- Network: ABC
- Series Premiere Date: Sep 24, 2013
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Critic Reviews
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Akerman has to be everything. Good thing she's a nimble actress.... Whitford is always winning, and even the poor exes find wiggle room inside their cliches.
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In its pilot form, at least, Trophy Wife is surprisingly self-assured and confident, the sort of show that seems ready to hit its stride in just a week or two.
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Trophy Wife is charming and buoyant, and it has fun with tasks that feel like homework on many other new shows: It creates specific characters, establishes a consistent tone and sets up a host of relationships that are full of potential.
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Trophy Wife is nominally about a marriage, but if its very polished and sure-handed pilot is any indication, it is just as focused on Kate’s dynamic with Pete’s ex-wives.
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A pilot that was better than it sounded on paper (though I'm not sure there isn't more funny chemistry between Marcia Gay Harden--who plays Wife No. 1--and Akerman than there is between Whitford and Akerman).
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The charming pilot swerves quickly from the expected Bravo-reality-show-catfight scenario and becomes something more complicated and rewarding: a good-hearted comedy about an extended family (including Pete’s two ex-wives) figuring out how to make itself work on the fly.
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Akerman has wit and style, and so does the show.
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The unfortunate title is a disservice to this show's main character.... Luckily, the second episode makes Kate sympathetic, as she tries (and fails) to put her stepson (Albert Tsai) to bed. Akerman has nice, playful chemistry with Tsai, who shows good comic timing even though he's only 9.
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While Trophy Wife is an often-amusing comedy, it doesn't entirely work as a family comedy, because it has yet to convince us that these people could ever be part of the same family.
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Trophy Wife is the only new sitcom [this fall] that clears the double hurdles of cast chemistry and story pacing in the pilot episode.
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Buried beneath the frenzied, too-eager-to-please surface is a comedy that, at its best, evokes the colorful bustle of Malcolm in the Middle and the worn-down wisdom of Men of a Certain Age. There's life in it.
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Akerman is perfect for the role.... Whitford is low-key and wry, and Harden makes a great heavy. She uses her silky voice and her stiff posture to torment Kate, making even stock material fly.
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Grounded in parental reality, it's funny and promises to be funnier. The characters, though presented in very broad strokes, have lots of room for shading.
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The pilot is enjoyable, but it's hard to know where it's heading.
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Executive producers Haskins and Emily Halpern are sharp and the lines are funny and maybe, just maybe, there’s a show here.
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I don't love the pilot, but the raw material's there for a very good comedy.
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It’s not nearly in [Modern Family's] league, though--at least not now and likely not ever. Still, Akerman is reason enough to buy in for at least a few episodes.
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Trophy Wife is no prize--the pilot is swamped with exposition recited in the girlishly thin voice of star Malin Akerman--yet there's enough of a comedic brain and cast at work here that some additional polishing might do the trick. [30 Sep 2013, p.49]
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The Trophy Wife characters are well developed and the actors very natural in their roles. The kids are brilliant--particularly Tsai.
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The pilot is solid but 22 minutes with this kind of cast and concept barely leaves any room to decipher whether or not you want to spend one night a week with these people.
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With its title and premise, Trophy Wife is not an immediately likable show but some of the jokes land well and the kid characters are fun.
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The problem isn’t the characters, though they can feel a little stilted. The problem is that we don’t believe the whole situation.
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Despite promising elements, there simply isn’t a lot in this premise that demands a second date, much less a longterm commitment.
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Akerman and Whitford have zero chemistry, and it doesn’t help that she looks young enough to be his daughter.
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Even if you swallow all of Trophy Wife's absurd contrivances, you won't be laughing very much.
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The show obviously has a great cast, but they’re badly used.... These are not people you want to spend 22 minutes with every Tuesday night.
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Trophy Wife is forced-frivolity mush.
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There’s some notable talent here. But they’re wasted to such a drastic degree on such stale character writing that I doubt it can be turned around.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 31 out of 46
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Mixed: 12 out of 46
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Negative: 3 out of 46
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Jun 3, 2014
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Jan 2, 2014
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Oct 27, 2013