Wednesday, November 30, 2011

PILOT REVIEW: I Hate My Teenage Daughter

I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER











Starring: Jaime Pressley, Katie Finneran, Kevin Rahm, Chad Coleman, Eric Sheffer Stevens, Aisha Dee, Kristi Lauren
Created by Ellen Kramer and Sherry Bilsing
Written by Ellen Kramer & Sherry Bilsing, Directed by Andy Ackerman

I Hate My Teenage Daughter is a new multi-camera sitcom on FOX that feels like it's direct from the 1990s. It is centered on two friends and former high school outcasts Annie and Nikki (Jaime Pressley and Katie Finneran) who are raising two popular teenage daughters, Mackenzie and Sophie (Aisha Dee and Kristi Lauren). Rounding out the cast are the ex (or soon to be ex) husbands (Chad Coleman and Eric Sheffer Stevens) as well as Annie's former brother-in-law and current crush, Jack (Kevin Rahm).

THE GOOD: Well, the title is one of the funnier titles in recent years.

THE BAD: But the show doesn't come anywhere close. In fact, this is the worst pilot to hit the air so far in the 2011-2012 season. Thanksgiving is over but FOX is clearly serving a turkey this week. Who in their right mind greenlit this show? The writing is so terrible and the jokes are beyond stale. Every single line in the sitcom seemed like a setup to a joke and a lame joke at that. There's a lot I could pick apart about this disaster but Kate Finneran was the worst of the bunch. She overplayed everything, and I mean everything, from completely unrealistic delivery to over the top dramatics (falling at the bottom of the stairs). No character seemed like a real person, they seem to have come from the bad sitcom school and could be picked up and dropped in any bad sitcom without anyone noticing. It's just really really bad.

BOTTOM LINE: Don't waste your time on this show. I'm glad FOX is trying multi-camera comedies but this one really leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Multi-camera sitcoms aren't dead - CBS Mondays is thriving and ABC's Last Man Standing is off to a good start. But the genre isn't helped by crap like this that sets the sitcom back many years. It probably won't stick around long but it shouldn't have even made it this far.

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