Workin' Moms
By Joyce Slaton,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Comedy nails working motherhood with wit and irony.
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Workin' Moms
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Based on 6 parent reviews
This show is great for my kids
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Super funny, super inappropriate
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What's the Story?
After maternity leave is over, Kate (Catherine Reitman), Anne (Dani Kind), and Frankie (Juno Rinaldi) are WORKIN' MOMS, and it's not easy. Everyone around them seems to believe they can have and do it all. But with the demands of work, marriage, motherhood, and whatever shreds of personal life they have left all pulling on our heroines at the same time, it's sometimes a choice between laughing -- or crying.
Is It Any Good?
After a lifetime of viewing motherhood through a sentimental lens, the gritty reality of caring for kids and holding down a job is a huge surprise to the trio of women anchoring this knowing comedy. It's clear that Workin' Moms creator Catherine Reitman has been on the business end of a breast pump before, because the absurdist situations she shows us ring true: the folly of planning date night, the agony of taking business calls while pumping on a bathroom toilet, the contemptuous glares endured by any mom seen not performing her job perfectly in public. In the show's second episode, when a cadre of moms witheringly watch her handing off her son out a car window to her nanny, Reitman takes obvious gleeful pleasure in telling them to "Eat a bag of dicks!" before driving off -- it sure feels like this is the writer/director/producer's slow-burning revenge against the real-life side-eye she's no doubt received.
There's wish fulfillment too, in a scene in which the unhappily newly pregnant Anne corrects a whining kid passing by the table where she and Kate are having lunch. "Shut it, you monster!" rants Anne. "Your mother's a goddamn angel!" There are sanctimonious Pinterest moms and frazzled moms, competitive moms and exhausted moms, moms who fail and moms who triumph, and despite the heightened sitcom aspect to some of the antics (would any mom ever go into a meeting with a new client with breast milk on her shirt?), they all feel real. It's as close to a superhero drama about moms as we're likely to get, and that sure is welcome.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the struggles moms face. Is it difficult to balance school, work, hobbies, and family time? How do you ensure you're giving proper attention to every aspect of your life? What routines in your household help keep you on track?
Moms and dads: Does Workin' Moms offer a realistic view of what parenthood is really like? What messages does it send about what parents (and their children) are like? Is it supposed to be realistic? Is realism ever comedic, or does comedy require that stakes and emotions be heightened?
Comedies about families are common on TV. Why? Who are they aimed at? Who can relate to them? What comedic or dramatic possibilities are offered by the interactions within a family? Does this show focus more on what's going on at home, or at work? Or is home and work given equal time?
TV Details
- Premiere date: January 11, 2019
- Cast: Catherine Reitman , Dani Kind , Juno Rinaldi
- Network: Netflix
- Genre: Comedy
- TV rating: TV-MA
- Last updated: February 18, 2023
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