The preview which is up on YouTube makes it look like savagely weak tea, and if I had seen that first I would never have watched it. But the pilot episode itself is quite strong.
First, bam, almost right off the bat we've passed the Bechdel Test -- our main character, Terry, a newly single mom who's had to move back in with her dad, is chatting with another single mom (who I think is going to be a main character), and although technically it's about men since it's about their male children I'm counting this as passing. Also they go on to talk about things that aren't their kids, so.
Plus, Terry is a character I like more and more. I'm not giving you spoilers, but she acts. Boy, does she. At the climax of the episode, she takes an action that had me literally yelling with delight (alone in my living room at two in the morning). She did what Orwell said the oppressed must do when the oppressors owned the rules. She fucking cheated. And won. In a sit com. I mean, hot diggity.
And that's the other thing: this is a show about feminism. I mean, yes, it's a show about Little League, and it's Bad News Bears Redux and I can see where we're going with the Field of Misfit Kids (though I hope the show surprises me as much as this episode kept doing) but it's also about the oppressed (feminists, immigrants, gay kids, fat kids, geek kids) refusing to be oppressed: taking what is theirs, instead.
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Delagar, I can't see your email, but if you drop me an email at bardiacbloggerATyahooDOTcom, I have a link for you.
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