‘SMILF’ missing star’s appeal
Shaw’s castmates steal the Southieset show
In the wake of damning allegations of improper conduct on the set, the second season of Showtime’s Southie-set sitcom “SMILF” finally debuts.
For a moment, it looked as if the show could be derailed after reports about star (and series creator, writer, executive producer and director) Frankie Shaw’s behavior surfaced. Co-star Samara Weaving quit the series over Shaw’s demands for onscreen nudity and her mishandling of an intimate scene with Weaving and another cast member.
Shaw allegedly fostered a hostile work environment in which writers were mistreated and even segregated in their offices by race.
ABC Studios, producer of the show, investigated and decided Shaw did not behave inappropriately.
Showtime no doubt hopes the bad press will fade.
Judging from the first five episodes the cable network provided, the sophomore season looks to be an upgrade from the first, but Shaw proves to be the least interesting person here.
That’s not the slam it sounds like.
The Brookline native gives her cast juicy material, and they steal the show from her. Recurring guest star Connie Britton (“Dirty John,” “9-1-1”) is superb as Ally, a rich, perpetually pouty socialite who has a fit over replacing a fridge because it clashes with the kitchen. “It made the whole room look insane,” she says.
Then there’s Rosie O’Donnell as Tutu, Bridgette’s mother, loving and damaged and damning all at once, and utterly authentic. Locals will appreciate how Tutu reacts to a fool who parks in her space in the second episode.
Credit obviously must go to Shaw for giving them their moments. The mystery is why she hasn’t treated herself, as the show’s lead, single mother Bridgette Bird, half as well. It’s not that she can’t carry a scene or be funny, as in the opener when she interrupts a father mistreating his child and introduces herself as “a roaming child psychologist … out of Harvard … you may have heard of it … it’s a college.”
In this episode, Bridgette searches for her father and Tutu searches for batteries for the TV remote. Both suffer devastating losses.
Moments that are meant to be provocative are poorly executed. In the second episode, a wasted Bridgette wanders at night into a Catholic church and screams “Abortion!” into the rafters. She helps herself to some communion wine and decides to liberate a statue of the Virgin Mary. You might be outraged. There’s a greater chance you’ll be bored by how desperate and contrived it is.
“SMILF” is just as foulmouthed as ever, but the nudity this season doesn’t seem as gratuitous.
While the comedy has yet to be officially renewed, Shaw is reportedly scouting out locations in Ireland for a third season.
If she gets the trip, here’s hoping she finds something worthwhile to keep Bridgette busy.