I'm very confident in saying that I Hate My Teenage Daughter, Fox's new live-action multi-camera comedy, is not very good. And it's a shame, because the talents of Jaime Pressly, an Emmy nominee winner for her work on My Name is Earl, are being supremely wasted.
The show's premise is fairly interesting: Two moms who were unpopular in high school and who were picked on by the popular kids are raising two daughters who epitomize everything they hated about the cool kids who stuffed them in lockers and ran their underwear up flagpoles. But Wednesday's pilot squandered the potentially funny idea with terrible jokes and comedic timing as punctual as a deadbeat dad who went out for cigarettes ten years ago.
It seems that I Hate My Teenage Daughter is trying to be both a family comedy and a raunchy, silly female-centric comedy in the vein of Absolutely Fabulous—but its debut thudded into the dead zone between those two things. If it ultimately veers in either direction, it might work; right now, there's too much grating screaming and cold-hearted snarkiness for it to be family-oriented (no one on this show likes each other, not even a little bit), and the two main moms Annie and Nikki (Pressly and Katie Finneran) aren't likable enough to make their deplorable, pathetic behavior charming. This show is just plain mean, guys, and when it's time to make a joke it does stupid things like cut to Nikki with pie all over her face.
I Hate My Teenage Daughter likely won't last too long, and I don't think anyone will put up a fight to save it. In my book, it's a contender for "worst new comedy of the season."
Notes:
– How depressing was it to see Chad Coleman, who played Cutty on HBO's The Wire, in an argyle sweater regurgitating jokes as funny as the Baltimore projects?
– Setting up the main character's love interest to be her ex-husband's brother isn't sexy, it's gross.
– Is it just me or did the episode just... end? So the daughters actually are complete nightmares, and their moms got them back by dancing crazily to at the daughters' school dance? This is Disney-Channel-level humor.
What did you think of the premiere? Will you return for Episode 2?
Follow TV.com writer Tim Surette on Twitter: @TimAtTVDotCom
I kind of like it. I enjoy the fact that they hate their daughters openly. They are human beings that can be offended by people no matter how much they love them and still resent that offence.
The other thing the show does well is remembering the past of the two main characters. I'm about to get thirty and when I talk with the few friends I have, we tend to remember things about high school quite a bit.
It is not the best show on the planet but it is cynical and I like cynicism.
High school made me cynic
I'm a teenager and I found this show to be hilarious, so stop trying to hate it. Granted, the pilot could've been better, but the 2nd episode really improved. And the fact that Jaime is in should be enough reason to give this show a second chance.
Jaime Pressly deserves a quality show, she's one of the most talented comedians out there.
I saw this, and I thought it was bad, really, really bad, I wonder what they were thinking when they greenlit this...actually, I don't think they were thinking!
Problems I had: 1. Chemistry; 2. Timing; 3. Jokes; 4. Characters. I guess there wasn't much I cared for. Who believes Joy (Jamie Presley, My Name is Earl) was a coddled, sheltered Jesus freak?
i think the biggest problem with this show is its airing in the wrong decade. like this show could;ve been funny ten years ago or in the 90s, but bullying is a really hot-button issue right now and a show where you;re suppsed to laugh at two bullies and their mothers who are afraid of them is gonna piss a lot of people off
Not the best show but I laughed a couple of times. That's couple of times more than after watching New Girl's and Up all night's pilots and those seems to be enjoyed by most people. For the time I'll keep on watching it...
And to answer the question on the bottom, I will watch episode 2 and every future episode, how ever many that maybe, because I love Jamie and I think she's great, and even if the show isn't that great, I enjoy seeing her on tv again.
I loved Jamie and Nikki and there characters, they both made me laugh, but there charm doesn't overshadow the flaws. Like the daughters are TOO mean, theirs funny mean, and that mean that just leaves you feeling uncomfortable, and the daughters are that second kind. Annie(Jamie Pressly)'s ex-husband, is an annoying cliche of every deadbeat dad on tv, and Nikki(Katie Finneran)'s ex is barely 1 dimensional. Also Annie's ex's brother. Annie hates him, then has a crush on him??? Plus, he wasn't memorable. I don't even know his name!
Please please PLEASE check out the website www.theretheyretheir.com before posting any more comments.
Thank you.
I liked the dad characters, kinda reminded me of two Al Bundies in their own way, but the mothers were unredeemable not even Jaime Pressly was likable. I hope this one doesn't last too long/gets better fast.
