The first episode of the ABC sitcom Home economics it’s just an extension of the two and a half minutes tow, which focuses on the connection between the three Hayworth brothers, despite belonging to each different financial stratum. Co-created by Michael Colton and John Aboud, the show clearly seeks to build on the well-established brand of the pleasant family comedy network. The basic premise settles in quickly (in a voiceover, no less): Tom is a struggling middle-class author, Sarah is broken after losing her job as a risk counseling student, and Connor is a rich and dirty type of finance that just bought Matt Damonextravagant house. Home economics they focus on how they overcome this disparity of wealth and stay close. The sitcom doesn’t offer much depth or nuance beyond its family’s ethos of money, at least not from the start – instead, it tries to shed light on a well-chosen cast and their chemistry.
Topher Grace, who is also an executive producer, returns to the small screen as Tom Hayworth, also the narrator of the series. Tom secretly uses his extended family adventures as the basis for a new book after the previous one – which was about a prison baseball team in 1906 and had no women in it – he sold five copies. The cast, which includes Caitlin McGee, Jimmy Tatro, Karla Souza and Sasheer Zamata, is strong. There is a slight vibration in all their interactions, but writing and storytelling give them a rudimentary characterization. Delightful humor tries to fill the void left by Modern family, which ended in 2020 after 11 seasons, but still does not offer anything new to the genre.
The episode begins as Connor moves back to Seattle’s San Francisco and invites his family to his newly purchased luxury mansion. Both Tom and Sarah figure out how to ask their younger, richest brother for a loan, receiving encouragement from their husbands to do so. After exploring the many rooms in his new home, they all struggle when Connor reveals that he is taking his parents to Turks and Caicos Day for Thanksgiving instead of doing their usual business. This reveals all their personal problems, as Tom and Sarah reveal that they need financial help, and Connor admits that he is divorcing and has moved back so that he can be around his loved ones again. The brothers put on make-up and then enjoy the fact that they all go through different problems together, not just by themselves, and the whole family flies on the road in Connor’s mini-cars in a well-connected ending.
If Home economics succeeds, it is because of the remarkable distribution. McGee and Grace do a good job, but Tatro is the one who stands out, pursuing his credible high school performance in 2017 American vandal with the significantly different role of a single rich father. The show aims at a more contemporary approach to mixed families, as seen on ABC, from The Brady Bunch, Full house, and My wife and children to more recent comedies such as Fresh Off The Boat, middle, and Modern family. This one he has a strange couple in Sarah (McGee) and Denise (Zamata) and apparently wants to look at how income inequality leads to real hardships for them, as well as for Tom and his wife Marina (Souza). They gather at a strange moment when Tom, recording notes for his book, discusses this inequality even when he hits Connor’s housekeeper, Lupe (Lidia Porto), who hears and gives him a questionable look. It’s an ABC sitcom, so the scene is glossed over and laughed at as the episode ends in 20 minutes.
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In his pilot, Home economics focuses more on introducing interpersonal dynamics (such as how the brothers’ favorite song is “MMMBop” or how Denise and Sarah relate to each other with love like Lulu), rather than examining the severity of their money problems . Although the episode conveys what the central premise is, it mainly uses POC characters to support its white partners; they do not receive other personality traits, which is especially harsh because Zamata and Souza are extraordinary performers. The members of the primary trio are placed in the defining molds: Tom is a follower of the rules, Sarah is a vegan feminist, and Connor is the carefree guy. These opposite types make for fun exchanges, but can also restrict character growth and performance as the show continues. The first episode ends with everyone asking Tom what his future novel is about – he doesn’t tell them, but explains in a voiceover that it’s essentially about how close he feels to his family. We have a sense of closeness, but although there is a force in chemistry and in the specificity of some jokes, the idea is still a little too generic to generate much anticipation.
Lost remarks
- The show tries to build a very specific image of Matt Damon in our head, claiming that his house could include a Japanese soaking tub, a backyard and enough closets that Connor could turn into a home for his daughter’s pajamas.
- On the same note, we agree with Sarah when she says that the actor did not make a good movie after 2011 I bought a zoo? Martian and his cameo Thor: Ragnarok he would like a word.
- To describe Tom and Connor, Denise says, “I know your brothers are Scorpios, but they’re also good people.” Like Scorpio, yes, this remark sounds too good.
- Souza’s Navy is a former lawyer who jokes about his wife that Connor killed his wife. It’s a big subtle callback to her previous ABC role How to get rid of murder, who also introduced Jack Falahee as a classmate of law school Connor Walsh.
- We will take care of the Hayworth brothers throughout Home economics season one, so stay tuned.