At long last, a TV sitcom that doesn’t idealize suburban family life to the detriment of the tried-and-true TV notion that cities are horrible, scary, no-place-to-raise-kids hell holes.
In truth, city kids are generally street-smart humans who believe that malls are places where buffalo roam — in track suits.
On tonight’s very clever and funny new sitcom, “Suburgatory,” single father George (Jeremy Sisto) hauls his 16-year-old daughter, Tessa (Jane Levy), off to live in the suburbs after discovering a box of condoms in her room.
The suburbs he believes (see above!) are free of those sort of temptations. He’s clueless, and she’s annoyed.
Tessa’s sophisticated and can make her way alone around the city, while the suburban girls she meets have lives that are centered on shopping, the mall and Red Bull, while their plasticated moms with their fake boobs and big hair and bigger nails are a different species altogether.
Clean streets do not necessarily equal clean minds.
First up to ruin Tessa’s life is mean girl Dahlia (Carly Chaikin) and her fake-boob mom, Dallas (Cheryl Hines).
Dallas is a misguided, shallow sexpot with a heart of gold (and designer duds), while Dahlia is a shallow mall girl who thinks of herself as sophisticated and, in reality, is a suburban spoiled brat who can’t think beyond the next shopping trip.
Or, so it seems. But all is not what it seems on the surface.
On tonight’s show, we follow as George and Tessa make the move to the ’burbs, much to Tessa’s horror.
The house is lovely, the street quiet and the new high school bland.
Adhering to the ABC Family formula, there are the mean girls, the football jocks, the geek outcasts (who will bond with the weird girl from Manhattan) and the over-the-top suburban stereotype women.
The moms are smothering and desperately nosy due to the boredom of their lives, the kids are shallow, because they’ve not been exposed to much beyond their safe confines, and, so far, the dads are mostly MIA — at least during the day.
Like a take from “Desperate Housewives,” George, the off-beat Manhattan architect, looks like fresh meat to the ravenous moms, while Tessa is mistaken for a lesbian by everyone because she dresses like a NYC kid in undesigner jeans and Frye boots.
Yes, the sterotypes are enough to give you brain freeze, but it’s all done with a wink, a nod and a lot of affection for all involved.
With a snarky running dialogue from Tessa, the laughs are as easy and as sophisticated as she is. Or as she thinks she is — and that’s the key.