The first thing I have to say about American Housewife is that it is exhausting. Maybe it is supposed to mirror our main character, Katie’s (Katy Mixon) everyday life. The pilot is hyper and hectic without giving the audience any real reason why. Everyone speaks like they’re five espressos deep into a caffeine binge.
Katie, the titular American housewife, has a lot to deal with on a daily basis. She helps her three children, Taylor (Johnny Sequoyah), Oliver (Daniel DiMaggio), and Anna-Kat (Julia Butters), her husband, Greg, (Diedrich Bader), and her two best friends (Carly Hughes and Ali Wong).
Each child has their own specific quirk. Taylor is embracing teenhood and is beginning to act like a mini-version of the young, fit mothers of Westport, Connecticut, that Katie absolutely loathes. She’s even carrying that mysterious green healthy drink around with her, which the Westport moms consider to be their holy water.
Oliver, the middle child, obviously binge-watched Family Ties and has decided to follow in the footsteps of one Alex P. Keaton. He’s saving up for a Roth IRA and doesn’t believe in handouts of any nature. Even his contribution to the food drive is just a tin of expired cat food.
Anna-Kat is the youngest and, as Katie explains, the reason why the family is in the suburban hell known as Westport. She is obviously obsessive-compulsive and the amazing public schools in the district have ways to accommodate her needs. Anna-Kat is already way too reminiscent of Brick over on American Housewife’s lead-in show, The Middle, but probably the funniest joke for me was Greg trying to help Anna-Kat get over her germ phobia, only to realize she has a point about most things.
Although her children seem like a constant source of stress, the real issue in Katie’s life is the disappearance of Fat Pam into the wilds of Vermont. With her neighbor gone, Katie has shot up to become the second fattest housewife in Westport. This simply will not do.
The crux of American Housewife is the clash between Katie’s bold personality and Westport suburbia. Katie actively hates many aspects of the culture, but still yearns to be accepted in some way by her peers. The best way to do that is to not be the second fattest housewife in Westport (if you think I’ve overused the phrase, you haven’t seen how many times it’s used in the episode). She first schemes to keep buyers away from Pam’s (calling her Fat Pam just seems too mean) house, but her husband has a brilliant idea. I like it when sitcoms go against the traditional husband-wife angst and show supportive partners, so I was happy about the relationship presented in the show. Greg is initially against Katie’s obsession with the house, but helps her out anyway. He suggests simply making sure that a larger woman buys the house and he, Katie, and Anna-Kat crash the open house to make that happen.
After the ominous threats of neighborhood arsonists and carcinogens, the only taker left is Katie’s dream woman. Unfortunately, that woman happens to be a racist homophobe. Katie has to ask herself if it’s worth it and decides that yes, it is.
Her son, however, changes her mind. When Katie finds out about the canned food drive fiasco, she demands that Oliver do something nice for someone else, even if he feels like it goes against his nature. In return, he points out all the trouble she’s going to to impress people she doesn’t even like. Katie learns her lesson and, with the help of her friend, Angela, drives the racist away. She’s awarded for her good deed by having a rabidly enthusiastic two-fitbit wearing weirdo (Leslie Bibb) move in instead.
Over all, I wasn’t particularly impressed with this pilot. A running joke in the show is that when people tell Katie that she is “so real”, it’s meant as an insult. In a way, that’s the problem I have with the show. Katie is “real” in her critique of suburban life and the other mothers, but her meanness comes across as too harsh. The show thinks that it is being “real” by repeating the word “fatty” over and over again, but it just comes across as tired (to wrap this review back up the introduction). We don’t see the mothers ever be horrible enough to Katie to warrant the level of bile she has stored up and there isn’t much more to the show yet than Katie’s cynicism and “realness”. There is definitely potential there, however, so I’ll remain cautiously optimistic for the time being.
What did you think of the episode? Is American Housewife on your watch list? Let me know in the comments!
