Farewell AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE

 

Back in 2016, The Hollywood Reporter's review of AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE's pilot was devastating.  They wrote "how do you make a television series in 2016 that is as poorly conceived and executed as American Housewife?"

It's true that the premise of the show was oddly specific - the adventures of an overweight mom (the show's original title was "The Second Fattest Housewife in Westport") trying to raise her three kids in a pretentious, uptight WASPy town.

What I thought gave the show its charm was a genuinely funny cast with Katy Mixon as the tough-love mom, the always funny Diedrich Bader as the nutty professor dad, Meg Donnelly growing into her Disney Channel stardom, Daniel DiMaggio cast in the Alex P. Keaton mold, and in sitcom tradition, Julia Butters as the weird kid (think Brick from THE MIDDLE, Luke Dunphy from MODERN FAMILY).  Add to that, comic powerhouse Wendie Malick as Katie's mom. This cast lifted the show from average to funny, giving audiences that happy half hour break with a family you may not have grown to love, but at least liked a lot.

The cast's charms must have worked because this critically unloved show lasted five seasons with solid ratings and ended up as one of ABC's longest running sitcoms for a time being. Last Friday, ABC announced that the show would not be renewed for a sixth season. The fans are outraged, the casts have begun to tweet their thanks and farewells.

Season five hit fans badly. COVID hampered production. ABC ominously cut the season down. And a series of unfortunate events clearly served to justify ABC's decision to cancel the show. Early on, Carly Hughes departed the show citing "a toxic work environment." Fan favorite, Ali Wong, also exited. In a tone deaf move, the show runners replaced their Asian and black cast with another pair of Asian and black actors, as if Diversity in casting meant cast was as interchangeable as Lego blocks. Similarly, when Julia Butters left the show to pursue her film career, she was replaced with Giselle Eisenberg who faced a tweetstorm of criticism.  At one point, Eisenberg fired back at unhappy fans on Twitter that she knew she was being blamed for all the show's problems.

What was going on behind the scenes? The writers seemed to flounder with new storylines, ignoring the previous four seasons of established canon fans were anxiously waiting to see evolve. A longtime bromance between Oliver and bestie Cooper seemed to be going nowhere, with some fans accusing the show of queerbaiting. And the original premise of the show - how Katie dealt with those snobby moms of Westport - was upended as those moms were completely removed from season five.

As the writers crammed more and more into the show, they hit a wall in the final episode with cliffhangers galore - two marriage proposals and a pregnancy.  Unless ABC decides to give AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE a farewell special (as Patricia Heaton recently tweeted support for), they have ended this lighthearted series in the most unsatisfying way. The Hollywood Reporter would sneer, how do you make a series finale that is as poorly conceived and executed as American Housewife?"  We will miss the Otto's.

Harrison Cheung is the author of the award-winning biography of Christian Bale (BenBella Books) and a contributor to Brave New Hollywood and The TV Ratings Guide.

@harrisonic (Twitter)

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AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE - Season Finale - Season 5 - Episode 13 Review - Election

 

SPOILERS 

"He's my best friend. I don't know what I'm going to do without him." Oliver sobs, hugging Katie at the news that Cooper Bradford (Logan Pepper) is moving to Florida. 

Oh, but that was last year in the episode, "Graduation."  For this episode, the much-hyped season finale, when Cooper's father (a very douchy Joel McHale) orders Cooper to move back home with his family in Florida, Oliver doesn't care or react, except to tell his parents that he hopes they show the same "level of distress" when their actual son moves out of the house.

So ends the most uneven and ill-fated season of AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE.  At its best, the show is tart and funny. But at its worst, sloppy directing and convoluted plotting seemed to forget what happened to the Otto family in prior seasons. Throw in a casting scandal or two, COVID-hampered production, a chopped season, and you get the impression that the writers were churning out unpolished drafts, racing to meet deadlines.

In this finale episode, the over-arching theme is to "be true to yourself."  Katie invites Cooper's dad, Doyle, over for dinner. She hopes that Cooper will tell his father that he's gay.  No, sorry, "Cooliver" fans. She hopes that Cooper will tell his father that he wants to be a chef.  His dad's reaction is as expected, exploding, "Bradfords don't cook! They are cooked for!"

If Oliver didn't react to the news that Cooper was being ordered back to Florida, the rest of the family didn't react to Oliver failing his SATs. Ignore the last five seasons of Harvard-bound Oliver!  He's okay with failing now, as long as he has a backup plan to get rich. 

