Single Parents premieres September 26th on ABC.
By Ariba Bhuvad
ABC has brought forth quite a few pilots for the upcoming season of television, and amongst them is half-hour comedy called Single Parents. The series is created by The O.C’s J.J. Philbin and New Girl creator Elizabeth Meriweather. While I wasn’t blown away by the premiere episode, I didn’t hate it either.
The premise of the series is a group of single parents (hard to miss that one) raising their 7-year olds with the support of each other. The pilot episode introduces a character named Will (Taran Killam) into this group’s lives whom they meet as a fellow single, extremely enthusiastic parent eager to get all the parents involved in the PTA.
But in his quest to take care of his daughter, he’s essentially forgotten to have a life of his own, and the pilot dives into how the group of other single parents will rescue from himself. Given the cast, there is quite a bit of comedy in the pilot. Sometimes it goes over your head, or it’s just not funny at all, but I guess in the context of the situation, it works.
The cast also includes Leighton Meester (Angie), Brad Garrett (Douglas), Kimrie Lewis (Poppy), and Jake Choi (Miggy). Each character has their shortcomings and their struggles as a single parent but over time they have overcome those hurdles, and upon meeting Will, they want the same for him–at the very least to get him off their backs about volunteering.
There is a message embedded within the pilot that I can applaud (even though I can’t relate to it) which is that being a parent does not mean you have to lose yourself. You can balance the person you are with the person you have to be for your kids. That is the theme I got from watching this first episode, and I think that is what parents will take away from the series.
Single Parents isn’t going to be the best comedy ever, or the best comedy of this television season, or even the best comedy on its own network, but it is something viewers may find enjoyable to pass their time, especially if they find they can relate to it.
I give Single Parents a B-.
TV and City 