Cannes Film Festival 2013

Review: 'Suburgatory' - 'How to Be a Baby': I was maid to love you

Noah becomes obsessed with Carmen, Tessa helps Jill and Dahlia gets Mr. Wolf a makeover

<p>Rex Lee and Carly Chaikin in "Suburgatory."</p>

Rex Lee and Carly Chaikin in "Suburgatory."

Credit: ABC

A quick review of last night's "Suburgatory" coming up just as soon as I write to your AOL address...

Somewhere along the way in season 2, "Suburgatory" went from a show I tried to write about every week to one where I let the episodes pile up on my DVR while I focus on other things. I think there have been some miscalculations in this season — notably in the George/Dallas relationship and the impact it's had on the structure of the show — but mostly it just feels like "Suburgatory" is what it is, and that it will occasionally knock an episode like "The Wishbone" or "Chinese Chicken" out of the park, but will for the most part be a stew of mismatched ingredients, some of them working much better than others.

Fienberg and I discussed the show a bit on this week's podcast, and one of the issues we've both had with the season is the way that George/Dallas has not only stripped away most of Dallas' likable qualities from the first season (the diva-to-sensible ratio is way out of whack), but has really minimized the number of George/Tessa scenes, when that relationship should always be the heart of the show. "How to Be a Baby" wasn't a great episode — it would be hard to be, when focusing so much on Noah and Jill, even though Noah is just silly and Jill is briefly humanized at the end — but at least it offered up that scene in the middle where father and daughter sat at the table and talked about what was going on in Tessa's life. More of that, please.

Beyond that, the only memorable part of "How to Be a Baby" was Dahlia's dry cry, which was another example (like her "Send in the Clowns" at Marty's memorial) of Carly Chaikin taking a joke that could have really gone anywhere and doing something really original and creepy and hilarious with it. Dalia's been backgrounded a bit this season with the ascendance of Ryan Shay, but I think she probably works better in small doses anyway, and often winds up delivering the biggest laugh of each episode.

What did everybody else think, both of last night's episode and of where the show stands creatively late in season 2?

Alan-sepinwall-sm
Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching
Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

Comments

  • Option 1

    Comment instantly as a guest Guest
  • Option 2

    Connect
  • Option 3

    Login or create a HitFix account Login Signup
  • Default-avatar

    Jim D

    This show could be great but it just seems off most of the time. It can't decide if it wants to be sly satire, over-the-top craziness or a sopa opera.

    March 7, 2013 at 10:40AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    RockfordColumbo

    I agree that Dallas has been irritating. However, the show has stayed funny. The goofiness helps and Dahlia steals every scene.

    March 7, 2013 at 10:54AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Lorisavatar_talkback_profile

    scoopie77

    You didn't even mention Noah and Carmen in the shower. I thought that was a fun send-up of every romantic comedy anywhere. Of course it was totally insane that Noah loved the nanny anyway...but he did have to stand on the toilet, so there's that.

    This show is so great when it's great and just infuriating when it's not. I agree what you said on the podcast. We all expected it to be great, but maybe it's just a good show or a decent one after all.

    March 7, 2013 at 10:58AM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      franimaljones It was a great scene but I hated the bad editing with the suddenly dry shirt and hair after walking out of the shower, CUT! BREAK! - then talking to each other.

      March 8, 2013 at 6:56PM EST
    • Default-avatar

      Joseph I'm fairly certain the suddenly dry hair and clothes was part of the joke.

      March 11, 2013 at 11:59AM EST
  • Default-avatar

    M

    I felt like last night's storyline with Dahlia and Mr. Wolfe was building to something that we never really got to see. I wonder if something got left on the cutting room floor or it was just really that under written.

    March 7, 2013 at 11:51AM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      JB There was a brief scene at the end with Mr. Wolfe and the hairdresser enjoying sushi while Mr. Wolfe's ex looked on in tears. So the new hair worked!

      March 7, 2013 at 1:48PM EST
  • Madmen_icon_talkback_profile

    LJA

    Suburgatory is purely hit and miss for me. I prefer episodes with the Shays and without Noah and family. Can't stand Dallas or Dahlia, although Dahlia coaching Lloyd on how to get his groove back wasn't a bad use for her, however, I found the dry cry irritating in the extreme and the opposite of funny. Sadly, though, I don't ever recommend this show to friends, and I wish I could. It's way too inconsistent.

