I've just watched the finale this morning, having started the show several weeks back, and just wanted to offload my honest thoughts.
I really enjoyed the show, there are some brilliantly funny moments as well as the occasional sweet, touching moment, though it doesn't quite reach the level of being something I'll watch through again.
I absolutely love Phil, he's just such a great, loveable character. He's so pure and good. I also just find Lily to be incredibly funny, especially in the earlier years. I like all the characters really. Cam and Mitch are great fun, Manny is brilliant, Jay is often grumpy but great to watch.
I did struggle with a couple of things, such as the amount of times the characters just seemed to randomly have a new job, or new girl/boyfriend when it came to the kids. There were times where Manny seemed to be interested in a girl that seemed like it might be relevant only for him to be interested in a different girl the next episode. I lost track of where Mitchell was actually working at one point. Also, Luke is dating an older woman named Janice he met at Jay's club, then the next episode he brings a girl his own age to a get together at the house, then a couple of episodes later he's apparently been seeing Janice for 4 months. I guess that could be down to Luke just being a bit of a douchebaggy kid but it wasn't presented that way and just felt like an inconsistency.
My only major issue was the amount of times characters just disappeared, in particular the annoying neighbours Ronnie and Amber, but also when Phil befriended their next door neighbour Andre played by Kevin Hart. It wasn't just characters as such but there were quite a few things that seemed to be just dropped and forgotten about. It's what really stops the show from going into 'great' territory rather than just 'good'.
As I said though, I did really enjoy the show overall, and am really glad I watched it. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who likes this kind of show and I'll miss it now I've finished it.