Yeesh, what a mess.  This show is such a mess.  Every single cast member deserves more than this.  Malin Akerman, Bradley Whitford, Marcia Gay Harden and Michaela Watkins are all much better than this. I’ve read glowing reviews of this show and I don’t get it.  It’s been said that this is a show like Cougar Town, that it’s much better than its title would imply.  Guess what?  I didn’t like Cougar Town, either.  People thought I was nuts.  How can you like Scrubs, but not Cougar Town?  Um, because it didn’t have JD, Turk, Cox or Kelso, perhaps.  Trophy Wife has way too much going on and way too many strong characters for it to come together properly.

Akerman plays the titular trophy wife as she spends her first date with Whitford at the hospital after going a little too hard at the club and falling on him and breaking his nose.  It’s there that his kids show up with first wife Watkins, a free spirit hippie type, and then wife number two(Harden) emerges as a disciplinarian doctor at the hospital and the two wives argue about traditional vs non traditional medicine and surprisingly, Akerman just can’t get enough of this wackiness, so she marries the guy.  Uggh.

No matter how hard she tries to play “cool mom”, the kids aren’t into it.  To her credit, Akerman is the best part of the pilot.  She’s not just a pretty face.  she’s a great physical comedienne with solid timing.  When she lets slip that she used to go to concerts with water bottles filled with vodka, the eldest daughter brings one to school.  Akerman finds this out as they get to school and Harden tries to get the bottle because her son is thirsty, but to protect her stepdaughter, Akerman chugs the whole thing and it was probably my only real laugh of the episode watching her down that bottle of vodka and her subsequent reaction.  Then the rest of the pilot is just her hammered and trying to play it off.

I don’t know.  there’s talent here.  there’s no doubt about that, but the subject matter is weak and they try to cram in way too many strong personalities into a small sitcom.  It’s just too much

4/10