FOX has been struggling recently to find a new comedy that works for them, and The Mick is the first one that they have renewed since The Last Man on Earth. It follows a highly dysfunctional family, lead by the aunt who got convinced by her rich sister to take care of her three kids, despite being completely unprepared, as she and her husband flee the country due to fraud and tax evasion. The first season consists of 17 half-hour episodes, and the second season premieres on Tuesday, September 26th at 9:00.
In the pilot episode, Aunt Mickey is roped into taking care of her niece and nephews, which she thinks will be a short-term responsibility. However, at the end of the episode she finds out that it isn't short-term. She tries to ditch the responsibility in episode two, "The Grandparents", but she comes back, and the fifteen episodes that follow consist of Mickey trying to take care of the kids, which she doesn't totally fail at, though a lot of bad things happen along the way.
Mickey's parenting style, if you could even call it that, is unorthodox, and she often finds herself annoyed with the kids, but she really does care. For example, in "The Buffer", she tries to get Sabrina to use birth control, and in "The Balloon" she tries to throw Ben a great birthday party. But the whole family really aren't that great of people, and they don't act responsibly at all. One episode that highlights this well is "The Country Club", in which they are advised to keep from spending very much money, and do the complete opposite. The humor in the show takes things to surprising lengths, and there are often times where I was surprised that they were able to do what they were doing on broadcast television. The Mick centers on a family, but it is no family show.
There are six main characters in the show. The anti-hero protagonist is Mickey, played by It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Kaitlin Olson. She is irresponsible, unfiltered, and lazy. The three kids are Sabrina, who is very popular and disagrees with Mickey very often, Chip, who wants to be cool and misses their parents the most, and Ben, who can be sweet but can also be very strange, and is Mickey's favorite. When Mickey shows up, she bonds with Alba, the housekeeper, who was never valued by the family, aside from Ben. Finally, there's Jimmy, Mickey's ex-boyfriend who is always around and definitely still into her. They are sometimes still somewhat of a couple.
So, who would like The Mick? Do you enjoy watching dysfunctional families? Do you like crass humor? That's what The Mick is, toeing the line between what FOX will allow and what they won't, and showing a family of really not great people.
If you don't have as much time, make sure you at least watch the season premiere ("Pilot") and finale ("The Intruder"), and I would recommend episodes 3 ("The Buffer"), 10 ("The Baggage"), 11 ("The New Girl"), 14 ("The Heater"), and 15 ("The Sleepover"). But, if you have the time, watch them all! The only one that I found just okay was episode 9, "The Mess", and I didn't think any episodes were bad.
If you've seen The Mick already, do you have anything to add? If you haven't, do you plan on giving it a shot? Leave your thoughts in the comments!