    March 7, 2013 at 2:32PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      Matt I totally agree about the cry. This episode was annoying me and my wife, but at this point, it was too much and we had to turn it off. Just horrible.

      March 12, 2013 at 9:52AM EST
  • Annie8bit_talkback_profile

    Stormshadow4life

    Haven't watched this ep yet....but as a whole, I haven't enjoyed this season as much as last year. I can't even pinpoint it...it's just not making me laugh as much.

    March 7, 2013 at 3:47PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Jeff

    A few days ago I sat down and started thinking about the sitcoms/comedies I watch. I piled them up into different categories. Shows I love and watch on the same night (Cougar town, Parks and Rec, Archer and Community). Those that I watch out of habit even if it makes me cringe(HIMYM, Girls). And the shows that I like but let them pile up on the DVR and watch when I have nothing else to do (Raising Hope, Go On, Suburgatory). I realized that Suburgatory is BARELY on that last list and that at some point it became a chore to watch.

    While great shows improve in the second season, this one has gotten worse and I don't see it improving anytime soon. It depends on ridiculous and cartoonish (albeit entertaining) characters to be funny and those tend to be the same characters whose charms wear off in later seasons (Kenneth on 30 Rock or Dwight from the office for example). This is what has happened to Dallas, this is what is happening with Ryan and this is what's gonne happen with Dalia. I like Tessa, I like George, I like Lisa and I like Malik(underused)... but I''m indifferent to the rest of the cast and unfortunately the other characters receive as much screen time as the ones I do like.

    I know I'll never love this show, but it's failing in making me like it and they're on the verge of losing a viewer that has watched from the very beginning. It sucks too because Jeremy Sisto and Jane Levy are great in it.

    March 7, 2013 at 7:11PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Ken Raining

    Well, I gave up a few weeks ago. I gave them one more chance, with the Chinese Chicken episode after I'd head such good things about it, but even that left me mostly cold. I couldn't remember the last time the show had really made me laugh, but I could remember several eye rolls, so that was it.

    March 7, 2013 at 8:45PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Satan_is_real_talkback_profile

    erika_herzog

    the dry cry was great... Carly Chaiken is like Molly Tarlov from AWKWARD. i always want more.

    the show has sort of devolved, yes, and doesn't quite seem as fun as it once was. but i'd rather see this than lots of other stuff on TV. and Jane Levy and Cheryl Hines and Jeremy Sisto are actors i always enjoy so....

    March 7, 2013 at 9:27PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    S

    I think this show spends too much time on the secondary and tertiary characters that most stories don't amount to much. And the problem with those secondary and tertiary characters is that they are such cartoons that there is very little substance. Do we really need a story dedicated to Mr. Wolfe on top of a story between Noah and Carmen? George is basically just an outside character.

    March 7, 2013 at 10:36PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Kmarko

    What kills me about this show is that if it just took George & Tessa and started from there, it could be great. There are some cartoony aspects I like--Ryan saying, "I think we both know the answer to that" last week when Tessa asked if he had done something stupid was great--but way too much I don't like and overall just too much of it.

    Is it too late to ratchet down the cartoon stuff? Has a show ever made a significant change this late in the game for the better? I dunno.

    March 8, 2013 at 9:40AM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      Critic Levy's talent is wasted too often on the show

      March 8, 2013 at 2:42PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    franimaljones

    More Dahlia! I love when her offhanded humanity comes up via vengeance or victory. I think George is kind of boring so I like more Dallas and Tessa, but less him. And the Sheas make me smile.

    March 8, 2013 at 6:55PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    ed w

    Everything with the principal, not just in this episode, falls flat. Lately I sometimes end up fastforwarding through his scenes. And I'm not a fan of how Tessa is becoming more at home, and sometimes even popular, in the school. She was better as the alienated outsider/newcomer.

    But Tudyk and Chaikin keep me from giving up on this series.

    March 11, 2013 at 3:57PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Starboots

    I really wanted to see what you thought about Dahlia in this week's episode!

    April 5, 2013 at 6:37PM EST Reply to Comment

Get Instant Alerts on What's Alan Watching

Latest Posts
More Posts
Recent Activity on Facebook
Most Popular on Facebook
Top Stories From Around the Web