American Housewife

American Housewife is an American sitcom television series that debuted on October 11, 2016, on ABC. It is created and written by Sarah Dunn and co-executive produced with Aaron Kaplan, Kenny Schwartz, Rick Wiener, and for the pilot only Ruben Fleischer. It is a Kapital Entertainment–ABC Studios co-production.[1][2]

American Housewife
Genre
Created bySarah Dunn
Starring
Narrated byKaty Mixon
Composer(s)
  • Erica Weis
  • Orr Rebhun
  • Jonathan Sadoff
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes90 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
Editor(s)David L. Bertman
Camera setupSingle-camera
Running time22 minutes
Production company(s)
DistributorDisney–ABC Domestic Television
Release
Original networkABC
Picture formatHDTV 720p
Audio format5.1 surround sound
Original releaseOctober 11, 2016 (2016-10-11) –
present (present)
External links
Website

In May 2020, the series was renewed for a fifth season.[3]

Premise
Westport, Connecticut

The series chronicles the daily life of Katie Otto, a wife and mother who tries to maintain her sense of self and family while dealing with the wealthy, pretentious, arrogant housewives and their privileged children in her new hometown of Westport, Connecticut. Compared to the other residents who own big houses, Katie and her family are renters of a more modest home. She lives with Greg, her level-headed husband who is a university professor of history, and their three children. Taylor is their athletic, headstrong, but somewhat dimwitted oldest daughter who wants to fit in with her peers; Oliver is their savvy, ambitious, and snarky middle child; and Anna-Kat, sweet but obsessive-compulsive, is the youngest and Katie's blatant favorite. Katie frequently vents her frustration to and seeks advice from her two closest friends: Doris, whose strict parenting style sharply contrasts with Katie's; and Angela, a divorced lesbian mother and lawyer with a calm parenting style.

Episodes
Main article: List of American Housewife episodes
SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
123October 11, 2016 (2016-10-11)May 16, 2017 (2017-05-16)
224September 27, 2017 (2017-09-27)May 16, 2018 (2018-05-16)
323September 26, 2018 (2018-09-26)May 21, 2019 (2019-05-21)
420September 27, 2019 (2019-09-27)May 13, 2020 (2020-05-13)

Cast and characters

Main
  • Katy Mixon as Kate "Katie" Otto
  • Diedrich Bader as Greg Otto, Katie's husband
  • Meg Donnelly as Taylor “Sweetheart” Otto, Katie and Greg's teenage daughter; the role was portrayed by Johnny Sequoyah in the televised pilot[4]
  • Daniel DiMaggio as Oliver Otto, Katie and Greg's teenage son and middle child
  • Julia Butters as Anna-Kat Otto, Katie and Greg's youngest daughter
  • Ali Wong as Doris, one of Katie's best friends
  • Carly Hughes as Angela, one of Katie's best friends

Recurring
  • Leslie Bibb as Viv, Katy's neighbor who was originally introduced as Two-Fitbit Lady
  • Jessica St. Clair as Chloe Brown Mueller, Katie's nemesis
  • Wendie Malick as Kathryn, Katie's mother
  • Logan Pepper as Cooper Bradford, Oliver's uber-wealthy best friend whose parents are almost always out of town; Cooper adores Katie as a mother figure
  • Amarr M. Wooten as Eyo, Taylor's former boyfriend
  • Peyton Meyer as Trip Windsor, Taylor's boyfriend
  • Evan O'Toole as Franklin, Anna-Kat's best friend
  • Carly Craig as Tara Summers
  • Sara Rue as Nancy Granville
  • Jeannette Sousa as Suzanne
  • Barret Swatek as Sage
  • Jerry Lambert as Principal Ablin
  • George Hamilton as Spencer Blitz, neighbor and one-time billionaire investor who has just returned home, having been out on house arrest after spending 20 years in federal prison
  • Nikki Hahn as Gina, Oliver's first girlfriend and fellow ballet dancer
  • Bruno Amato as Louie Tuscadero, Gina's uncle and owner of Tuscadero's Pizza
  • Ravi Patel as Grant, Greg's assistant
  • Julie Meyer as Maria, Chloe Brown Mueller's employee
  • Milo Manheim as Pierce, Taylor's love interest during her brief breakup from Trip
  • Reylynn Caster as Brie, Oliver's second girlfriend who breaks up with him in season 4
  • Matt Shively as Lonnie Spears

