That real-world experience is always an asset on a set, which is why Reitman also recruited an all-female writers’ room, the first-ever all-female lead camera crew in Canadian primetime history, and a slew of female directors.
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At three months old, he makes a cameo in the show’s second episode when Kate’s babe struggles to latch, something Reitman was experiencing in real life after her body shut down from the sheer exhaustion of running and starring in a TV show. That storyline is woven into the pilot when her character, Kate, feels guilty because she doesn’t make it home in time for her kid’s bath on her first day back at work after maternity leave.īy the time the first season was underway in Toronto, Reitman and her husband Philip Sternberg (who also produces and stars as Kate’s husband Nate) had another son.
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When I interviewed Reitman earlier this year, she told me she developed Workin’ Moms after she broke down in front of her coworkers while shooting a movie in Philadelphia the guys were mostly improv actors who kidded her for missing her first Mother’s Day. That veracity has everything to do with creator, star, and occasional director Catherine Reitman ( Black-ish, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) being a mother herself. Workin’ Moms is based in authenticity and thrives under a microscopic lens about the harsh realities moms face It’s perhaps the most truthful journey any show about parenting can take. The workin’ moms of the show’s title aren’t always likable and they definitely aren’t selfless, but they keep going. And this is all under the gaze of a society that has opinions on what they say (to some, the forbidden “n-word” - at least when speaking to a child - is “no”), do, and even eat (heaven forbid they become “skinny fat”). At its core, the show presents an often scary, cringeworthy world in which women secretly pump breast milk in office bathroom stalls and disappoint their partners by pulling away emotionally or chasing a job promotion instead of racing home to oversee bedtime. In three seasons (a fourth is on its way next year), Workin’ Moms explores themes of motherhood through the lens of a Mommy and Me group, and like a toddler temper tantrum, it can bounce from sunny to real to dark and back all within a 22-minute episode.
The show - which is streaming on Netflix - was Canada’s highest-rated new comedy when it debuted in 2017. Now, we also have the serialized Canadian comedy Workin’ Moms to add to that list.
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Entries like Bad Moms, Brit series Catastrophe, and Australian import The Letdown are showing a fuller picture of motherhood, while comedians like Amy Schumer and Ali Wong are using their platforms to say publically what so many moms have been thinking privately for years: being a mom is really fucking hard.
Thankfully there’s a growing body of TV shows, movies, and standup specials pushing past one-dimensional portraits of parenting to delve into its realistic, darker side, especially as it pertains to motherhood. In reality, working mothers in the trenches often feel the pressure to “ parent like they don’t have a job and to work like they don’t have children.” But many also feel pressure to balance personal time, female friendships, and a loving relationship with their partner without ever complaining - about how bloody hard it all is, about what weird things are happening to their bodies, or about the fact that all they really want to do is watch TV or take a nap. Modern sitcom moms like Black-ish’s Rainbow Johnson and One Day at a Time’s Penelope Alvarez seemingly juggle it all, with only occasional screen time dedicated to their personal struggles to be everything at once. TV is already rife with mom tropes: Women like Mad Men’s Joan Harris, Grey’s Anatomy’s Meredith Grey, and Friends’ Rachel Green reclaim their ambition after having a baby by climbing the corporate ladder and knocking back whiskey like one of the guys without missing a beat. If you’ve watched most series from the past decade that touch on the plight of a working mother trying to do it all, just the title of Workin’ Moms might drive your eyes to the back of your head. This week: the Canadian comedy Workin’ Moms. In Watch This, Vox’s culture critics and contributors tell you what they’re watching on TV - and why you should watch it too.