‘Andersons’ succeeds with warm comedy

If “All About the Andersons” feels a little familiar, that’s because it is.

The comedy, which debuts at 9:30 tonight on The WB, is supposedly based on star-executive producer Anthony Anderson’s own experiences. That may well be, but it also has elements of other popular black comedies, both new and old.

The premise, in a nutshell: After his wife leaves him, struggling actor Anthony (Anderson) and his young son leave New York and move in with his parents in Los Angeles, hoping to jump-start his career (“Oh, he’s moving on back … to the West Coast … to a not-so-deluxe apartment in the ga-ra-age.”)

Anthony has a not-so-dy-NO-mite relationship with his gruff father, Joe (played by John Amos, who had the same role in “Good Times” 25 years ago). His parents have rented out his room to a sassy Latino medical student (Aimee Garcia). Joe wants him to give up acting and come to work at his barbershop (Anderson also starred in the surprise 2002 hit “Barbershop”), so Anthony can make a better life for himself and his son. Mother Flo (Roz Ryan, “Amen”) finds herself caught in the middle.

Derivative elements aside, “All About the Andersons” succeeds because it’s a gentle comedy, in which all the members of the extended family genuinely care for each other, despite their disagreements. There’s none of the braying, insult-oriented comedy upon which too many of today’s sitcoms depend.

“All About the Andersons” isn’t groundbreaking by any means. It is well executed and warm, however, and is a comforting throwback to such family classics as “The Cosby Show” and “The Jeffersons.” In such uncertain times, is that necessarily a bad thing?

Dale McGarrigle is the Bangor Daily News TV critic. He can be reached at dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.