(June 30, 2011)               Jaime Pressly (My Name Is Earl), Katie Finneran (Wonderfalls), Kristi Lauren (You), Aisha Dee (Dead Gorgeous), Eric Sheffer Stevens (As The World Turns), Kevin Rahm (Desperate Housewives, Judging Amy) and Chad Coleman (The Wire) star in the half hour situation comedy I Hate My Teenage Daughter, coming to FOX this fall, Wednesdays at 9:30pm.

Two best friends, who both are single moms, struggle to raise their difficult and over-privileged teenage daughters. Annie (Pressly) and Nikki (Finneran) are former high school outcasts whose pasts inform their current parenting styles. Annie, who was raised in an ultra-strict, über-religious household where she had little-to-no freedom, pretty much allows her daughter, Sophie (Lauren), to do whatever she wants. Nikki, once an unpopular, overweight social pariah, has reinvented herself as a pretty Southern belle whose top priority is providing her daughter, Mackenzie (Dee), with the childhood she never had. Sophie and Mackenzie are also best friends, which leads to a lot of co-parenting for Annie and Nikki. They have given the girls everything they asked for and everything they never had: clothes, money and self-esteem. The unintended consequence is they have created two mean girls just like the ones who tortured them years ago. Sophie finds her mother embarrassing and mocks her at every opportunity, but she secretly needs her mom and knows that her behavior is not always appropriate. Mackenzie, on the other hand, is the more manipulative of the daughters – she knows how to work her mother’s insecurities to her benefit. Annie’s ex-husband, Matt (Sheffer Stevens), wants to be a good parent, but is too clueless to know what that even means. That leaves his brother, Jack (Rahm), an attractive, high-powered attorney, to serve as more of a father figure for Sophie. Jack’s meddling would annoy Annie more if she didn’t have such a crush on him. GARY (Coleman), Nikki’s ex, also tries to help raise his challenging daughter, but the couple’s complicated relationship often makes his involvement more difficult. As their daughters begin to experience their first high school dances and other life-changing teen events, Annie and Nikki are often reminded of their own tortured adolescent years. But when Sophie and Mackenzie’s mean-girl antics cross the line, the moms quickly realize that they must, for the first time, dole out some real punishment and fix what is broken. They have no idea how to do that, but they do know one thing: They can’t do it without each other.

This comedy had the chance to become a cultural icon, but somewhere between the pitch meeting and the final draft of the script, this comedy went from being an insightful look at the generational differences between girls and women today, to an exageration of that condition that plays more like a farce than like a cultural icon. The fact that the mothers of these girls, who were victimized by "Mean Girls" in their past, went on to produce two daughters who are worse than there ones they suffered through in their own youth, is a deep and rich area for comedy, or a good psychology study, take your pick. But in this comedy, the situation is met by characters who are so over the top, the are no longer able to be funny. Honestly, I felt pity for these characters.

            I hate the title and I don't really like these characters, but I'm curious to see how this train wreck is going to end up. The feeling is kind of like when you drive by an accident on the roadway, something compels you to look, even though it is likely that compulsion will not end well.

 

 - Editor

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