https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C–0ZvGEww
Sometimes in life, we have multiple choices, and we can only choose one of them. Do you ever wonder what would happen if you made a different choice? That is the premise of Ordinary Joe that debuts on NBC tonight at 10p after The Voice.
Joe (James Wolk) is 22 minutes late to his college graduation, and because of that, it could change his life forever. That is when he meets Amy (Natalie Martinez), and they have an immediate connection. He decides to ask her out, and she says yes. By him choosing her, he follows his path to being a Rock Star. The two of them get married and desperately want to start a family, but it doesn’t seem to be working out that way for them. That is one life choice he made that day.
But what if he chose to go with Jenny (Elizabeth Lail), his best friend and friend with benefits? The two of them get married and have a son (John Gluck). Since being a Rock Star will be put on the back burner, he decides to become a nurse. That takes a toll on his marriage. Can he repair it? That is another choice he made that fateful day.
The third choice is he chooses to spend time with his mother (Anne Ramsay) and his uncle (David Warshofsky), who is a cop, instead of both women. That leads to him becoming a police officer like his uncle and his dad. In this timeline, he is single. But that all might change when he goes to his college reunion and reunites Jenny and Amy.
What happens at the college reunion affects all three timelines differently and moves his life forward.
How that reunion changes the course of his life is what we get to watch every week. Because we have all wondered what if we chose differently that one time. Ordinary Joe shows what happens when someone does.
It is an interesting and original concept, and they do a good job by separating each timeline and not making it confusing for the viewer to know which path we are focusing on in that scene.
Plus, Wolk is such an endearing, well-versed actor. He plays each Joe differently and the same. You can’t help but root for him in each timeline. Especially because he has a supporting cast that supports him. It is as though they have known each other for the 10 years that the characters have known each other.
Ordinary Joe is a feel-good show, and it is something we all need as we try to survive this pandemic. There is hope in whatever choice we make, even if it feels like there isn’t. And don’t we all need a little hope these days? Hope like Ordinary Joe has in all of the decisions he made on his graduation day.
Now, I wonder what would have happened if I didn’t go to my internship right after my college graduation. What if I decided to hang out with my parents or my friends instead on that day? Where would I be today? What is your Oridinary Joe moment?
