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PILOT REVIEW: Trophy Wife

TROPHY WIFE













Starring: Malin Akerman, Bradley Whitford, Michaela Watkins, Natalie Morales, Ryan Lee, Gianna LePera, Albert Tsai, and Marcia Gay Harden

Created by Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins
Written by Emily Halpern & Sarah Haskins, Directed by Jason Moore

Trophy Wife is a new family sitcom with a new kind of TV family. The title character is Kate Harrison (Malin Akerman), a party girl who falls in love with twice divorced father of three Pete (Bradley Whitford) after a freak accident at a karaoke bar. As Kate adjusts to life as a stepmom to teenage twins Hillary (Gianna LePera) and Warren (Ryan Lee) and precocious six year old Bert (Albert Tsai), she must also contend with Pete's two ex-wives. Hillary and Warren's mom Diane Buckley (Marcia Gay Harden) is a sensible and successful doctor while Bert's mom Jackie (Michaela Watkins) is a hot mess new-age woman. Rounding out the main cast is Kate's best friend Meg (Natalie Morales).

THE GOOD: All hail Trophy Wife! Everything clicked in this pilot - the cast is fantastic, the premise is a unique spin on a classic genre, and the writing is top notch because it seems to write to the actor's strengths. You very rarely see things gel this quickly for comedies. Malin Akerman is fantastic in the lead role - she has excellent comic timing with a nervous, awkward energy and she plays a great drunk. Equally enjoyable is Bradley Whitford, who seems to be playing an older and more domestic version of Josh Lyman, but he still has the great timing and delivery. Michaela Watkins is a hoot as the oddball Jackie. She had some of the best lines in the pilot but they were all contextual so it's hard to quote them in the review. Finally, Albert Tsai is a real scene stealer and a funny child actor. They're not always easy to find!

THE BAD: This is truly nitpicking because I loved the pilot. The only two characters that didn't completely land for me were Warren and Meg. I felt like they were trying a little too hard to make Warren a nerd and they didn't seem to know what to do with Meg. A show like this honestly doesn't even need a best friend character because the family characters are all so strong.

BOTTOM LINE: This show has put some pressure on other sitcoms and itself. For other sitcoms, it shows that it doesn't always take awhile to gel. Sometimes it can happen instantly when all the elements come together. For itself, it now has to replicate the success in the episodes to come. This is usually more of a fear with stellar drama pilots but you never know. I think the cast and writing are strong so I think this show should have smooth sailing ahead. Now about that scheduling - ABC has lost their mind by putting Super Fun Night after Modern Family instead of this high quality and compatible comedy. To be fair I haven't even seen Super Fun Night but there's no way it's in the same league as this show. In fact, very few are. Trophy Wife has struck gold.
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