Splitting Up Together

When a miserable couple decides to call it quits on their marriage but not their co-parenting partnership, an enjoyable something-for-everybody comedy is born. Watching a show about a family that's breaking apart sounds like a great big bummer, but Splitting Up Together manages to lighten the tension with great gags. Mae, Lena and Martin's acerbic teenage daughter, gets some of the best lines. When her mother discovers that Martin has been sending the kids to school with money to buy lunch instead of packing it for them, Mae cops to saving her money to buy a cup from the "Young Feminist Caucus" (which reads "Male Tears"). For his part, Martin's been enjoying his freedom from Lena's demands by rediscovering his "collection of ugly hats," and turning off the dehumidifier she insists be left constantly running. 

Raising kids together without being together is a natural source of comedic complications: Who takes care of what? Where does the responsibility of one parent end and another begin? Is it even possible to start dating again when your ex lives just a couple of hundred feet away and knows your every coming and going? Should this couple even be splitting up at all, given that their new living arrangement is forcing them to communicate and work with each other even more than they did before? But make no mistake, this show is no "will they or won't they?" sitcom scenario. Together, Lena and Martin are far less interesting than struggling apart -- and the more they struggle, the more you'll enjoy watching. Try this one on with your teens and/or mature tweens; it just may catch on.