# American Housewife (2016)

> A strong-willed mother narrates the chaos of raising her flawed family among the perfect wives and children of a wealthy suburban town.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/59081

## Facts

- Seasons: 5
- Episodes: 103
- Episode runtime: 21 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: comedy
- Created by: Sarah Dunn
- Network: ABC
- Cast: Katy Mixon, Diedrich Bader, Meg Donnelly, Giselle Eisenberg, Julia Butters, Daniel DiMaggio, Carly Hughes, Ali Wong
- TMDB rating: 7.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5396394/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: mild
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none
- Tone: wry, warm, breezy, self-aware, satirical

## What critics say

Audiences found the family sitcom warm and funny, with its suburban satire and Katy Mixon's lead performance, though interest drifted in later seasons.

## Synopsis

American Housewife (2016-2021) is an American family sitcom created by Sarah Dunn for ABC. Katy Mixon plays Katie Otto, a strong-willed mother who narrates the comedy directly to the audience while trying to keep her flawed household together. Diedrich Bader plays her husband Greg, and Meg Donnelly, Daniel DiMaggio and Julia Butters play their children, Taylor, Oliver and Anna-Kat. Ali Wong appears as Doris, a sharp presence in the wider cast. The engine of each episode is the small domestic collision: a school crisis, a social embarrassment, or a clash with the other families in a wealthy town full of impeccably polished wives and their impeccably behaved offspring. Katie's ambition is simply to be seen as the good mother, and the town keeps getting in her way. The series ran five seasons and 103 episodes as a multi-camera, case-of-the-week style family comedy with a warm, wry, self-aware register. Its satire of affluent suburban conformity sits beside an affectionate portrait of a family that never quite fits its setting. Fans of The Middle, Roseanne and Desperate Housewives will find resonance in its blend of domestic comedy and suburban satire, though the warmth here is the point rather than the cynicism.

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