Notable guests

Production

Development

On January 28, 2016, it was announced that ABC had given the production a pilot order as The Second Fattest Housewife In Westport.[5] The episode was written by Sarah Dunn who was expected to executive produce alongside Aaron Kaplan, Kenny Schwartz and Rick Wiener. Production companies involved with the pilot include Eight Sisters Productions, Weiner & Schwartz Productions, Kapital Entertainment, and ABC Studios. On May 12, 2016, ABC officially ordered the pilot to series.[6] A few days later, it was announced that the series, now titled American Housewife, would premiere on October 11, 2016 and aired on Tuesdays at 9:30 P.M.[7] On November 4, 2016, ABC picked up the series for a full season of 22 episodes and on December 13, an additional episode was ordered.[8][9] On May 11, 2017, ABC renewed the series for a second season,[10] which premiered on September 27, 2017. On May 11, 2018, ABC renewed the series for a third season of 23 episodes,[11] which premiered on September 26, 2018. On May 10, 2019, ABC renewed the series for a fourth season;[12] the first 15 episodes began to premiere on September 27, 2019, and [13] on November 7, 2019, a back order of six episodes was announced.[14] On March 14, 2020, production on the fourth season was shut down following the impact of COVID-19, reducing season four from 21 episodes to 20.[15] On May 21, 2020, ABC renewed the series for a fifth season.[3]

Casting

On February 17, 2016, it was announced that Katy Mixon had been cast in the pilot's lead role.[16] In March 2016, it was reported that Carly Hughes, Ali Wong and Diedrich Bader had also joined the pilot's main cast.[17][18][19] On June 27, 2016, it was announced that Meg Donnelly had been cast to replace Johnny Sequoyah in the pilot role of Taylor, oldest daughter of the Katie and Greg characters.[20]

Reception

Critical response

American Housewife has received mixed reviews from television critics, with Katy Mixon's performance being praised as the show's highlight. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 54%, based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "American Housewife is boosted by a strong and enjoyable lead performance by Katy Mixon, yet her performance alone strains to sustain an excessively quirky show that relies too heavily on stereotypes."[21] Metacritic reported a score of 60 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[22] The show is popular on the website Spottedratings.com, whose members frequently praise the Katie character.

Ratings
Viewership and ratings per season of American Housewife
SeasonTimeslot (ET) Episodes First aired Last airedTV seasonViewership
rank		Avg. viewers
(millions)		18–49
rank		Avg. 18–49
rating
Date Viewers
(millions)		 Date Viewers
(millions)
1 Tuesday 8:30 pm23 October 11, 2016 (2016-10-11) 6.61[23] May 16, 2017 (2017-05-16) 4.39[24]2016–17656.21431.8[25]
2 Wednesday 9:30 pm24 September 27, 2017 (2017-09-27) 5.66[26] May 16, 2018 (2018-05-16) 4.15[27]2017–18845.58521.6[28]
3 Wednesday 8:30 pm (1–10)
Tuesday 8:00 pm (11–23)		23 September 26, 2018 (2018-09-26) 4.43[29] May 21, 2019 (2019-05-21) 3.64[30]2018–19875.10601.3[31]
4 Friday 8:00 pm (1–13)
Wednesday 9:30 pm (14–16)
Wednesday 9:00 pm (17–20)		20 September 27, 2019 (2019-09-27) 3.34[32] May 13, 2020 (2020-05-13) 3.04[33]2019–20764.48611.0[34]

Accolades
Year Award Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
2017 People's Choice Awards Favorite New TV Comedy American Housewife Nominated [35]

Norwalk controversy

In November 2017, the episode "Boo-Who?" featured character Taylor Otto dressed up as a "pregnant Norwalk prom girl", poking fun at the city of Norwalk, Connecticut, which borders the show's location of Westport. Before this incident, there were various other episodes in which Norwalk was mocked: The characters refused to swim in a Norwalk swimming pool, acting like the pool water was diseased because of Norwalk people; one of the children took bets on how many of the girlfriends of Norwalk's basketball team would be pregnant post season; and Oliver Otto used a neighbor's Hispanic housekeeper to alter flawed Polo shirts and sell them to Norwalk students, believing that no Westport resident would buy them; Oliver ended up earning a lot of money. This brought condemnation from residents, school officials, and politicians of Norwalk. After a petition calling for the producers to stop "bullying" Norwalk garnered over 500 signatures and received media coverage, a Disney spokesperson released a statement saying "As a comedy, American Housewife isn’t intended to offend anyone. We’ve heard the concerns of the people of Norwalk and have made the decision to omit any mentions of the city from future episodes".[36]

