Better Things

Better Things is one of the messiest portrayals of motherhood on television today--which pretty much makes it the most real.

Atlanta and Better Things take C.K.’s refinements to a new level, merge them with worldviews that you rarely see represented on TV, and tell their stories with such economy and grace that you might feel as if a new language were being worked out before your eyes.

Adlon has more than earned her time in the spotlight, and her voice is what makes Better Things fresh, vibrant and real. Next to the rest of fall’s crowded lineup of new TV, it’s unlikely you’ll find a show as refreshing, nuanced and confidant, nor will you witness a talent as consistently sharp as Adlon herself.

She’s a terrific and effortlessly funny actress who establishes vivid characters with vivid lives. But Sam Fox obviously required a bigger reach, and Adlon accomplishes that here.

Divorced Sam Fox (Pamela Adlon) fights most of her battles on the domestic front in FX’s wonderfully biting Better Things.

The show has a keen, charming grasp of the way parent-child relationships can sometimes fluctuate between screaming and hugging with no transition in between, and some of the most effective Better Things moments are brief cutaways to quiet times amidst the fighting, or vice versa.

Aldon is a hoot. Her character Sam is rough around the edges, which makes her extremely relatable. The series hits its stride in episode two when Sam speaks at her middle daughter’s school about female empowerment.

Better Things is its own beguiling blend of sitcom moments and true-to-life frustration.

Better Things is one of the best new comedies this year.

Adlon’s performance is so good, you get--and want--her in nearly every scene, just to see how she’s going to react: to this kid’s temper tantrum, to that rude producer’s snarky comment. It’s a star vehicle that feels like it’s introducing you to an entire family--and an entire universe you want to inhabit.

Better Things isn’t merely adding a foul-mouthed maternal entry to the Bad [Insert Title Here] franchise. Sam and her kids are flawed, but that just means they line up more closely with actual human beings. Adlon might be best known for her voice, but in Better Things, she puts a face on a real mom.

Whether it’s turning its squinty eye on soccer practice or sexting or how to handle your best friend’s useless stoner husband, that real-lifeness, in all its weird, mundane, un-laugh-tracked glory, is the best thing about Better Things.

Better Things isn't groundbreaking when judged merely as a single-mom sitcom, but it finds its freshness in how Adlon examines it in her personal world; the stories and struggles are familiar even though they are contained within a world most people aren't part of, and she makes whatever daily struggles she faces with her family relatable.

The purity of feeling in Better Things weaves their stories together in such a way that feels warm and real. Yet many of the most successful moments within the five preview episodes made available to critics stem from Sam’s professional and personal lives crashing into one another.

Everything here feels lived in and actual.

It’s all remarkably winning and insightful, once you let go of the network-bred expectation of high-concept story lines. Adlon is a powerhouse lead.

Better Things may not seem all that original, but it makes up for it with sharp pangs of family intimacy.

Better Things is as endearing, and as irrepressible, as Adlon herself.

A traditionally funnier show, a distaff Louie. ... Adlon's sardonic sensibility is perfectly suited to a show that preaches female empowerment while delivering a blunt reality check. [5-18 Sep 2016, p.22]

Where “Louie” is frequently taken by flights of fancy and an inexhaustible curiosity about why the world is what it is, “Better Things” is, so far, more focused on the Fox family’s daily grind. The world is full of puzzles, but Sam and her daughters largely leave others to the solving.

The cumulative charm of this exhilarating comedy is owed to the no-bullshit demeanor has both carefully constructed over the years and yet seems to be always poking a sharp stick at.

In spite of how familiar the setup seems to be, the series is much better than that.

The low-key, observational style of the humor in Better Things may leave you restless, and there are moments when the show veers into cuteness or sentimentality. But the show’s real payoffs have less to do with laughs than with aching recognition of the single mother’s plight.

It's a particular kind of wry, quiet, slightly depressing in its self-deprecation style of humor that won't be to every viewer's liking.

The series is ambitious, unafraid to take on hot topics, but it doesn't let discussions of those issues unravel organically. Some themes are evoked suddenly and then quickly abandoned.

The sometimes clichéd showbiz material isn’t as effective as the family dynamics.

The show isn’t entirely its own beast yet. It’s got parts from the likes of Louie and even The New Adventures of Old Christine, and Adlon has enough prickly charm to make headway into a more uncharted path down the line, but right now it feels simply adequate.

The set-ups in the first few episodes often feel forced, and my hope is that the show does away with them almost entirely. Better Things is at its best when it’s just Adlon and her daughters talking, not when mom is being forced to give a motivational speech.

Of the handful of episodes I watched, the pilot tonight, written by Adlon and directed by C.K., is the strongest. Subsequent episodes meander.