Television Tuesday: Any Show With Kaitlin Olson is Bound to be Good

Give Kaitlin Olson her metaphorical flowers, damn it. For real, the woman is hilarious in any comedic role she tackles yet the recognition she receives from others seems criminally minimal. Those of us, "In the know," about how amazing she is on, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," have adored her work for years, as do those who remember the sadly-canceled-too-soon, "The Mick." That said, Olson has been in lots of stuff and is currently killing it on, "Hacks," which I really need to watch based on all the recommendations I've gotten about it. At least Manuel Betancourt over at the AV Club has a piece about how, "Kaitlin Olson is the queen of chaotic comedy." I could not agree more with that assessment. I encourage everyone to watch a television show starring or to some degree featuring Kaitlin Olson, you're going to have fun.

Television Tuesday: All These Reboots/Retools and My Favorite Cancelled Show Remains Ignored. Bring Back, "The Mick," You Cowards!

We are in an era where shows are getting rebooted/restarted at a dizzying pace. Some of these shows are great and some are getting really bad reviews. We've got older shows in the form of, "Night Court," somewhat recent programs like, "That 90's Show," retooling of the 70's iteration, and there is, "Velma," which is a really different take on, "Scooby-Doo," without Scooby-Doo (reception to it has been mixed). All of those just came out in January with plenty of rebooted/retooled shows happening in 2022 and even more on the way for 2023. "Frasier," is coming back, there is going to be a, "Zoey 102," and I just sit here enraged one show that ended up canceled is sitting ignored. Bring back, "The Mick," you cowards!

I just don't get it. We've got ,"Bel-Air," "Fraggle Rock," Karate Kid movies became a beloved series with, "Cobra Kai," not to mention, "Sex and City," which returned with new seasons after some flicks. "Quantum Leap," got a reboot, "Proud Family," came back, and "The Mick" just gathers dust. I loved it from the start and throughout its two amazingly dark and hilarious seasons. Kaitlin Olson's take on the titular character was a hoot and the supporting cast cracked me up as well. Mick was a sleazy troublemaker put in charge of raising some rich relatives after her sister fled a Federal indictment, but things just got stranger and weirder throughout the show. I miss it hope with basically all the shows these days coming back it will eventually get its time in the sun again.

Television Tuesday: At Least ABC Didn't Cancel Two of My Favorite Shows

Usually around the time Summer hits television and cable networks announces which shows are getting renewed or unceremoniously kicked to the curb. I am happy that two shows I love and which both happen to be on ABC survived the, "Bloodbath," this year. They are my much-beloved, "American Housewife," which will be getting a fourth season and the new series, "Single Parents," which I thought started with some strong potential and now can confirm has only has gotten to be stellar over this first season.

Considering that, "American Housewife," was one of my favorite T.V. shows of 2018 and, "Single Parents," has an incredible cast that makes me laugh often, I'm extremely thankful with all the cancellations going on they get at least another year to delight everyone. I don't have to mourn these shows as I still do to this day for, "The Mick," which was genius and didn't deserve to be axed by Fox. Seriously, that still stings a year later.

Television Tuesday: The Mick

I just recently did a brief, "Television Tuesday," post about the then-imminent return of, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," a show which shares a lot of linkages with, "The Mick." From some of the same creative team to the most obvious unifying feature--Kaitlin Olson as a main character--"The Mick," isn't quite as mean-spirited as, "Sunny," but has enough of an edge to it that I'm already endeared to the darn series a scant four episodes in.

The overall concept is deceptively simple--Aunt Mickey is forced to take care of her rich sister's children after she and her husband flee the country on a tax-evasion charge. Mickey makes friends with the housekeeper Alba, her kinda-boyfriend Jimmy moves in, the kids have mixed feelings about her, hi-jinks ensue. The thing that makes this work so well however is just how utterly insane the show has already been, brandishing some surprisingly limit-pushing humor. From raunchy sex-jokes, to Mickey's fondness for drugging people, to a Grandma that slapped the Hell out of mouthy teen, to a child accidentally swallowing what might be a heroin balloon, all of these people are sometimes pretty abhorrent, and the show (unlike other sitcoms) isn't afraid to let them behave badly yet not be, "Bad," guys or gals.

This brings us to the thing about, "The Mick," that is most different from, "Sunny," which is that you don't hate all the characters. The reason for this is because at their heart many of them are good people--whereas with, "Sunny," everyone is basically rotten to their core (or in Charlie's case, a dangerously demented savant). That hint of sweetness in, "The Mick," is probably what will help make it palatable for a general audience as this baby is on network television--Fox. Plus, Kaitlin Olson is fantastic as Mickey and unlike the perpetually trying-too-hard Dee on, "Sunny," Mickey doesn't give a shit about almost anything and that lackadaisical nature makes for many guffaws.

Then again, the surprisingly brutal humor that does appear with bits of, "Oh my God, how did they get away with that in prime-time?" moments may make this dish just a bit too harsh for mainstream viewers (and if you think I'm being hard on most prime-time network viewers considering my guilty pleasure of reality-television on cable, shut-up, I'm a hypocrite and I love it). Oh, plus the fact that the show keeps getting shuffled around so much I would miss it without a handy DVR doesn't help matters--you gotta let a show sit in its time-slot and garner a following instead of constantly moving it around. Seriously, the first episode premiered on a Sunday, followed by its regular episode the following Tuesday. Then a week later there was an episode (so last Tuesday) and then we had the fourth serving this most recent Sunday. What the Hell, Fox?

"The Mick," is as ingenious in its construction as its kinda-sorta sibling, "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." However, "The Mick," is clearly a different beast in that we don't despise the cast, we actually kind of root for them. This allows, "The Mick," to already be a show I love as much as, "Sunny," yet also ca consider wonderfully unique. Basically, what I'm trying to say is that if you can figure out when the damn show is on, you should watch, "The Mick," for sure, because its awesome, and as I said, it's on network television so you don't even need cable to check it out. Viewit, love it, and then thank me (if you want).
5 out of 5 stars (for the overall four episodes so far).