PILOT REVIEW: Carol's Second Act

CAROL'S SECOND ACT

Starring: Patricia Heaton, Igo Aghayere, Lucas Neff, Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Sabrina Jalees, with Ashley Tisdale and Kyle MacLachlan

Created by Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins
Written by Emily Halpern & Sarah Haskins, Directed by Pamela Fryman

Patricia Heaton has had quite a career over more than two decades. She went from an Emmy winning role as Debra on Everybody Loves Raymond for nine years to frazzled mom Frankie Heck for another nine years. In between, she even starred in a short-lived sitcom that certainly had its supporters, Back to You with Kelsey Grammar. Now she's back again in another network sitcom and there's something comforting and appealing about a beloved star in the medium they do best in.

Heaton stars as Carol Kenney, a woman beginning a second career as a doctor in her 50s. She is grouped up with a bunch of millennial interns (Lucas Neff, Jean-Luc Bilodeau, Sabrina Jalees) at Loyola Memorial Hospital in Southern California under the direction of their tough boss, Chief Resident Dr. Maya Jacobs (Igo Aghayere). Oh, and there's an older attending physician, Dr. Stephen Frost (Kyle MacLachlan) who takes an immediate liking to Carol and Carol's beautiful daughter, Jenny (Ashley Tisdale). Does all of that sound like a pretty stock sitcom set up? Can't you tell that Carol is going to seem old and out of touch while her millennial peers sneer at her? But of course, Carol is going to prove to be more able than it appeared and she could teach a thing or two to those young whipper snappers.

The very predictable plotlines came to pass in the pilot and were coupled with a couple really cringey jokes and moments. But Carol's Second Act worked to an extent. To the extent that it worked was due to Heaton. She is a veteran and it's easy to tell. She had an easy charm and rhythm to things that come from being in the sitcom world for many years (even if her most recent run was on a single-cam). This show is no Everybody Loves Raymond or The Middle and Carol Kenney is no Frankie Heck (though she might be on par with Debra Barone). But I do trust Heaton to be very game and to give it her all even if I was rolling my eyes at the number of millennial stereotypes that were already presented (though the "he/him" joke did give me a chuckle).

If you wanted to know why Heaton is so important to this show, look no further than how terrible the subplot involving Lucas Neff and Sabrina Jalees' characters was. If the whole show was like that, I would have turned it off and never watched again. But, as I said before, I trust Heaton. She seems like she will play well off of Igo Aghayere and while Kyle MacLachlan was use sparingly in the pilot, he's also a pretty game veteran actor. So maybe Carol's Second Act is a little more true to life than I even thought. Maybe these old vets can teach the younger actors a thing or two about how to be on a sitcom.

WILL I WATCH IT AGAIN?
Yes. I don't know if Heaton will be enough to draw me back all season but I'll give it a couple weeks to find its footing.