Did you catch last Thursday’s premiere of In the Motherhood? I never watched the web series, but since it was recast with Cheryl Hines and Megan Mullally, I decided I definitely had to give it a shot. I’m glad I did, because the show is all kinds of funny.
If you haven’t guessed, it’s about moms. And yeah, I’m a mom too, but if that was the only thing this show had going for it, I probably wouldn’t watch. It’s got that quirky, offbeat brand of humor I love so much. Like I wrote in the title, it reminds me of Carpoolers.
For those of you not familiar with it, Carpoolers was another ABC show killed by the writer’s strike last year. Only unlike Eli Stone, Dirty Sexy Money and Pushing Daisies, Carpoolers didn’t even get that lame attempt at a second season those shows got.
At first, In the Motherhood and Carpoolers might not seem like they have much in common, but really they do. Sure, one features men and the other women. And no, I haven’t seen any carpool sing-alongs on In the Motherhood yet. However, three of the four main characters of Carpoolers were fathers themselves and the interactions with their children was one of my favorite parts of the show.
In both shows, children play an important part of the comedy. As characters, they’re less developed than on other shows. You’re not going to see any episodes revolve around them, they serve more as a way for us to relate to their parents, even though the situations themselves are completely over the top and exaggerated.
Case in point, in the premiere of In the Motherhood, Emily (St. Clair) decides that because she doesn’t want to ever lie to her children, she should tell them that there is no Santa Claus. The next day, she gets a call from her son’s teacher, who is curled up in a fetal position as her entire class goes on a rampage, screaming and destroying the classroom, because Emily’s son told them there was no Santa.
Obviously this is not something you’d expect to happen in real life, but it hilariously illustrates the fact that as parents, we have the best of intentions, yet we still screw up.
One of the episodes of Carpoolers I remember best is when Aubrey (Jerry Minor) decides to spend his vacation time by carpooling to work every day, then sneaking off to spend the day in a nearby motel so that he doesn’t have to spend his vacation with his lazy wife and seven out of control kids.
When his friends found out what he was doing, they thought he was nuts, but could you blame him? Of course not. We all need some “me time” but this just serves to make us feel better about ourselves for not taking it as far as he did.
I miss Carpoolers but In the Motherhood seems to fill that void a little bit. This doesn’t give me a lot of hope for the show’s longevity, and neither does the fact that they come from the same network. I’ll just enjoy it while it lasts, as has been the case with countless other ABC shows in the past couple of years.
If you haven’t seen In the Motherhood yet, I urge you to give it a go. It’s only half an hour, after all, and you always have the remote at your disposal if its not to your liking. Finally, I leave you with one of those magical sing-alongs from my dearly departed Carpoolers, for the other five of you that watched it when it was on.
Clacked by Cate Cropp
on Apr 02, 2009 @ 16:00 EST5EDT
Thank you!
Someone else who appreciated Carpoolers! I thought I and my wife were the only ones :)
Carpoolers was awesome! I miss Marmaduke!
I decided against trying In the Motherhood, even though I like Megan Mullally (the actress, not the talk show hostess). The comparison piques my interest, however.
Thanks! I’ll check it out.
*POST AUTHOR*
You’re both very welcome. I miss Marmaduke too, Aryeh. Did you watch the show last night?
Tivoed it. The baby’s sick, and I want to see the premiere first online, but I will see it ;-)!
Sorry to say, it’s just not for me. I see the similarities to Carpoolers, but something was missing from the ensemble. Plus, Megan Mullally reminded me of a very poor imitation of Cooper from Notes from the Underbelly, and I enjoyed her and that show so much that I just couldn’t stand it.
But, for those of you who loved Carpoolers and who Motherhood clicks for, congrats! I wish I was there too!
Aryeh, why am I not surprised you don’t like it? There’s not a lot of shows we agree on, are there. :D I never watched Notes from the Underbelly, maybe it’s a good thing since I can’t make the comparison that ruined it for you.
We’ll always have Marmaduke! ;-)
Carpoolers was amazing. It wasn’t reinventing comedy, but it was consistently funny episode to episode. I think what killed it even more so than the writer’s strike was that I think it was attached to Cavemen (or the show-better-known-as-ratings-kryptonite). It’s a shame that people are way too enamored with dancing of the idols bachelors world to give quirky shows like these a try. I’ll check out this in the motherhood show next week solely based on this post. I miss Carpoolers.
I don;t think this show is anywhere near as good as Carpoolers. My wife was really looking forward to this show being an expectant mother, but it’s just really not that good. I understand the web series was much better.
https://www.joeonthetube.com