Common Sense Media Review
By Joyce Slaton
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Quality cast and creators elevate light-as-air sitcom.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Pretty Smart
What's the Story?
When PRETTY SMART's Chelsea (Emily Osment) finds herself suddenly in need of a place to live after graduating from college, her sister Claire (Olivia Macklin) is delighted to invite her to join her and her roommates in Los Angeles. There's personal trainer Grant (Gregg Sulkin), fashion-obsessed social media influencer Jayden (Michael Hsu Rosen), and lawyer-turned-healer-turned-lawyer Solana (Cinthya Carmona). Chelsea values intellectual pursuits and first finds her new roomies vapid. But before long she realizes this gang has real depth and love for one another, even if their days have more to do with drinking games and cardio than literature and academia.
Is It Any Good?
An easy binge that's lighter than air and lots of fun, this multi-camera sitcom has unexpected heart, and lots of TV-royalty talent behind and in front of the cameras. To begin with, the cast boasts a minor rogue's gallery of millennial TV faves: Emily Osment (breakthrough role: Hannah Montana) in the lead and Gregg Sulkin (Wizards of Waverly Place) as the Joey Tribbiani of the group. Pretty Smart was also co-created by Jack Dolgen and Doug Mand (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and How I Met Your Mother), so viewers tempted to write off this guilty pleasure of a sitcom may want to give it another look, especially if the ol' "the gang has adventures" setup still holds appeal for them.
Though Pretty Smart does traffic in some predictable storylines (Chelsea feels like an outcast at a party, Jayden's estranged mom shows up to cause chaos), it's also by turns sweet (scenes in which Chelsea and Claire bond are standouts) and clever (a first-season episode in which the roommates imagine a life for a former tenant of their apartment based on the mail that still comes for him is slapstick genius). It's like a second coming of Friends -- and since most TV fans have already absorbed all those episodes, Pretty Smart is a worthy followup in the same cheerily artificial tradition that goes down easily and makes people smile.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what makes a sitcom funny. Is it the writing? The acting? The timing? Should stereotypes ever be used to get laughs? What examples of stereotypes, if any, exist in Pretty Smart?
A "fish out of water" scenario, in which a character is in a place or situation in which she doesn't fit in or feel comfortable, is a common setup for TV shows and movies. Who's the "fish" in Pretty Smart? What other examples of a fish out of water plot setup can you name?
For practical reasons, it's easier to film a television show in a large space: cameras and lights need room to move. This leads to TV characters with humble jobs having unexpectedly and unrealistically big and elaborate apartments. How does Pretty Smart explain the space in which its average-folks characters live? Can you think of other examples on TV shows where the cast either explained away their big house/apartment, or didn't mention it at all?
TV Details
- Premiere date : October 8, 2021
- Cast : Emily Osment , Olivia Macklin , Gregg Sulkin
- Network : Netflix
- Genre : Comedy
- TV rating :
- Last updated : October 13, 2021
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