Greg and Principal Ablin (Jerry Lambert) go down to the wire with the election for town councilman. Will Greg maintain his honest election or will he succumb to Ablin's dirty tricks? Props to the return of Maria (Julie Meyer) battling Lonnie (Matt Shively) for upping the fun factor here.

In a sweet bit of irony, Taylor advises Anna-Kat to make Franklin jealous so that he doesn't take her for granted.  Anna-Kat is beginning to tire of Franklin's "old people" habits.  Of course, just a few episodes ago, Anna-Kat called Taylor a "ho" for this same tactic.  The same tactics yield the same results. Franklin proposes to Anna-Kat. Trip (Peyton Meyer) proposes to Taylor.  Of course, Katie and Greg have two very different reactions to the double proposals.

The episode ends with the much-wanted surprise. Cooper proposes to Oliver. Sorry, April Fools!

The episode finishes with the big surprise - Katie is pregnant.  I'm not sure if this is part of what happens when you truncate a season or if they ended this shortened season here on purpose. AH's fans predicted this going into the finale thanks to a "leaked too much" trailer that was heavy on the word, EXPECTING.  But is Katie carrying JD's (Jake Choi) baby as his surrogate or is this going to be another sitcom cliché adding a new member to the family when the older kids are growing up or being difficult with their contract negotiations?

Will AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE be renewed for Season 6?  Judging by social media, a large contingent of fans wanted Cooliver to happen in this finale.  But instead, this episode seemed to separate the boys on purpose. Will this multi-season tease impact the show's ratings? The show ends with a couple cliffhangers as Cooper and Oliver are ready to graduate high school without any Ivy League ambitions, Taylor and Trip might be getting married, Greg begins his political career, and Katie will have a new kid to care for. But will the Cooliver fans lose interest? 

Harrison Cheung is the author of the award-winning biography of Christian Bale (BenBella Books) and a contributor to Brave New Hollywood and The TV Ratings Guide.

American Housewife - Season 5, Episode 11 Review - The Guardian

"Hit me up with the beep-boop-beep-boop," Oliver pleads to a girl in one of the more awkward moments of "The Guardian," an episode where the A story follows Katie and Greg deciding to test her mother, Kathryn (Wendie Malick), to see if she would be a good guardian for Anna-Kat in the event of a tragic accident. (Wait, didn't last week's episode analyze how bad a mother Kathryn was to Katie?)

The B story follows Oliver and Taylor as they hang up Greg's election signs around town. The two squabble, but when Oliver bumps into his former prom date, Lindsey (Madison Thompson), who is back home from college and clearly not interested in seeing him, Taylor becomes supportive. Big sis and bro share a hug. (Fans might remember that Lindsey was the older girl who called Teen Hotline because no one would ask her to prom. So Oliver, breaking the hotline's confidentiality policy, agrees to take her.)

Unlike the highs of last week's 100th episode, "The Guardian" is back to AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE's bad habits where the cast is silo'ed again, and the loss of interaction makes the three storylines feel clumsily spliced together.  No Trip, no Cooper would normally make for an uncluttered episode but, hold the phone, the C story zooms the show back to unethical territory played for laughs as the new Second Breakfast Club - Katie, Tami (Holly Robinson Peete) and J.D. (Jake Choi) - decide to interview J.D.'s potential egg donors. There are so many problems with this - first of all, are we officially done with Ali Wong? Secondly, and more importantly, the idea of spying on your potential egg donor, breaking medical confidentiality by pretending to "job interview" them is bizarre, especially when the uncovered traits (athleticism, singing) end up being something you'd see in a donor profile anyway.

AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE loves teasing "Cooliver" the 'are they or aren't they' couple that many fans want to happen, but bringing back Lindsey, a girl Oliver took to prom, also seemed like a red herring. Why would Oliver make such a fuss over a girl he dated just once? 

Although it's always a joy to have Kathryn back, the parental hunt for the ideal guardian has been done before in sitcom land - think EVERYONE LOVES RAYMOND to MODERN FAMILY.  So it's no surprise how this episode ends.

Harrison Cheung is the author of the award-winning biography of Christian Bale (BenBella Books) and a contributor to Brave New Hollywood and The TV Ratings Guide.

American Housewife - Season 5, Episode 10 Review - Getting Frank with the Ottos

AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE hits a milestone 100 episodes with "Getting Frank with the Ottos," one of the zestiest episodes in a long while.  Beleaguered by cast changes, behind-the-scene scandals, time slot changes and indifferent ratings, the show needed to hit one out of the park, and they did with a cleverly structured story that brought the best and funniest out of the family.  

