony when he bumps into another grad named Amy (Natalie Martinez). He is drawn to her, but after the ceremony, when he has a chance to get her number, he hesitates. In that moment, Joe has three clear choices, choices that will lead to three pathways in his life.

The action jumps to ten years later. Each of the three pathways becomes a story. The events of each story are concurrent though they exist in three different realities. Each of the stories is associated with a color theme, to help the viewer follow the interwoven stories. In the blue story, Joe is a cop. In the green story, he is a nurse. And in the red story, he is a successful musical performer.

As the stories develop, an unusual romantic triangle develops between Joe, Amy, and Joe's former best friend, Jenny (Elizabeth Lail). And the triangle spans the three stories.

It is really interesting when one story informs another, providing background information that the characters are not aware of in their realities. In the end, this is a series about the choices we make and their consequences. There are many possible paths for these interlocking stories to take. It will be interesting to see where the writers take them. Will fate be the overriding theme, so no matter which choice one takes, there is a similar outcome? Or will free will win the day, with each story remaining the product of Joe's choices?

Because of its unique narrative, the writing feels like the dominant aspect of the show. The acting is good. And Joe is a likable guy who tries, in each reality, to be a good person.

Confusing and jumps between lives too much without focusing enough on each one

[john-e-jones01 · 6/10 · 11 October 2021]

Jump between lives way too much, too quickly to let us get in-depth details about each one. We don't get to enjoy any of it or get shown enough to really care about any one of them. It other words we are going through everything entirely too fast and with too little detail to even care. Has the potential to be an Emmy contender and a 10 but as it is it's only a 6 at best.

New series, interesting concept, which is Joe's life?.

[TxMike · 20 September 2021]

I have been interested for years in the concept where a series of random events and choices we make have a great influence on the direction our lives take. My first wife died recently and, even though we are no longer married, for our children I wrote a 10,000 word history of how we met and the series of random events that led up to it, plus all the random events that resulted in each child being born. The kids loved it.

This new series borrows on that, where Joe at graduation and the immediate aftermath, has the opportunity of three different choices. What the program does is show us what happens in each of the different choices. It takes a bit of effort to keep up with which life we are seeing but is done very well and color shading is used, green when he is the nurse, blue when he is the policeman, and red when he is the rock star. It makes for an interesting, and thought-provoking, TV show. My wife and I have continued to watch it.

This sort of has a "This Is Us" vibe to it and that is a good thing as far as we are concerned. Another plus is that each show is available streaming on Peacock the next day so we can watch it at our leisure if we want to use the initial broadcast time for something else. Or simply re-watch parts of an episode to gain more insight.

Update FEB 2024: Seems the COVID pandemic and its aftermath just lost this TV series with no explanation.

Fantastic premise

[spartanbuff · 10/10 · 21 September 2021]

This series is off to a great start, and the hook premise intriguing and thoughtful.

James Wolk effortlessly and convincingly portrays the 3 same but different career Joes, and he's very likeable, relatable.

I wish they'd put the show in a different time slot than opposite The Good Doctor, a major hit. I will DVR both, but Ordinary Joe deserves a good lead-in with a popular hit like Law and Order: SVU

I hope it succeeds. A good series about people doing their best, one we need more of.

"What If?"

[jrlb_ · 9/10 · 5 November 2021]

I think we all wondered, at one point or another, how different our lives would've turned out if we had opted for a certain choice or picked a different path. I know I have more than several times, and that's why I love this show. This show dares to tackle different storylines based on the likable and relatable main character, portrayed wonderfully by a really talented actor. The supporting characters keep the show interesting, and the featured music in each episode (so far) has me looking up songs throughout. The multiple and overlapping plots can get difficult for me to follow at times, I admit. However, the heart of the overall show outweighs that. I like it a lot.

What Will Joe Do?

[AnimatedCritic · 7/10 · 21 September 2021]

I like that NBC is trying a new idea with this show, and it works out well, for the most part. The biggest issue with the show is the lack of focus, because there's 3 different realities where Joe made different decisions. This results in a messy episode that's very unfocused, and can be tough to follow at times. But even with that, each story is interesting and engaging, with Joe making different decisions and has to struggle Joe is also a solid protagonist so far. He's likeable, and relatable with him unsure what he wants to do. As the audience, we are engaged in Joe's stories and the struggles he has to overcome. Some of the other characters were also solid to, such as Amy and Jenny Overall it's a solid show. It may have an unfocused story, but has engaging characters and handles it's concept in a fascinating way.

Gave up

[critic-97-417657 · 4/10 · 9 November 2021]

I wanted to like this show. I like James Wolk. Acting is decent. Interesting concept. However...

As others have said, it jumps around way too quickly. As each "life" is made up of the same actors, it becomes hard to follow. But the biggest problem I had with the show is, other than the same characters living three different lives, there's no real purpose... no reason for the links. There's no payoff. You're literally watching the same actors playing three different parts telling three variations of three essentially unrelated stories. As such, none of the stories are told particularly well and really, the "what if" premise just becomes, "oh, okay, so that would happen instead." So what?

