"Better Things," a new comedy TV series co-created by and starring Pamela Adlon, shows the true-to-life struggles of a single mother in raising three kids. The show premiered last Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016, at 10 pm.
In the show , Adlon acts a version of her true-to-life self. Like Sam, Adlon is a single parent raising three daughters: Rocky, Odessa and Gideon. However, she claims that the show is not a straight biography of her life.
On nydailynews.com, Adlon said: "My daughters know that I wouldn't co-opt their lives. But my dad (a TV writer-producer) would always say, "Write what you know." She also added that she's very aware of the things that would be very personal.
On its premiere night, the show opens on a crying six-year-old child, Duke Fox, played by Olivia Edward. The child is standing and sobbing intensely in a mall while her mom Sam played by Pamela Adlon, the co-creator and star of the show, is slumped against the chair next to her, staring busily on her cellphone. Meanwhile, a stranger gave Sam a look like "Hey, pay attention to your kid, not on your cellphone."
Disturbed by the stranger's look, Sam told the stranger that her kid is wailing because she won't purchase her the earrings she already has in their home. The stranger looks away. And Sam offered Duke a hot dog instead.
Yelling, ignoring and capitulating are some of the real parenting strategies that Sam portrayed in the show. According to Floandfrank.com, the single parent story of Sam in the show is among the most comically relatable on television at this point in time.
Adlon delivered domestic plot twists without a clue of the sentimental that seeps in most modern family dramas in prime time, according to LAWeekly,. Actually, the show enjoys on its depiction of Sam as being the "bad mother."
One of the viewers of the show said that "Better Things" is a single parent dilemma communicated in a manner that is both relatable and empathetic. Even if you do not have kids, you can relate and enjoy the show.
