Trophy Wife

[domino harvey]

Trophy Wife has a nice cast but no part of it was funny and its pacing frankly gave me a headache. Not really sure why this had such good buzz

[cdnchris]

I usually avoid anything with Ackerman in it. I don't have anything against her per se, but I find most of the things she appears in to be pretty unbearable.

[Cold Bishop]

Ahem...?

[domino harvey]

Childrens Hospital is terrifically funny and I have no complaints about Malin Akerman's work in it but Erinn Hayes and Lake Bell run large circles around her on a regular basis

[Andre Jurieu]

I usually avoid anything with Ackerman in it. I don't have anything against her per se, but I find most of the things she appears in to be pretty unbearable.

More evidence that I might just be a clone of cdnchris (though I guess I'm the "mocha" edition) ... but I actually didn't mind this pilot. Perhaps that's because they don't really rely that heavily on Akerman's performance to carry the entire show, at least as much as I thought they would. Instead they wisely surround her with some fairly talented actors. Maybe it's also because it's fairly polished for a pilot episode, which are usually grisly for half-hour comedies. I can see how the break-neck pacing in the pilot might be annoying, but it did have a lot of material to cover to set-up the show's basic premise and introduce its rather large cast (I predict that either the best-party-girl-friend or the 2nd-ex-wife are eventually written off the show to make more room for the central cast).

Having said that, I have a feeling that ABC is hoping this is basically a variation of Modern Family and that means any of the mild risks they took in the pilot (hinted under-aged drinking, age vs sexuality, etc.) are likely to disappear over the long-term in favor of playing it pretty safe throughout the rest of the season. I have no real evidence to back up that claim, but I just get the sense that the show will likely end up much more bland over time.

[knives]

I'm sure most producers would prefer it if shows got more bland and safe as time went by. Fortunately that doesn't happen every time.