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 In The Motherhood

(March 26th, 2009.  Editor)               Cheryl Hines, Jessica St. Clair, Horatio Sanz, Ron Reaco Lee and Megan Mullally star in the half hour situation comedy In The Motherhood, airing Thursdays on ABC.

Rosemary (Mullally), Jane (Hines) and Emily (Jessica St. Clair), represent mothers we all know. Rosemary is a free-wheeling mom who plays it fast and loose when it comes to parenting her teenaged son, Syd. Married numerous times, but currently single, Rosemary lives by her own rules. Much to the amazement of the other moms, her nontraditional parenting style has yielded a son much more responsible than she. Rosemary's best friend, Jane, is a recently divorced working mother of a pre-teen, Annie, and a baby girl, Sophie, who is just trying to keep her career and home afloat. Having just returned to work after giving birth eight months ago, Jane struggles to find a happy balance. Lucky for her she has her "manny," Horatio (Horatio Sanz, "Saturday Night Live"), to help out. Jane's younger sister, Emily, sees herself as the model stay-at-home-super-mom for her two young children, Esther and Bill. Emily's home is a work of art, and her kids are polite and sweet-everything has its place in her world. Married to Jason (Ron Reaco Lee), Emily takes parenting as seriously as any mother could.

As for the men in their lives, Jane's "manny," Horatio, communicates with Jane's infant daughter through sign language and believes the baby is the only person who really "gets" him. He's a good-hearted lug who is also much more than a babysitter to the three ladies. Then there's Emily's husband, Jason, who is the uptight breadwinner, ready at any given moment to open a vein for his family. He likes his food to be organic and his wife, home and children at the top of their class. Basically he's an ulcer waiting to happen.

When I look at a new situation comedy, I ask myself three questions. Do I like the situation? Do I like the cast? Do I like the writing? I the case of this half hour comedy, they are showing a lot of potential in all three areas, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. The situation is universal enough and there is the added bonus of being able to collect good story ideas from the Internet. If the writers can add enough funny lines to the real stories they collect, that should provide a solid foundation. Episode one was soft on jokes. But that is often the case, as time must be spent setting up the situation of each character.

Then there is the cast. The powerful personalities of Cheryl Hines and Megan Mullally pull this comedy in different directions. Jessica St Clair's portrayal of an obsessive stay at home mom will provide some balance, but it is already obvious that Hines and Mullally don't like each other. That will spell disaster for this comedy if they can't come to some kind of happy place. Right now they barely make eye contact even when their characters are having a conversation.

When you put three women in one situation comedy, it is a very good idea to balance that with a strong male lead. Horatio Sanz has that potential, but I feel he is struggling to find his place in this busy comedy. I don't blame him. But knowing how funny he can be with the right writing makes it hard to see him in a soft role.

I predict that this otherwise good comedy will self-destruct as soon as the network executives start trying to tweak it. If the focus is moved toward any one lead character, the other two will be a problem. If not, there will be an escalating struggle on the set that will likely tear the project to bits.

Making a successful situation comedy is hard. Very hard. This effort comes close to a winning formula, but missed the boat in casting. If it can survive itself, it has a chance to win the audience. But they have given themselves an uphill battle.

 

Editor

 

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