Channel Surfing: Trophy Wife - "Pilot"

Left to right: Bradley Whitford and Malin Akerman

Welcome to a new column called Channel Surfing, in which I sporadically look at current TV shows and talk about them. These are not ones that I care to write weekly recaps for and are instead reflections either on the episode, the series, or particular moments. This will hopefully help to share personal opinions as well as discover entertainment on the outer pantheon that I feel is well worth checking out, or in some cases, shows that are weird enough to talk about, but should never be seen.

Rounding out ABC's Tuesday night line-up between two hour-long dramas is Trophy Wife, which manages to be more successful than the Goldbergs, but mostly in that it doesn't play up the gimmicks of its own universe. It also helps that the cast and script is slightly stronger and has potential to grow. Of course, as a fan of Infomania, I am just glad to see former writer Sarah Haskins making shows and getting them on the air. Even then, I am wondering if my lukewarm reaction comes from the overwhelming lead-in by the Goldbergs, or if the show is in fact just not entirely sure what it is yet.

Kate (Malin Akerman) falls for a man named Pete (Bradley Whitford) after a drunken night of karaoke. One thing leads to another and she is in the middle of a family affair. Not just one family. Pete is a promiscuous person with multiple wives and children of varying races. Thankfully, the show isn't using cultural stereotypes for humor... yet, but it also doesn't feel like it can handle what it's trying to preach as well. There's a prototype nerd (played by Breaking Bad's Ryan Lee) who gets picked on for wielding a plastic medieval sword, and none of the kids really have personality.

In fact, this is another example of ABC finding joy in doing shows about neglectful parenting. Kate is not necessarily the bad parent in this situation. Depending on your opinions on polygamy, Pete is much worse, if just because one of his wives steals hamsters. I never got the sense that this show was something more than a bunch of random people thrown together and labeled relatives. In fact, this at times felt like it was trying to capture the Modern Family audience without the mockumentary aspect. In a way, that's almost as cheap as the Goldbergs using the 80's as an excuse to be a kitschy yelling match.

There is some sense of hope, however, in the casting choice of Malin Akerman. The show around her isn't particularly exciting, but she does bring comedic sensibilities. Having done her time on Children's Hospital and varying movies, she has proven herself to be one of the funnier women out there. Here, her self-deprecating nature plays nicely as a change of pace from the buttoned-down universe that surrounds her. At points, she drinks liquor out of a plastic bottle to keep a kid from being ratted as an alcoholic and in another, she playfully makes fun of her breast size after a teacher reads her a child's erotic fiction involving her.

For the most part, it is harmless and somehow generic. Children insulting adult's level of responsibility is one of the main crutches for the show, and in return, adults are somewhat mean to children. There's not really any sense of self in the show. While it feels like it is more revered and respectful, it also just feels like it is playing the motions, waiting for the jokes to come out and be presented as something absurd that happened. 

If it wasn't for Akerman, I wouldn't understand the appeal of this show at all. None of the supporting characters feel like more than stock. From what I gather, it will just be a journey of a clumsy woman and a family of oddballs trying to get along. While there are some laughs, it is mostly exposition and setting up the universe. I don't know that it is necessarily a great or interesting universe, but at least it feels more realized than the Goldbergs. However, at 9:30 PM, it is probably not going to last long, at least at the time slot.

As I have stated before, I am not entirely sure why ABC shows haven't appealed to me all that much. They just feel like they are too safe and broad, appealing to a mass audience that likes dysfunction without any cohesiveness. On the flip side, the one ABC show that I adored, Don't Trust the B in Apt. 23, suffered scheduling conflicts that eventually sunk the show. Maybe it was the rocky beginning and the lack of chronology that developed in season two's airing, but the show never got a fair shot. It is a move that I never saw anyone besides NBC do, and it infuriated me. It was a clever meta commentary on celebrities and sitcoms. Trophy Wife, in comparison, feels too tame and safe without any inspired wit.

I don't know how the comedies on Tuesday will survive in the long run. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will manage to stay afloat based on the love for Marvel properties, but the lead-in won't last long. The 9 PM shows are just not that interesting or good. They feel more like they are trying to be clones of more successful shows and compete for audiences in ways that don't feel honest. That doesn't make for good comedy, that just makes for filler that will sink quickly. If it doesn't, I am not entirely sure how ABC works. They mess with the wrong shows.

In closing, I am not going to review Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or Lucky 7 in the Channel Surfing series. This is largely due to lack of time, which is quickly preparing for the next batch of shows. However, as I look back on what new shows I have seen, ABC is so far the network with the biggest level of failure, and I am not entirely sure why. Their comedies just feel neither too dangerous nor too interesting to really be more than programming on Tuesdays. They feel like gimmicks, and that is a shame. Malin Akerman and Sarah Haskins deserved better.