# Better Things (2016)

> A single working actress in Los Angeles juggles raising three daughters with her own unfiltered, imperfect self.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/58877

## Facts

- Seasons: 5
- Episodes: 52
- Episode runtime: 23 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: comedy, drama
- Created by: Pamela Adlon, Louis C.K.
- Network: FX
- Cast: Pamela Adlon, Celia Imrie, Mikey Madison, Hannah Riley, Olivia Edward, Cree Summer, Kevin Pollak, Zach Woods
- TMDB rating: 7.9/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4370596/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: none
- Tone: candid, irreverent, warm, wry, biting

## What critics say

Audiences broadly praise the candid, irreverent portrait of a single mother raising three daughters, with its sharp humor and emotional honesty, though the uneven third season is a noted dip.

## Synopsis

Better Things (2016-2022) is an American comedy drama series created by Pamela Adlon and Louis C.K. for FX. Pamela Adlon stars as Sam Fox, a working actress and single mother in Los Angeles who is raising three daughters, Max (Mikey Madison), Frankie (Hannah Riley) and Duke (Olivia Edward), while also looking after her own mother Phil (Celia Imrie), who lives nearby. Sam is mom, dad, referee and the cops all at once, and the engine of the show is her constant struggle to keep her household running while chasing small acting jobs and managing her own impulsive temper. Each episode is built from ordinary domestic friction, school pickups, money worries, awkward auditions and fraught family dinners, rendered with a candid, no-filter honesty. The show runs for five seasons and fifty-two episodes, a loosely connected slice-of-life sequence rather than a plotted serial. Its tone is irreverent and warm at once, with a wry voiceover giving the chaos an intimate, confessional edge. Themes of imperfect mothering, female friendship and coming of age surface throughout. Fans of Louie, Divorce and Girls will find resonance in its frank humor and its refusal to romanticize parenthood.

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