Beyond the TV Grave: Trophy Wife

This is the 'Beyond The TV Grave' series where we shell out our thoughts on shows that were canceled after airing no less than 5 episodes and no more than 50.

Trophy Wife aired its first and only season in the 2013-14 television season, the year before ABC’s family comedy renaissance. It aired in the troubled Tuesdays at 9:30, with an OK-rated Goldbergs as a lead-in and various pulled-from-the-schedule flops airing at 10pm. It appears the name may have turned people off from the start; its 2.3 A18-49 premiere out of a 3.1 for The Goldbergs wasn’t much to brag about, and the nine tenth drop for its second episode wasn’t either. Its 1.12 A18-49 season average was a rounded-up 60% of the league average, and managed to go as low as a 0.7 for its penultimate episode. While it had its troubles, Trophy Wife truly was a hidden gem creatively. 

With just 22 episodes, it is easily binge-able in ABC’s app or on ABC.com. Look for the tab that says ‘Throwback’ and scroll, and you’re there. It wouldn’t be a terrible idea to skip the pilot. While it has its laughs, the characterizations of two the children are much different than they are in the rest of the series; in fact, the daughter is recast after the pilot. 

The premise of the show follows Pete Harrison (played by Bradley Whitfield of West Wing game), who is 49 years old and finally finds love in 30-year-old Kate Walrus (Malin Akerman). The catch is that Kate is his third wife, and his first two wives are still heavily present in his life; stern Dr. Diane Buckley (Marcia Gay Harden) because she doesn’t trust Kate with her kids, and anything-goes Jackie (Michaela Watkins) due simply to boundary issues. While Kate does not like to see herself as a “trophy wife” and is really trying to be as good of a parent as she is a wife, she on paper fits into that stereotype. “Not Your Average Trophy Wife” would be an apt title for the show.

Peter had two kids with Diane; Warren (Ryan Lee), who embodies a bit of Sue Heck from The Middle and Luke Dunphy from Modern Family; and Hillary (Bailee Madison), who quite frankly is basically a slightly altered version of Alex Dunphy. During his marriage with Jackie, he adopted Bert (Albert Tsai), who is very smart and sweet yet slightly narcissistic. Recurring characters include Meg (the Natalie Morales not on the Today Show), Kate’s best friend who hasn’t quite settled down yet. 

The dynamic of this dysfunctional super-family is certainly unique, and all provide laughs in their own individual ways. All three of Pete’s wives are polar opposites, making for great comedy when all are in the same room. There’s an emphasis on the fact that there are no real hard feelings between Pete and his ex-wives, they simply fell out of love over time. Even Diane and Jackie are slightly friendly with each other, with there being numerous scenes throughout the series involving the two doing something together. 

Trophy Wife was not perfect, as there were some minor continuity issues amongst episodes. If you ignore those (which is fairly easy to), you’ll see an underrated, sweet-but-slightly-edgy family comedy that belonged in a different 9:30 time slot: the one after Modern Family. With The Goldbergs growing 30% on Wednesday with a more compatible lead-in (yet similarly rated), it wouldn’t be a stretch to see Trophy Wife grow that much or even more. Alas, such a move never happened, and viewers will have to savor the 22 episodes that aired. The finale certainly left room for a season 2, but didn’t end on such a huge cliffhanger that one would be dissatisfied. 

Best Episode In The Series

There are many to choose from, but I’ll have to go with episode 16, titled “The Wedding, Part 1”. Guest starring Megan Mullally as Kate’s mom and he fact that Pete’s parents have the same name, this episode advances many characters and proves that character developing was very much a part of this show.

Best Interaction In The Series

Episode 13: The Tooth Fairy

Pete: “Where’s Bert?”

Jackie (sarcastically): “I lost him, but don’t worry. I replaced him with an old Asian man I keep in a box.”

Best Video Clip

Episode 10: ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas...or ‘Twas It

Only on this show will a man, his wife, and his two ex-wives accidentally get drunk together on Christmas Eve after the 7-year-old spikes their holiday drinks behind their backs.

What do you think? Did I convince you to watch Trophy Wife? Remember, it gets even better as it goes. Let me know in the comments below!

ABC Comedy Development Watch: What Has Potential?

It’s November, and you know what that means—we’re “only” six months away from upfronts! All joking aside, ABC and the rest of the broadcast networks have already started the development cycle for 2016-2017. Right now, everything is in the very early stages—most shows in development have no more than a script ordered. Eventually, ABC will narrow it down to approximately 12 comedy pilots and 12 drama pilots, of which they will pick up a few. 

