PilotWatch: SUBURGATORY

ABC Wednesdays @ 8:30

What's it about?
Single father George Altman is doing his best to raise his sixteen-year-old daughter Tessa in the big city.  When he discovers a box of condoms in her bedroom, though, he decides the time has come to move her to a more wholesome and nurturing environment: the suburbs.  But behind the beautiful homes and perfect lawns lurk the Franken-moms, spray tans, nose jobs, and Red Bull-guzzling teens who have nothing in common with Tessa.  It's a whole new world, one that makes George wonder if they haven't jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

So, how was it?
Surprisingly enough, the other pilot from this season that reminds me the most of SUBURGATORY is HART OF DIXIE.  Granted, one is a half-hour comedy on ABC and the other a soapy drama on the CW.  But at their core they are both about girls who grew up in the big city and are forced to move to a smaller town and cope with the crazy locals.  And SUBURGATORY is just as chock-full of stereotypes as HART OF DIXIE.  However, the big difference is that HART OF DIXIE is played straight, whereas SUBURGATORY is meant to be a comedy, and that makes this show infinitely more successful.

Instead of the two-dimensional characters like the jolly mayor and hunky southern gentleman and icy debutante of Alabama, we now get the perfectly-manicured lawns, overly blonde mothers, Sugar-Free-Red-Bull-drinking high school students and garishly pink bedrooms of the suburbs.  The spoiled mean girl with the huge pink room and mother full of plastic seems lifted straight from Regina George's life.  In fact, the whole half hour felt like a melding of two of the greatest contemporary teen comedies: MEAN GIRLS and EASY A.  Our hero, Tessa (Jane Levy) is like a B-list Emma Stone with her red hair, low voice and whip-like sarcasm.  And her foil, Dalia (Carly Chalkin), is just as judgmental and superior as Rachel McAdams was, if not as proactively vicious.

The rest of the cast is just as adept in their roles.  Jeremy Sisto, as Tessa's father George, is a believably concerned parent who clearly wants what's best for his daughter, even if he's not sure what that is (and even if he's apparently the world's biggest overreactor).  Cheryl Hines is overbearing yet surprisingly protective as Dalia's mother, Dallas.  Alan Tudyk (who I didn't even know was in this until he appeared -- pleasant surprise!)  is zany as a spray-tan-orange, bleach-blonde suburban bachelor and former classmate of George.  And Ana Gasteyer is hysterical as usual as George and Tessa's neighbor across the street, who's always watering the lawn and bringing over casseroles.  Her role was fairly small in the pilot, and I can't wait to see more of her.

As much as all of these characters are cartoonish caricatures, they are representations of very real people, just largely drawn.  And as stereotypical as they are, by the end of the first half hour, we've already glimpsed underneath the surface, as Dallas' surprising motherly affection comes through when Tessa needs it the most.  That's the biggest thing setting this show apart from HART OF DIXIE.  The characters on that show are not played for laughs (they may do or say funny things, but their entire existence isn't supposed to be a joke), and show no signs of breaking out of those two-dimensional roles -- and that makes the stereotypes offensive.  The characters on SUBURGATORY are stereotypes as well, but the entire show is meant to be a satire, and the stereotypes are embraced so that they can be slowly broken down over the course of the series to let us see the real people beneath the pink and plastic.

Rating:
*** Solid. I'm interested and will definitely keep watching.
Anything that can draw inspiration from both MEAN GIRLS and EASY A and not feel redundant gets a passing grade in my book.  Plus all the actors on the show are a delight to watch.  This seems like a smart, satirical look at a very real part of American culture that deserves to be both made fun of and dissected.  At least that's where I hope this show is headed, so I'll be sticking around to find out.

Take it away, Fellow Addicts!  Did you find the stereotypes hilarious?  Or just offensive?  Did anyone catch the WEEDS reference?  Vote in the poll below and then hit the comments!

(For a quick glance at the other pilots coming out, check out my Fall TV Preview.)

What did you think of SUBURGATORY?