Left me bored and wondering why.

Compelling

[drjgardner · 9/10 · 23 September 2021]

The writers take a common thought-dream ("what if...") and turn it into a series where we see the impact of a decision 10 years later given the three options available at that time, with a nod to Robert Frost. The writers seem to believe that there is some degree of karma involved, so many of the characters appear, though in different roles and different ways in the three scenarios. A nice touch is the 10 year reunion which is a permanent marker in which we get to assess the 10 year journey of each of the characters. Very well acted by everyone. One caveat - it can be a little confusing at the start, but hang in there and you will be rewarded. Kudos to everyone involved.

An average show that feels like it's creators need to take their ADHD meds...

[podein · 7/10 · 21 September 2021]

Average show with an interesting premise and a solid cast. Natalie Martinez is absolutely gorgeous, and a great casting for her role.

But, with that premise, the writing bounces around so much that it feels like it's made by a bunch of creators suffering from ADHD who can't make up their minds where to go.

It has promise. However, the usual inept failures of NBC have given it their usual kiss of death by placing it in the Monday 8pm EST time slot, trying the impossible. To compete with Monday Night Football. The NBC fools(a pathetic network that destroys most of what they get their hands on-especially their sporting events) continually try to do this impossible task, and only continually fail. And, we all know what it means when people do the same thing over and over, continually failing, and not learning from their mistakes. This is the essence of what NBC is, unfortunately.

Interested to see where the storyline goes. Hopefully, the creators take their ADHD meds and don't ruin the show with mediocre writing.

The Joe nobody asked for or cares about

[and_shove_it_up_your_butt · 4/10 · 25 September 2021]

What this show is attempting to do makes sense logically however storylines and scene jumps are so chaotic none of it makes much sense. Even they knew it was going to be confusing so they added the green, red or blue color to a specific Joe to help the audience keep up. This alone can't negate the fact Ordinary Joe is a hot mess when it comes to the script. None of the characters are very likable, with the exception of Lucas, and I blame this on the writers. It's also clear that Joe wants to end up with Jenny in all three possible life paths so that's pretty annoying.

Don't become too attached to the show because it will be cancelled.

Cancelled....?

[lisathekingskid · 9/10 · 3 May 2022]

You've got to be kidding. This was one of the best 3 shows on TV and they've canceled it.

With all the trash TV and reality TV why do they always get rid of the good ones.

Interesting Concept, but.....

[rkaden-28150 · 6/10 · 12 October 2021]

We're always looking for something different on tv other than the standard crime or miserable family shows and this sure is different! We enjoyed the first few episodes although had to hit the pause button a few times to talk about what just happened and who was who.

We really like the cast and the story lines. This issue is, fitting three story lines into one hour show (actually more like 40 minutes after commercials) has made the show move along quite fast and jump from one story to another, even if just a few seconds for a scene.

We will continue to watch it, but wonder if devoting each weeks show to one of the story lines might have been a better approach???

Ordinary- not really

[Gin225 · 5/10 · 22 September 2021]

I got into the premise immediately- what if you didn't speak to that particular person on that particular day, etc. What if you chose a different path, how would your life have changed? But -spoilers here- did the writers have to give him such cliche careers/jobs?! I mean a cop, a doctor and a rockstar. And he's perfect in each of those careers- within 10 years. Really!?? Obviously these writers have never heard of struggling, a career climb, extra work/hours, etc. I mean Joe's personal life is not as fantastic but he has the framework taken care of. That's not real life in the slightest. The one career that was completely laughable was the musician career. I know a lot of musicians- it is really rare for a career to blossom- have huge audiences within 10 years. It's like 1% of 1%. You can have large audiences but it's not at the venues that this show had. It's just too unrealistic. I mistakenly thought Ordinary Joe would be kinda ordinary. This show should be on the Sci-Fi channel.

A slightly flawed but great Start

[sahrmsaffa-62998 · 10/10 · 21 September 2021]

We always ponder ourselves with questions of what if we did that or choose that and what the outcome will be. This show actually does that and makes us witness the titular characters journey based on the three choices he made. The chemistry is off the charts with both actresses especially with Joe and Amy (Wolk and Martinez) that may make the audience see a clear choice but that changed halfway through the episode when we were shown that Amy could also be happy with Joe's best friend Eric (Barnett). One thing for sure is that Jenny will always be a part os Joe's life because they had a son in the three realities, two of which Joe wasn't aware. The episode clearly showed Joe enlightened by Amy in two of three realities, make us wonder if that's who we should root for. The Charisma of James Wolk was unmatched in his portrayal of the three realities and his costars deliver brilliantly as well, Both Nial and Martinez had the emotional aspect down, I shed a tear at the hospital scene when Amy had a miscarriage and blamed herself. Don't get me started on John Gluck, the child was a scene stealer who brought brilliance in every scene he appeared. It may not be for everyone honestly but again you can't judge a series based on a pilot episode.

It has it's moment and for that alone, I'll tune in next week and the week after and so on.