References
  1. Andreeva, Nellie (May 12, 2016). "ABC Picks Up 'Downward Dog' & Sarah Dunn Comedies To Series". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 29, 2016.
  2. Preview for "American Housewife" from YouTube
  3. White, Peter (May 21, 2020). "ABC Renews 13 Series, Including Freshmen 'Stumptown' & 'Mixed-ish', For 2020-21 Season". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  4. Petski, Denise (July 27, 2016). "'American Housewife': Meg Donnelly Added To New ABC Comedy In Recasting". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 9, 2017.
  5. "ABC Orders 'The Second Fattest Housewife In Westport' Comedy Pilot". Deadline. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  6. "ABC Picks Up 'Downward Dog' & Sarah Dunn Comedies To Series". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
  7. Wagmeister, Elizabeth (June 28, 2016). "ABC Sets 2016–17 Fall Premiere Dates for Shondaland Shows, Kiefer Sutherland's Drama & More". Variety. Retrieved June 28, 2016.
  8. Andreeva, Nellie (November 4, 2016). "'American Housewife' Nabs Full-Season Order at ABC, 'The Real O'Neals' Gets 3 More Episodes". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 5, 2016.
  9. Goldberg, Lesley (December 13, 2016). "6 ABC Comedies Score Additional Episode Orders". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 13, 2016.
  10. "'American Housewife' & 'Designated Survivor' Renewed For Season 2 By ABC". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  11. Andreeva, Nellie (May 11, 2018). "'American Housewife' Renewed For Season 3 By ABC". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 11, 2018.
  12. Pedersen, Erik (May 10, 2019). "'American Housewife' Renewed For Season 4 By ABC". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 10, 2019.
  13. Pedersen, Erik (July 2, 2019). "ABC Fall Premiere Dates: 'The Conners', 'Black-ish' & Spinoff, Cobie Smulders' 'Stumptown', Final 'Modern Family' Season & More". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
  14. Andreeva, Nellie (November 7, 2019). "'American Housewife' & 'Bless This Mess' Get Additional Episodes At ABC". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  15. Andreeva, Nellie (March 14, 2020). "'Empire', 'Pose', 'Queen Of the South', 'The Resident' & 'American Housewife' Shut Down Over Coronavirus". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
  16. "Katy Mixon To Play The Lead In 'Second Fattest Housewife In Westport' ABC Pilot". Deadline. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  17. "'A.P.B.': Fox Drama Pilot Casts Taylor Handley; Carly Hughes In ABC's 'Second Fattest Housewife'". Deadline. Retrieved March 1, 2016.
  18. "'Four Stars' CBS Pilot Casts Ashley Zukerman; Ali Wong In ABC's 'Second Fattest Housewife'". Deadline. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  19. "Diedrich Bader To Co-Star In 'The Second Fattest Housewife In Westport' ABC Pilot". Deadline. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  20. "'American Housewife': Meg Donnelly Added To New ABC Comedy In Recasting". Deadline. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  21. "American Housewife: Season 1 (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
  22. "American Housewife: Season 1". Metacritic. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
  23. Porter, Rick (October 12, 2016). "'The Voice,' 'NCIS,' 'Flash' and ABC comedies adjust up, 'No Tomorrow' adjusts down: Tuesday final ratings". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 13, 2016.
  24. Porter, Rick (May 17, 2017). "'NCIS' finale and 'Bull' adjust up, 'The Middle' adjusts down: Tuesday final ratings". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017.
  25. de Moraes, Lisa (May 26, 2017). "Final 2016–17 TV Rankings: 'Sunday Night Football' Winning Streak Continues". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on June 2, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2017.
  26. Porter, Rick (September 28, 2017). "'Survivor' premiere adjusts up: Wednesday final ratings". TV by the Numbers.
  27. Porter, Rick (May 17, 2018). "'Survivor' and 'The Blacklist' finale adjust up: Wednesday final ratings". TV by the Numbers.
  28. de Moraes, Lisa; Hipes, Patrick (May 22, 2018). "2017-18 TV Series Ratings Rankings: NFL Football, 'Big Bang' Top Charts". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on September 24, 2018. Retrieved May 22, 2018.
  29. Welch, Alex (September 27, 2018). "'Chicago Fire' and 'Survivor' adjusts up, 'Star' adjusts down: Wednesday final ratings". TV by the Numbers.
  30. Welch, Alex (May 22, 2019). "'Mental Samurai,' '1969' adjust down: Tuesday final ratings". TV by the Numbers.
  31. de Moraes, Lisa (May 21, 2019). "2018–19 TV Season Ratings: CBS Wraps 11th Season At No. 1 In Total Viewers, NBC Tops Demo; 'Big Bang Theory' Most Watched Series". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on June 5, 2019. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  32. Welch, Alex (September 30, 2019). "'20/20' adjusts up, 'Masters of Illusion,' 'The Big Stage,' and 'Peaking' adjust down: Friday final ratings". TV by the Numbers.
  33. Metcalf, Mitch (May 14, 2020). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Wednesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 5.13.2020". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  34. Porter, Rick (June 4, 2020). "TV Ratings: 7-Day Season Averages for Every 2019-20 Broadcast Series". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 6, 2020. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  35. Hipes, Patrick (November 15, 2016). "People's Choice Awards Nominees 2017 — Full List". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 27, 2017. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  36. Kaitlyn Krasselt (29 November 2017). "Following outcry, "American Housewife" to omit Norwalk from future episodes". The Hour. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.