Watch Blair Underwood's Ironside And NBC Comedy Welcome To The Family Pilot Episodes Here

NBC's giving viewers an early look at two of their new shows. One's a fun family comedy, while the other's a gritty detective series. First up, we have Welcome to the Family, a single-camera comedy about two families that are about to be united by teen pregnancy. Watch the full first episode of this series below:

Dan (Mike O'Malley) and Caroline (Mary McCormack) are positively gleeful about the prospect of their daughter Molly (Ella Rae Peck) managing to graduate high school, as it means they can finally enjoy their freedom. Meanwhile Miguele (Ricardo A. Chavira) and Lisette (Justina Machado) are filled with pride that their Stanford-bound son Junior (Joseph Haro) graduated high school with top honors. These two sets of parents are in for a shock, however, as they soon learn that, while the ink on their kids' high school diplomas is barely dry, they're expecting a child.

As the pilot episode indicates, the impending arrival of a new baby changes things drastically for these two kids, and for the two families involved. There's evident clashing going on here, and given the overachiever/underachiever clash between the two kids, there's certainly comedy to be mined there. But for me, the biggest draw comes from O'Malley Glee, McCormack (In Plain Sight), Chavira (Desperate Housewives) and Machado (Six Feet Under), all of whom have proven their talent in past roles. There's so much talent in this cast, and hopefully it'll be put to good use as the series moves forward.

Welcome to the Family is set to join NBC's Thursday-night line-up on October 3.

As though NBC was intent on balancing out some feel-good comedy with something a bit darker, the network has also put Ironside online for viewers to preview before its official premiere. I'm thinking this one will appeal to fans of crime procedurals… and also those of us who can't take our eyes off Blair Underwood.

Ironside is a remake of a series that aired in the 60s/70s and stars Blair Underwood as a wheelchair-bound detective who hasn't let his situation keep him from doing what he does best. The pilot episode introduces us to Underwood's Detective Robert Ironside, giving us a bit of background information about the character, while also taking us through his efforts to solve a case, using his quick wit and sharp instincts to get the job done. In addition to Underwood, the drama stars Spencer Grammer, Neal Bledsoe and The Wire's Pablo Schreiber. NBC has this one scheduled to debut Wednesday, October 2.

Kelly West
Assistant Managing Editor

Kelly joined CinemaBlend as a freelance TV news writer in 2006 and went on to serve as the site’s TV Editor before moving over to other roles on the site. At present, she’s an Assistant Managing Editor who spends much of her time brainstorming and editing feature content on the site. She an expert in all things Harry Potter, books from a variety of genres (sci-fi, mystery, horror, YA, drama, romance -- anything with a great story and interesting characters.), watching Big Brother, frequently rewatching The Office, listening to Taylor Swift, and playing The Sims.