Good show

[nell12 · 3 October 2021]

I really like this show. I don't understand peoples issues with this concept. It seems like people can't handle and intelligent program. They don't want to have to think and pay attention to anything long. This is interesting and fun to watch.

Truly enjoying this show! :)

[mscook-84947 · 10/10 · 3 October 2021]

I've enjoyed the first two episodes of this show! The premiere episode moved pretty fast (which is the ONLY reason I gave it a 9/10) and I did have a little trouble keeping up with the three storylines initially. Then, near the end of the episode, my sister and I realized that each "world" is color-coded: from the lighting of the scenes down to the costume choices for the actors! Wish we had noticed that at first! I also wish that the premiere episode was a little longer because I feel like they packed sooo much info into it.

The second episode, however, seemed better paced and Lord, that last little scene threw us for a loop! I've already got a favorite "Joe"...Cop Joe and there's one character I don't like/annoys me in ANY world: Jenny. LOL! Can't wait to see how the show progresses because from what we can tell, there's a number of directions the show can go in & I'm wondering if my favs & not-so-favs are gonna change!!!

More than an interesting idea

[RosesAreLilac · 7/10 · 22 October 2021]

I don't find the switching confusing, myself. But I do think this show is getting better at transitioning as it goes on. I think the rockstar storyline is over the top and looks a little cheap which takes away from how captivating it could be. But the subtleties of the other two storylines make up for it. The use of music is touching and the actors do a really great job. The politician character feels like it's reaching but missing the mark slightly- none the less I expect the show to keep getting better.

Three dull story arcs

[yooniverse · 3/10 · 28 September 2021]

I was mislead into thinking that this show would be something similar to It's a Wonderful Life or Sliding Doors, or Awake, even. Instead, it's just scenes jumping back and forth across three story arcs about same characters living out three separate alternate dull lives. I mean, really, if you just took the alternating scenes and stitched them back together, you'd get three shows, and none of them would be all that interesting, unless you like slow moving romantic dramas about a group of people and what could have been. Yawn. Yes, this is pretty Ordinary.

Please don't cancel

[teeceetoo · 10/10 · 5 January 2022]

I absolutely love this show.

I have often said: "Every decision I have made in my life has led me to where I am today." So what if I had made a different decision somewhere along the line?

I also have often said: "What if -this- is the what if?" I think all the story lines and characters have been developed very well.

Was a little confusing at first trying to remember which "what if" he was in, but after a couple episodes, no problem.

There is only a couple of TV shows I make a point of watching each week. This is one of them.

Storylines don't diverge enough

[saracjudd · 6/10 · 30 September 2021]

I watched the first two episodes so far and I love the concept but I don't think the three separate storylines diverge enough. I have trouble following which storyline I'm watching because the only thing different is his career in each. He is surrounded by the same friends, family and love interests in every storyline with variations to the nature of those relationships. Why not have a storyline where his father is alive (I get the fork in the road doesn't happen til college graduation but still), or where he doesn't have a son, or the son isn't disabled, or has a daughter instead, or has a 3rd option love interest? Just an opinion of one but I think it would have made the show much more interesting.

I tried...I just can't watch any more episodes

[kq999 · 1/10 · 2 November 2021]

I watched the first 4 episodes and thought I love this show, this is going to be a real winner.

When I reached episodes 5 & 6 the pace started to pick up with the length of time one situation would play out...really short, little blurbs...jumping back and forth between the different 'Joe lives' a bit too quickly...I actually had to stop the show, re-watch it a couple of times then turn it off to think about what was happening.

Episode 7 did me right in...I am finished and feel totally defeated, beaten and let down after what I feel was a really good try at liking the show and honestly trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Episode 7 just hit out of nowhere with what seems to me to be a totally different format/presentation but still muddled and jumping all over the place even though it seems it stuck to one scenario...I think...I'm not sure...I just don't have a clue what happened.

AND...I am not quite sure why the reviewers on this site compare Ordinary Joe to the show This Is Us. I do not find the two to be similar in any way.

Amazing show!!!!!

[jodiarowley · 10/10 · 27 January 2022]

Three different viewpoints on what if we made different decisions in our life. The acting and story lines are amazing! NBC needs to renew this for sure! Streaming it and can't believe I just found this show!

Want to like it, but can't keep up

[mhbjc · 7/10 · 3 October 2021]

I like the characters. But I do not want to have to keep a notebook to watch it. I will try to watch one more time. I hope they can fix this aspect.

A "10" for Wolk, but a "1" for the writing

[matthewdgabriel · 5/10 · 24 September 2021]

With the exception of TELL ME A STORY Season One (a rare overacting misstep), lead actor, James Wolk, has been a small-screen treasure in everything he's done to date. Hence, a score of 10 goes to him and the other highly affable cast members. On the other hand, the pilot episode of this series revealed unacceptable, implausible flaws in all 3 storylines. That aside, I found the first quarter of the episode both interesting and inspiring; the remainder of the episode was mostly dull and boring, albeit no fault of the actors. I'm sorry for this fine ensemble of talent, because I simply cannot foresee this series lasting long. Let's hope Wolk soon fines a much better vehicle to showcase his skills, because he deserves that.