You have your mother’s eyes? Christy (Anna Faris), the “Mom” of this new sitcom’s
title, inherited an array of her mother’s traits including her quick wit,
alcohol addiction, and poor parenting skills. “Mom” is about Christy’s
emotional turmoil, following her through the journey of being a single parent
to two alienated children while still dealing with the problems of her own
mother.
But is that it? After viewing the much anticipated pilot, it seems that “Mom” is just another show about an unhealthy family; a mother who is more involved with her sex life than the lives of her attention-starved kids.
You might think “Mom’s” examples of bad parenting would make for a refreshing new show, but I could not have imagined more of a cliché. Two generations of rebellious daughters following almost verbatim the bad example their mother has set for them, and maybe by the end of the season they will all start to get along and live happily ever after in their less-than-perfect situation. With a few tear jerking apologies and soap opera like emotional embraces, this show might just win the award for most predictable.
On the other hand, the comical, witty chemistry between Faris and her estranged mother, played by Allison Janney, could make up for the fact that the show is traveling a well-worn sit-com path. Throughout the pilot, whenever Faris and Janney were together, the quick one-liners and quality writing shone through, and this comedy actually made me laugh a little.
Again the show as a whole was not terrible, but I did not find myself begging for more. It’s a “background” show as in: Only watch when there is nothing smarter or more gripping on. If the rest of the series is as predictable as the pilot, I’m afraid we might only see one season.
