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Primetime Picks… 1/23/20

Jan 23, 2020 Posted by in Features | Comments

Tonight FOX kicks off Outmatched, a fun new comedy about just-average parents who are trying to raise a bunch of kids who are anything but. Kay (Maggie Lawson, Psych) and Mike (Jason Biggs, American Pie) are just your average blue-collar couple. They live in Atlantic City, where Kay works as a pit boss in a casino, and Mike is a handyman. However, three of their four children are certified geniuses—16-year old math whiz Brian (Connor Kalopsis, The Grinder), 15-year-old linguist Nicole (Ashley Boettcher, Lost in Oz) and 10-year-old musician Marc (Jack Stanton, The Mick). Mike and Kay have trouble relating to these kids, who often use their intellect to try to manipulate their parents—but sometimes street smarts trumps book smarts. They sometimes wonder if they are raising these kids correctly—are they properly nurturing their intelligence, or are they leading them down a path to becoming super-villains?! Their one respite is 8-year-old Leila (Oakley Bull, Beautiful Boy), who is most certainly not a genius. When Mike and Kay feel outmatched, they retreat to their basement hideout, which is a bastion of normalcy.

Maggie Lawson—who I loved in Psych—hasn’t really had much luck with sitcoms, but this may finally be the right comedic role for her. Jason Biggs is also a lot of fun—the two of them have great chemistry and feel like they could actually be a real couple. The younger cast is fantastic. Each has his or her own unique personality, and I enjoyed how they band together to use their smarts both for good and evil. In addition to the humor, the show also has a lot of heart. I really enjoyed tonight’s premiere, which had me laughing quite a bit. I’m still unsure as to how the show is going to work from week-to-week, but the characters and premise are a lot of fun, and I look forward to seeing what other situations and stories the writers come up with.

Tonight, I’ll also be watching/recording Star Trek: Picard, Grey’s Anatomy, A Million Little Things, Superstore, The Good Place, Will & Grace, Perfect Harmony, and Everything’s Gonna Be Okay.