Country Comfort
Country Comfort
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this TV show.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Country Comfort is a sitcom about a country singer who becomes the nanny for a family with five children and then discovers they're the ideal backup band she's been seeking for her music career. The overall level of mature content is low, making this show suitable for whole-family viewing. Iffy language is almost nonexistent ("hell," "sucks," "dang"), sexual content is confined to mild flirtation, kissing, and talk of love and romance. Scenes take place in bars (the family often performs at them) with characters drinking, but no one acts drunk. The family sometimes mocks one another but humor is gentle, and family members support one another and bond over their common goal of making music. The family's matriarch has died, and grief is a central theme. Characters, especially the children in the family, make mistakes, and suffer consequences (of the mild sitcom variety), but the adults of the family are always there to help them figure out where they went wrong and how to make amends.
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Questionable story lines
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A great series!
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What's the Story?
Country singer Bailey (Katharine McPhee) didn't set out to be a nanny, but when a broken-down truck leads her to knock on the door of a sprawling ranch house, she becomes one anyway in COUNTRY COMFORT. You see, dreamy cowboy Beau (Eddie Cibrian) lost his wife two years ago, and ever since his five kids have been lost and lonely. Flirtatious eldest Tuck (Richard Hurtado), insecure Brody (Jamie Martin Mann), burgeoning music business ace Dylan (Griffin McIntyre), rebellious Cassidy (Shiloh Verrico), and youngest child Chloe (Pyper Braun) all take to Bailey quickly, despite the consternation of Beau's threatened girlfriend Summer (Janet Varney). Can Bailey find a home at the ranch and reinvigorate her music career playing with a newly hatched family band while at the same time helping a family feel whole again?
Is It Any Good?
With its "aw shucks!" rural vibe, cacophonous laugh track, and contrived half-hour-of-plot setups, this series is a throwback to whole-family-friendly sitcoms of old like Full House or The Nanny. The language is softened enough for young viewers -- the age range of characters varies from seven (Pyper Braun's Chloe, who gets the type cute 'n' clever lines the Olsen twins delivered in Full House) to late-40s (daddy Beau) to give every member of the family something to relate to, and the hijinks are gentle and predictable: Bailey et al have to find a missing guitar; a tornado suddenly strikes the ranch; one of the kids stops going to church and has to be convinced to return. If these plot lines sound kinda familiar, no surprise, because Country Comfort feels familiar, too.
That's not a terrible thing -- there's a need for art made by and for people who want to enjoy a series with just a smattering of won't-offend-Grandma humor and no surprises. Country Comfort's central family is charming, with plenty of fun banter between the teen-and-up wing of the family and the younger siblings. McPhee herself is a far better singer than actor -- the show takes flight in the many, many moments in which she's called to perform -- but she's game enough. Cibrian seems too checked-out to be more than a benevolent dad-like presence, but the kids and McPhee energetically work their way through plots with a telegenic conflict that always winds up with everyone laughing, hugging, and maybe singing a country song together. It may not be great art, but for certain kinds of viewers it's the comfort the title promises.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about family dynamics and communication between kids and parents. How do families establish and maintain good communication? Who do you go to for advice? Parents also can talk about what defines a family. Who do you consider to be part of your family?
Families can talk about the issues raised in each episode. Are the situations that come up on the show still relevant to today's kids? Does anything about the show read as old-fashioned? If so, what?
What do kids think it would be like to grow up in a family like the Tanners? What other types of non-traditional families are your kids familiar with? Are there any advantages or disadvantages to having a less-typical family unit?
TV Details
- Premiere date: March 19, 2021
- Cast: Katharine McPhee, Eddie Cibrian
- Network: Netflix
- Genre: Comedy
- TV rating: TV-PG
- Last updated: February 28, 2022
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