Franklin (Evan O'Toole) wants to do something special for his 100th podcast, aptly called "Getting Frank with Franklin" so he decides to interview each member of the Otto household. But before you can say "George Stephanopoulos" the Ottos uncomfortably discover that Franklin's friendly podcast interview turns into an ambush gotcha segment.

Greg is lambasted for not having any backbone, especially as his election battle heats up. Oliver and Cooper - interviewed together, by the way - are criticized for being too dependent on each other.  Taylor, agonizing between boyfriend Trip (Peyton Meyer) and TA Andre (Chibuikem Uche) is called a 'ho.' And Katie is cut down for being a bad, discouraging mother. Katie, of course, blames this in turn on her own mother, Kathyrn (Wendie Malick).

What works in this episode? Pretty much everything. It's great to see family members interact with each other at long last.  The past episodes had the new Anna-Kat actress silo'd, but here she and Franklin team up as the podcast inquisitors. There are some fun surprise cameos and a flashback scene that will demand Malick get her own series. 

This is also one of few episodes where the show is coyly self-aware: Oliver calls his friendship with Cooper "Cooliver" (using a much used Internet fan term for the could-be couple) and describes himself to Coop as "your boy." Taylor's relationship with Trip gets some blunt advice from grandma Kathryn, "The best time to go job-hunting is when you already have a job." And in a poke at the fourth wall right into some ABC exec's eyes, Katie tells Franklin, "It doesn't matter what time slot you're in, your fans will always follow."

Yeah, that's the stuff!

Next week will be the last episode of a shortened season.

Harrison Cheung is the author of the award-winning biography of Christian Bale (BenBella Books) and a contributor to Brave New Hollywood and The TV Ratings Guide.

American Housewife - Season 5, Episode 9 Review - The Heist

"Make Westport Greg again?" Katie helpfully suggests as Greg's election slogan for city council.  So begins a snap, crackle and pop episode of AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE that zips by so quickly, with such balance that none of the cast members feel deprived.  A quick glance at the credits and I see that this episode was helmed by director Chris Koch, a veteran of MODERN FAMILY, so no surprise that he deftly handles the Ottos and friends.

But, what are we laughing at in this episode?  Greg wants to run his campaign on the theme of integrity, so he's feeling politically vulnerable when Taylor starts hanging out again with the three Joshes (three delinquent bruhs from a few seasons back) and ends up getting arrested when she is caught in a neighbor's hot tub. In Westport, the local newspaper runs the police blotter to shame the public, so everyone knows who gets arrested.

Cooper (Logan Pepper) is also feeling muy useless when Oliver's project partner, Trevor (Tenzing Norgay Trainor), brutally points out that Cooper is nothing without his money.  "Defend my honor!" Cooper whines to Oliver.  The boys soon try different professions on for size, including a hilarious scene with Cooper, Oliver and Franklin (Evan O'Toole) trying their art skills by sketching a portrait of Anna-Kat. Yes, the new Anna-Kat finally interacts with her TV brother!  By the time Cooper figures out his skill and possible calling, Franklin delivers a beautiful speech about "the last days of summer." It's Franklin dialogue (and AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE writing reminiscent of Linus from PEANUTS, Brick from THE MIDDLE, and Dewey from MALCOLM) at its touching best.

Meanwhile Katie and her new Second Breakfast Club, Tami and JD, plan a heist to break into the fertility clinic so that JD can look up personal details of his potential egg donors.  JD still wants a baby, and, this is where I wonder what we're laughing at: Katie eggs him on (sorry) to break and enter a clinic, crack a computer and steal confidential patient records.  Okay, yes, this is a light-hearted sitcom, but in a world particularly sensitive about medical confidentiality and cyber security, this heist seems to be particularly tone deaf.

AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE has never been about preachy morals, but this is still an episode that leaves you wondering what were the writers thinking?  Trip is not around in this episode, so Taylor decides to hang out with three guys in a hot tub? And in an attempt to keep Taylor's arrest out of the newspaper, Greg makes a political deal with the newspaper owner's son, who happens to be the obnoxious new waiter, Walker (Jim Rash), who is joining Katie's Second Breakfast Club.  For Greg, who wanted to run a campaign on integrity, the episode shifts gears into his descent about using white privilege and political connections.  Oh well, this is AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE. It wasn't too many seasons ago when Katie faked a pregnancy (and kept the baby shower gifts) to get out of volunteering at school!

Harrison Cheung is the author of the award-winning biography of Christian Bale (BenBella Books) and a contributor to Brave New Hollywood and The TV Ratings Guide.