In an effort to keep up with all things currently on television, I started watching the ABC show Suburgatory. I had heard a lot of good things from some of the same critics that praise my favorite show, NBC’s Community and the cast was pretty appealing to me so I decided to check it out. Suburgatory can best be described as Mean Girls meets Cougar Town with a splash of Emma Stone. The star of the show, Jane Levy, a relative newcomer to television (who also appears in Showtime’s Shameless) seems like someone who was hired because they couldn’t quite afford Emma Stone at first glance, but after watching 8 episodes of the show I think she shows just as much chops (as many chops?).
The premise of the show is that Tessa (Levy) is uprooted from her beloved New York City and taken to a rich, white-bread suburb by her father George (Jeremy Sisto). They quickly get swept up into the rich, pampered community of neighbors, which includes Cheryl Hines (from Curb your Enthusiasm) and one of my favorite TV actors, Alan Tudyk as a dentist. Tessa struggles to fit in at school alongside her Hilton-esque colleagues and semi-befriends a couple of totally unlikeable loserish side kicks. Meanwhile George finds himself neck-deep in neighborhood moms, who would rather deliver him pies and hold PTA meetings than sexually satisfy him.
It’s not really the funniest fare on television right now, not even close. It’s not the strongest subject matter either since as the supposed reason for the move to the suburbs is George finding condoms in Tessa’s bedroom. Having said that though, I’m quite enjoying Suburgatory. I was criticizing one episode in particular for rehashing the exact plot of Mean Girls where gossip is published by the main character (a red headed new comer whose seen the world) in the school paper but ends up hurting her weird and off beat friends (Lizzy Caplan respectively in Mean Girls). In Mean Girls this is to get back at the caddy, “mean girls.” Here it’s to get back at Tessa’s rich, equally-spoiled neighbor who seems to be channeling Paris Hilton at all times, Dalia (Carly Chaikin). The guidance counselor of the school, Rex Lee (Lloyd from Entourage), is kind of a blockhead and while he tries to help Tessa fit in at school and iron out her issues, he never really manages to succeed. It’s good seeing him in more than just Entourage, but I also wish they’d do more with his character and not make him a gay stereotype.
Suburgatory has a lot of potential, and it certainly held my interest as a show which COULD go in a lot of directions. I’ve officially added it to my weekly line up of things I’ll watch as they air (since it airs on a Wednesday and doesn’t interfere with my rigorous TV schedule blocks on Sunday and Thursday). I guess you could say it’s not a show targeted at my demographic with it’s girly, schmaltzy humor and it does the opposite of breaking new ground, but the thing is, I’ve always enjoyed those “coming of age” high school stories. I liked Mean Girls, I LOVED Easy A, it seems like a no-brainer that someone would try to make a show out of this concept. Plenty of us can’t get enough of this type of “fish out of water” ordeal when it comes to high school, so I can only hope the show focuses on that and less on a clan of single moms hitting on George.
The show has been filming in LA since it's gotten a mid season renewal and I've driven past the set a few times. Only now that I've watched it will I know what to look out for though. If anyone is interested in the show, I will be posting the information for where to watch this show filming in public along with other shows I believe to be of merit.
If you want to check out the trailer for Suburgatory:
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