21st Day of (TV) Christmas: Single Parents
One of our favorite new shows this year has been Single Parents. We're not ashamed to admit that we started watching this show for Leighton Meester (CT) and Taran Killam (Little C). We didn't expect to fall deep in sitcom-y love with that cast of kids and Brad Garrett as every rich white dude stereotype possible. We absolutely love this show and it's just good timing that they had a holiday episode last week!
One of the things we love about this show is that it tends to tackle some of the stickier situations that come up when you have a split family with a shocking amount of charm and grace. One of the plotlines in this episode is about Will (Taran Killam) dealing with his absentee ex and co-parent. His character is an amazing, thoughtful parent who usually knocks gifts out of the park. We find out in this episode that he's let his daughter think that every year a "magic box" arrives from her mother with the most fantastic gifts while his gifts are lame. It feels immediately out of character and I was expecting this to be a quirky shift in his character for the sake of a joke.
But I underestimated the show. Instead, Will is secretly swapping the un-personal gifts that his daughter's mom sends each year with his own and letting his ex get the credit for being amazing. I thought this was such a tender idea. Rather than simplifying things into making his ex a villain while he gets to be awesome, Will wants his daughter to think that her mom is amazing. Maybe it's not right for him to lie to his daughter, and I think that the show will tackle that at some point, but in the moment it's a sweet act of selflessness. And it's so rare for sitcoms to let a situation like this be complicated and messy and not wrapped in a tidy bow that I genuinely loved the writing here.
The other plot line in the episode that gave us big feels is that Poppy's son is away with his father for the holidays, and she's struggling with being without him for Christmas. Douglas tries to cheer her up by having her spend the holidays with him and his twins (who we are 1000% obsessed with). They land at Douglas' country club for a (and I'm not joking here) Christmas fight-club. But again, the show doesn't let the comedy of the situation totally solve Poppy's sadness. We get to see how difficult things still are for her, and as a child of divorce it was kind of nice to see it not wrapped up so easily in a show.
The episode wraps up in the four families spending Christmas morning together. Honestly, I have such a weak spot for stories about found families, and this show does me in with the way these single parents have banded together to create a community. Maybe we're getting close enough to Christmas that I'm having all the warm feelings but the end of the episode gave me all the feelings. And seriously, these kids are SO CUTE.
Happy watching!
CT
PS- As you read this, we're heading home to the far frozen North for the holidays. We're still planning on posting the rest of our episodes, and as always we'll have our yearly Top Ten waiting for you at New Years. We hope you're all having a wonderful holiday season!
One of the things we love about this show is that it tends to tackle some of the stickier situations that come up when you have a split family with a shocking amount of charm and grace. One of the plotlines in this episode is about Will (Taran Killam) dealing with his absentee ex and co-parent. His character is an amazing, thoughtful parent who usually knocks gifts out of the park. We find out in this episode that he's let his daughter think that every year a "magic box" arrives from her mother with the most fantastic gifts while his gifts are lame. It feels immediately out of character and I was expecting this to be a quirky shift in his character for the sake of a joke.
But I underestimated the show. Instead, Will is secretly swapping the un-personal gifts that his daughter's mom sends each year with his own and letting his ex get the credit for being amazing. I thought this was such a tender idea. Rather than simplifying things into making his ex a villain while he gets to be awesome, Will wants his daughter to think that her mom is amazing. Maybe it's not right for him to lie to his daughter, and I think that the show will tackle that at some point, but in the moment it's a sweet act of selflessness. And it's so rare for sitcoms to let a situation like this be complicated and messy and not wrapped in a tidy bow that I genuinely loved the writing here.
The other plot line in the episode that gave us big feels is that Poppy's son is away with his father for the holidays, and she's struggling with being without him for Christmas. Douglas tries to cheer her up by having her spend the holidays with him and his twins (who we are 1000% obsessed with). They land at Douglas' country club for a (and I'm not joking here) Christmas fight-club. But again, the show doesn't let the comedy of the situation totally solve Poppy's sadness. We get to see how difficult things still are for her, and as a child of divorce it was kind of nice to see it not wrapped up so easily in a show.
The episode wraps up in the four families spending Christmas morning together. Honestly, I have such a weak spot for stories about found families, and this show does me in with the way these single parents have banded together to create a community. Maybe we're getting close enough to Christmas that I'm having all the warm feelings but the end of the episode gave me all the feelings. And seriously, these kids are SO CUTE.
Happy watching!
CT
PS- As you read this, we're heading home to the far frozen North for the holidays. We're still planning on posting the rest of our episodes, and as always we'll have our yearly Top Ten waiting for you at New Years. We hope you're all having a wonderful holiday season!
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