Right now, I wanted to take a quick look at a few of ABC’s comedy scripts, and what may have potential. This may be a fun little article to look back at come upfronts. To see the descriptions of ALL of the pilots/scripts currently in development, go to The Futon Critic here. Now, let's take a look at four comedy descriptions that may have some potential based on ABC's brand and the holes they may need to fill.

What Has Potential

1.    Splitsville

Main Production Companies: ABC Studios and Shondaland Productions

Creators: Emily Halpern (Trophy Wife) and Sarah Haskins (Trophy Wife)

EP: Shonda Rhimes and Betsy Beers (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, Private Practice), as well as Halpern/Haskins

Story Line: Single-cam; About a bunch of divorced adults who come together in an effort to raise the kids.

Why Might It Work?: In my opinion, this one will be ordered to series in less the script/pilot is a massive let down. The fact that they are trying to do more business with the creators of poor Trophy Wife, as well as the fact that the one and only Shonda Rhimes has come on board with her own company and colleague Betsy Beers, tells me that ABC really wants this one to work.

     Family Show

Main Production Company: 20^th Century FOX

Creator: Danny Zuker (an EP of Modern Family)

Story Line: Follows the people who work behind the scenes of a family sitcom.

Why Might It Work?: Family sitcoms has officially become ABC’s comedy brand, and fans of their returning family comedies for next season may find this enjoyable. I wouldn’t mess with Wednesdays to launch something like this, but it seems like a cute little show that could work on a Tuesday night.

3.    The Fluffy Shop

Main Production Company: ABC Studios

Creator: Gabriel Iglesias (Cristela)

Story Line: Multi-cam; Loosely follows the life of stand-up comedian Gabriel Iglesias and his home life when he isn’t touring.

Why Might it Work?: ABC cancelled Cristela, but apparently they are more than willing to do business with Gabriel Iglesias, who discovered Cristela and played a recurring role on the show. If ABC can’t bring back Last Man Standing and want to continue Dr Ken, maybe The Fluffy Shop (possibly with a different title) is the way to go.

4.    The Second Fattest Housewife in Westport

Main Production Company: ABC Studios

Creator: Sarah Dunn

Executive Producer: Aaron Kaplan (The Neighbors, Life in Pieces, The Mysteries of Luara, Instant Mom)

Story Line: A single-cam family comedy narrated by a “slightly larger wife” who lives in a dysfunctional family in a world where everyone else is perfect

Why Might it Work?: Despite the terrible name, this one seems to be on ABC’s family comedy brand, from the voiceover to the dysfunctional family to the assimilation aspect. If they don’t focus on the weight of the woman and focus more on a dysfunctional family, maybe they could have something. Of all those listed here though, I like it’s chances the least.

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What do you think? Any script descriptions listed on Futon Critic that you found more interesting? Let me know!

ABC Comedy Parts 6+7: The Wednesday Rebound and What's Next

ABC righted a wrong when they decided to move The Goldbergs to 8:30. They also premiered Blackish at 9:30, the first family comedy ever to air after Modern Family. For the first time, ABC had a comedy night consisting solely of family comedies. With it, we found out that compatibility truly does matter. The Middle and Modern Family both became extremely steady, with The Goldbergs being the second comedy ever to improve upon its 8pm lead-in, and Blackish holding onto enough of Modern Family to stay in the range of both The Middle and The Goldbergs. The comedies fit together as a glove, and for the first time since the comedy block began in 2009, all four comedies aired full seasons there, with no other comedies airing on Wednesday outside of the premiere of Fresh Off The Boat.

ABC Still Figuring Out Tuesday…

Despite the newfound all-around success of ABC Wednesday, it surprised few people that the Selfie-Manhattan Love Story Tuesday duo flopped. Both hit levels that went as low or even lower than Trophy Wife, and both were down significantly from the fall numbers seen by The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife the season before. When they were quickly pulled from the schedule, ABC filled the time slot temporarily with Shark Tank, which not only improved on the time slot, but also improved upon what it did there a few years prior when it was its regular time slot.

Things got tricky midseason. ABC only had one comedy with a midseason premiere date, Fresh Off The Boat, but had two comedy spots to fill. So what they did was quietly pick up reality filler Repeat After Me. The latter did not do well at all, typically being at the 1.0 range, but the former surprised as a moderate success. The ratings did fall significantly from its Wednesday premiere, but were good enough for a renewal considering the circumstances (only Tuesday comedy to proved ok numbers that season, had to face The Voice and typical Daylight Savings Time drops).

