Disney sent 5 Minutes for Mom contributing blogger Dawn Cullo to ABC TV and Dawn’s expenses have been paid for the trip but no other compensation will be paid and all opinions are Dawn’s.
The ABC TV Show “Trophy Wife” is loosely based on creator and executive producer Sarah Haskins life. She married an older man who had been married a few times before and had children from those marriages. Creator Sarah Haskins was a young mom trying to assimilate into family full of kids and would talk about the ups and downs of her family life with her writing partner Emily Halpern. Soon they felt Sarah’s stories would provide great content for a TV show and that is how “Trophy Wife” was born.
The show tells a universally common story about divorce and co-parenting from a funny and unique perspective. I have watched this show since the pilot episode and have found it to be a smart and funny story telling about a common family dynamic.
The Cast
Sarah and Emily pitched the show to ABC with Malin Akerman as the lead character and initially ABC passed on the show. They tried again a year later and ABC changed their mind and picked up the show and really wanted to work with Malin.
Photo courtesy of ABC TV
Sarah and Emily hit the jackpot with the rest of the cast as well. In the pitch for the show they named the male lead Brad because they wanted an actor like Bradley Whitford to play the role. Luckily they were able to cast him, but he said that he would only do it on one condition. They had to change the name of the character he played because it would be too weird so they changed the name to Pete.
They were also lucky to cast Michaela Watkins as Pete’s eccentric second wife Jackie and Marcia Gay Harden as Pete’s intense overachieving first wife Diane. The children cast in the show are Bailee Madison and Ryan Lee as Pete’s older children Warren & Hillary and Albert Tsai as Pete’s adopted son Bert from his second marriage and Natalie Morales as Kate’s best friend Meg Gomez.
Photo courtesy of ABC TV
For those of you who are “Once Upon a Time” fans you will remember Bailee Madison as a young Snow White.
The Process
The creators talked about their process and how they pull ideas from their writers as well as working with a one line premise. If the one line premise of the story is funny, then chances are the entire story will be funny. For example a one line premise of an upcoming episode is about Warren joining the girls Field Hockey Team.
Some of the stories that they have pulled from the writers include the episode about Lice titled “Lice and Beary White” and the “Punisher“. One of the writers just had an experience with Lice and one of the co-executive producers was a new parent and curious about how you learn to punish your children. The Punisher is on of my favorite episodes.
Upcoming Episodes
Last week “The Wedding”- part 1 aired and it was awesome because as viewers we got to see what Kate’s dream wedding would look like. If you missed the episode you can catch it on ABC Online.
Photo courtesy of ABC TV
“The Wedding” – Part 2 airs tonight, March 18th at 9:30 pm. In this episode we get a comedy treat when Megan Mullally plays Kate’s mom Cricket and Florence Henderson plays Pete’s mom. I screened this episode as part of my trip to Los Angeles. There are some surprises in store for the viewers so you will have to tune in to find out if Kate’s dream wedding takes place.
Wedding planning continues as Kate will not be fazed by all the stress and chaos around her, which is only amplified by the arrival of her mother and Pete’s parents. However, things come to a screeching halt when the family gets some bad news, on “Trophy Wife,”
If you haven’t yet tuned into “Trophy Wife” now would be a great time to start watching. You can binge watch the show on ABC Online to get caught up. The season finale will be part of a Mother’s Day related storyline with Kate trying to figure out if she really is a mom.
One recent episode that was a real hoot to watch is called “Happy Bert Day” where Kate throws Bert an elaborate, Aladdin-themed birthday party and uses the party as an entree into the exclusive soccer mom clique. See Bert’s Birthday Dance.
ABC Online
Written by 5 Minutes for Mom Contributor, Dawn Cullo.
i found this show on hulu , very funny , love it now!!!
I will have to check this show out 🙂 It looks entertaining.
I hadn’t seen this show advertise, but I absolutely LOVE Malin Akerman, so I would probably enjoy this show!
I have seen the commercials and the reviews and cannot wait! it looks very interesting!
Your reviews and from what i have heard this is a great show! it seems to be hilarious, yikes imagine having to deal with all of that! LOL
I have seen the commercials for this show but haven’t had a chance to watch yet. I think I may need to catch up by watching it on-demand.
I need a new show to watch. This one looks like something I would really enjoy.
I may need to put my Kindle down and catch up on some TV. It has been so long since I watched anything on TV, I’ve forgotten what was out there.
Haven’t seen this show yet but looks like I’ll have to catch an episode. Thanks for the show details and interview
This show looks great, I love Malin Akerman as an actress. I’d definitely put this on my list of TV shows to watch!!
I am so glad you will be watching!! It’s a funny show and I hope you enjoy the rest of season. You can also watch older episode on ABC Online.
Oh wow, that’s great that I can watch them online at ABC.com. Thank you so much, i’ll do that for sure!
i had not seen anything about this show but I will be watching for it
Hi Annette,
I am glad you stopped by to read the blog post. You can watch older episodes of Trophy Wife on ABC Online. I hope you like it.
I haven’t watched this show yet
Hi Barbara,
New episode is on tonight, I hope you can catch it. If not you can watch older episodes on ABC Online.
I think this show is super-funny! I’m not usually into comedies, but I caught the episode with Megan Mullally and fell in love! I will be tuning in!
I just love Megan Mullally she’s a hoot. So glad you tuned in to see her on Trophy Wife.
I agree, anything in life can be funny, it’s how you look at it.
I am so glad that you stopped by to read the article about Trophy Wife, I hope you can catch the new episode tonight.
I have not heard of this show until now, seems like a must watch!
It would be awesome if you tuned in to watch!! You can also watch older episodes on ABC Online.
I’m going to check this out – look entertaining!!
Hi Tracey,
You can also watch older episodes on ABC Online so you can catch up. There is a new episode on tonight too.
Bert is the BEST! but the cast is strong overall
Bert is awesome!! He has the best lines.
I have never seen this show yet. I think I will need to set the DVR and start!
Hi Renee,
If you miss any episodes you can also watch older episodes on ABC Online.
looks like a fun show!
Hi Salima,
I think the show is fun too, thank you for stopping by to read the blog post.
I also viewed the promos for this show. I thought it looked cute and adore the cast. I love that ABC has shows that can be almost relatable to daily lives.
Hi Krystal,
Thank you for stopping by to read the post, I am loving the show too.
i saw the promos for this show, i think i’m going to have to go back and catch up.
Hi Megan,
You can also watch older episodes on ABC Online. I am glad that you saw the promos for the show.
This is such a fun show! The interview was amazing 😀
Yes, it was an amazing interview, thanks Rachel. =D