It took me exactly 40 seconds to hate the 4 main characters in this show. Thats definetly a new record in how fast i've hated a show. Obviously i'm not gonna watch this again, and i do hope it gets cancelled and every copy of it that exist gets deleted or burned, preferably both.
I've been waiting for this to be talked about here. YAY! When I saw the promo in May, I was willing to watch, heck I even laughed... But after watching the pilot, I HATE it. The first five minutes is kind of funny, but the jokes get old real fast when you realize that the mothers are losers. They get crapped on sooo much, from so many different directions (the evil daughters, the ex-husbands, and even the principal they went to high school with), that you really just don't want to laugh anymore. It really goes past them being pathetic and having pity on them, to where I would slap them for being such losers and taking all that crap. I'm very disappointed. The only thing good I can say about the show is Katie Finneran has really pretty hair.moreless
I think pretty much everyone hated it. God I just love Tim, he's so funny and charming.
The teenage girls were irritating but this show is watchable because of the lovely Jaime Pressly, she was great.
I am trying to like it because of Jamie Presley but the writers don't make it easy.
Couldn't watch it, I turned it off after 10 minutes I think
Where was the promotion for this show. I had no clue it was even on, and I scour the tv section of my paper every day!
it was horrible
by the way, i did like the "i didn't eat my cat" comments
it had some funny moments but all in all it was pretty meh!
I was going to attempt to watch it, but I can't think I could stand seeing Cutty as not-Cutty.
i liked it my opinion might not mean much because im easy to please and i dont think to deep into a show or movie i wasnt really excepting much anyway its a show about women who hate their daughters.i cant say whether the humor is disney level or not though as i dont watch the disney channel but i could see this growing into a descent show
It wasn't that bad- parts of the pilot were funny - maybe it'll be more consistent in future episodes
I kind of liked it.
I kinda hated it too even though Jaime Pressly was in it
I like Jaime Pressly, but that's not enough to overcome the suck of this show. I was all set to never ever watch this again until I read the comments below about comedy pilots. So, ok, I'll give it one more chance. I think. If I can bring myself to do it next week. But if it sucks again, there will be no 4 or even 3 episode test for me. I like myself too much.
What's with all the effing spammers posting on the boards?
What passes for "comedy" these days is ridiculous. I can't believe almost 7 million viewers tuned in even though it did premiere after The X Factor. The unfunny trailers + the lame title should have given people reason enough to stay far away from this.
Most first episodes get a lot of viewers simply to check it out. I did for that reason, as I rarely saw commercials for it and knew little about it. The only thing I liked was Pressley's little running gag of not having heard of classic TV shows.
I know viewers like to sample, but this show doesn't have a prayer.
There isn't many pilots I've decided to watch but didn't finish. I Hate My Teenage Daughter has joined this ignominious list.
i wouldnt say i hated it. i agree it made me cringe at some parts, like that they foreshadowed she;ll going to date her ex's brother (why?!?!) but i love jaime pressly so i;ll watch it agai next week
I'm going to give it a chance because I really like Jaime Pressly. Sure the first episode wasn't that great but maybe it will get better. But. come to think of it, last time I said that it was for Terra Nova...
Anyway I'm going to watch a few more episodes before I decide.
This show isn't any worse or better than 2 Broke Girls or Whitney. In fact, it'd be a hit on CBS if it were on there. But then again, 2 Broke Girls and Whitney are garbage and they got full-season pickups, so what do I know?
It sucked big time
What he said!
Halfway through watching this pilot, I actually found a whole new appreciation for Whitney . . . . Okay, that's not true, but this show really isn't very good. Even the laugh track felt forced.
I watched the first few minutes of the pilot episode online today - my opinion is totally different: This show is HILARIOUS!! My favorite part was when Annie said, "No, it was fabulous. And you know what made it even better? My mom was a religious nutbag who insisted on making all my clothes cause she felt The GAP was The Devil's Workshop, so I went to school everyday dressed like a Sister Wife". DO Not try to slam I Hate My Teenage Daughter - it's great!!
and you think this is funny? hmm, OK then, sorry to hear that..
I couldn't even get through the first few minutes. Not even Whitney made me give up that fast. DO NOT try and defend I Hate My Teenage Daughter - it's terrible!
First of all, that joke is horrendous. And judging by all the other critical comments (some definitely harsher than mine), I'm not alone in disliking this pilot. So why you felt the need to respond to mine kind of baffles me.
I didn't even laugh at the preview, the funniest parts of the show to make me want to watch it, and I didn't want to watch it.
What can you do? Sometimes the trolls go out looking for a fight. :/
Surprise?