…And Friday

Like we have seen for the previous two seasons, ABC has been having trouble pairing something up with ok-for-Friday Last Man Standing. In the 2014-2015 season, they tried multi-cam Cristela. Like previous time slot occupants Malibu Country and The Neighbors, it performed well enough to warrant a full season, but not well enough to get a renewal. Meanwhile, Last Man Standing, which itself was on the bubble due to Tim Allen’s contract, held well enough to be renewed. Just like the breakout 2011-2012 season, ABC had every reason to renew six of their comedies.

Part 7: What’s Next?

It truly looks like ABC will have a strong comedy year next season. Of course, there are no guarantees here, but it seems like they finally figured out that compatibility is key. Tuesdays should improve, at least in the fall, with The Muppets leading off the night, which in turn should bring some more exposure to Fresh Off The Boat. They also kept the Wednesday comedy block as is, and the only show right now which is not reviewing too well is Dr. Ken, which already has a midseason replacement anyway. But although I predict ABC having a great season on the comedy side, it is more questionable what happens in the long run. The Middle and Modern Family must have two or three seasons left at best, meaning that others shows will have to take the baton. Could The Muppets be that show to take over for Modern Family? It is a family mockumentary show, after all. And could The Goldbergs be the next The Middle, all while Fresh Off The Boat and Blackish provide solid ratings as well? Time will tell, but there is one thing we can all learn: ABC’s comedy Wednesday experiment back in fall 2009 truly did pay off. Sure, there were some struggles along the way, but could you imagine a world when their top comedy struggled to hit a 1.0? It is hard to believe how relatively recent those days were.

ABC Comedy Part 5: The Even Bigger Collapse

Part 5: The Even Bigger Collapse

Gone were the days of Modern Family consistently seeing ratings above a 5.0 in the main demo. By the latter half of the season, it started to plateau in the low 3s, still enough to make it the #2 comedy on TV. Fellow anchor The Middle did an admirable job of holding in the ratings, usually in the low 2 range. It wasn’t at all Modern Family, The Middle, or Last Man Standing, their three returning comedies on the fall schedule, being the centerpieces of the problems—it was all the other shows and ABC’s missed opportunities in scheduling.

Renewing The Neighbors in the first place was considered iffy by many considering its weak ratings behind The Middle. Being an ABC Studios comedy most likely saved it in an era where all the others were cancelled. However, when ABC announced its new time slot—Friday at 8:30 behind the very incompatible Last Man Standing—it was very clear that indeed it was primarily renewed as a save-face comedy for the studio.

And then there were the mishaps with the new comedies. Priority was given to Rebel Wilson’s Super Fun Night, which was rejected by CBS due to poor testing. Although premiering well, fans started to agree with CBS, as ratings started to tank, and fast. There was also Back in the Game airing after The Middle, which was oddly cancelled before its order was finished despite it being in the same range as the year-to-year The Neighbors, and the fact that there was no clear-cut hit amongst the freshmen batch.

The Tuesday Comedy Schedule Mishaps

On Tuesday at the 9pm hour, ABC aired two new comedies: The Goldbergs and Trophy Wife. Both had pilot episodes that reviewed mediocrely to outright terrible, but as the two series progressed it became clear that the former was a great companion for The Middle and the latter an even better companion for Modern Family. Trophy Wife was also produced by ABC, and even non-fans saw the mistake ABC made. Both struggled greatly on Tuesdays. When ABC announced that they were receiving a full season and the Wednesday at 8:30 and 9:30 comedies were not, many figured that one or both of them would get a fair chance on Wednesday to prove themselves capable of strong ratings. Instead, ABC opted to air another party comedy, Mixology, after Modern Family, while plugging veteran Suburgatory into the 8:30 pm time slot. How the latter ended up airing all three of its seasons on Wednesday is something I will never understand, especially in years where it was so desperately needed elsewhere. However, even Suburgatory struggled, and was not seeing the ratings it saw in its first or even second seasons. My guess is that shifting it from 8:30 to 9:30 and then back to 8:30 again throughout its run did not help.

As a fan, it was cringeworthy to see Trophy Wife flounder in the high 0s and low 1s when it could have much easily beaten Mixology if aired at the post-Modern Family time slot. The Goldbergs, which arguably took even more time to figure it self out creatively, typically settled in the mid 1s. While not great in any way, The Goldbergs picked the right year to do mediocre in the ratings. As a result of all the other freshmen comedies being cancelled (meaning there would be no returning comedies from ABC Studios), it was moved to Wednesday at 8:30 and given summer promotion like I’ve never seen before. With the channel’s three veterans starting to age at that point, it was clear that nurturing the highest-rated freshmen comedy would have to be at the top of their priority list, ABC-produced or not.