American Housewife

## Plot

The series chronicles the daily life of Katie Otto, a wife and mother who tries to stand out among the wealthy, pretentious, arrogant housewives and their privileged children after moving out of her hometown to Westport, Connecticut.

## Cast

*Main article: List of American Housewife characters*

## Episodes

*Main article: List of American Housewife episodes*

## Production

### Development

On September 7, 2013 during Mike and Molly she annoyed show for pilot rider of the show filming constantly for the tv show for for the pilot showing 2013-May 2016 for the show for ABC had given

On January 28, 2016, it was announced that ABC had given the production a pilot order, then titled *The Second Fattest Housewife In Westport*. The episode was written by Sarah Dunn who was expected to executive produce alongside Aaron Kaplan, Kenny Schwartz and Rick Wiener. Production companies involved with the pilot included Eight Sisters Productions, Weiner & Schwartz Productions, Kapital Entertainment, and ABC Studios. On May 12, 2016, ABC officially ordered the pilot to series. A few days later, it was announced that the series, now titled *American Housewife*, would premiere on October 11, 2016 and air on Tuesdays at 9:30 P.M.

On November 14, 2016, ABC picked up the series for a full season of 22 episodes and on December 13, 2016, an additional episode was ordered, increasing the first season to 23 episodes.

In May 2017, ABC renewed American Housewife for a second season, which premiered on September 27, 2017. On October 31 of the same year, ABC ordered two additional episodes, bringing the season total to 24.

On May 11, 2018, ABC renewed the series for a third season of 23 episodes, which premiered on September 26, 2018.

On May 10, 2019, ABC renewed the series for a fourth season which was premiered on September 27, 2019.

On March 14, 2020, it was announced that production of *American Housewife* had been shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reducing season four from 21 episodes to 20. On May 21, 2020 ABC renewed the series for a fifth season which was premiered on October 28, 2020.

On May 14, 2021, it was announced that the series has been cancelled by ABC after five seasons.

### Casting

On February 17, 2016, it was announced that Katy Mixon of *Mike & Molly* had been cast in the pilot's lead role. In March 2018, it was reported that Carly Hughes, Ali Wong and Diedrich Bader (*The Drew Carey Show*) had also joined the pilot's main cast. On June 27, 2016, it was announced that Meg Donnelly had been cast to replace Johnny Sequoyah in the recurring role of Taylor, Katie and Greg's character's daughter.

On September 11, 2020, it was reported that Giselle Eisenberg had been cast to replace Julia Butters, who is leaving the show to pursue other opportunities, as Anna-Kat.

On November 9, 2020, it was announced that Carly Hughes has been parted ways due to the alleging toxic environment and discrimination as reasons for her exit.

## Syndication

On September 21, 2020, CMT began airing reruns of *American Housewife*.

On September 12 2022, the show would be on local tv stations all over the world annoyed. January 9 2022

## Reception

*American Housewife* has received mixed reviews from television critics, with Katy Mixon's performance being praised as the show's highlight. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 54%, based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "*American Housewife* is boosted by a strong and enjoyable lead performance by Katy Mixon, yet her performance alone strains to sustain an excessively quirky show that relies too heavily on stereotypes." Metacritic reported a score of 60 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

## = Controversy

In November 2017, the episode "Boo-Who?" featured character Taylor Otto dressed up as a "pregnant Norwalk prom girl", poking fun at the city of Norwalk, Connecticut, which borders the show's location of Westport. Before this incident, there were various other episodes in which Norwalk was mocked: The characters refused to swim in a Norwalk swimming pool, acting like the pool water was diseased because of Norwalk people; one of the children took bets on how many of the girlfriends of Norwalk's basketball team would be pregnant post season; and Oliver Otto used a neighbor's Hispanic housekeeper to alter flawed Polo shirts and sell them to Norwalk students, believing that no Westport resident would buy them (Oliver ended up earning a lot of money). This brought condemnation from residents, school officials, and politicians of Norwalk. After a petition calling for the producers to stop "bullying" Norwalk got over 500 signatures and media coverage, a Disney spokesperson released a statement saying that, "As a comedy, ‘*American Housewife*’ isn’t intended to offend anyone. We’ve heard the concerns of the people of Norwalk and have made the decision to omit any mentions of the city from future episodes".

### Carly Hughes' parted ways

In November 2020, Carly Hughes revealed her departure from the series resulted from a toxic work environment. In a statement, Hughes said, "I made the decision to leave to protect myself from that type of discrimination. As a black woman in entertainment, I feel the responsibility to stand up for what I deserve, what we all deserve — to be treated equally." Allegations by Hughes and other crew members caused ABC to launch an investigation. Their findings resulted in creator Sarah Dunn no longer having an active producing role, Mark J. Greenberg stepping down as line producer, and showrunners Rick Wiener and Kenny Schwartz undergoing sensitivity training.

## Trivia

* The original title was *The Second Fattest Housewife in Westport*.
* Johnny Sequoyah was originally cast in the role of Taylor Otto, but was replaced by Meg Donnelly before the series was picked up.
* The kids confront Katie and Greg all together in It’s Not You It’s Me.
* Katie and Greg confront Taylor in episodes Time For Love, Can’t Hide It Anymore, Back to School, Blondetourage, It’s Not You It’s Me, American Idol and Coupling.
* Katie and Greg confront Oliver in episodes Pilot, Westport Cotillion, The Playdate, Boar-Dain, Blondetourage, It’s Not You It’s Me, Mom Guilt and Mo Money Mo Problems.
* Katie and Greg confront Anna-Kat in Back to School.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/abc-renews-13-series-including-200035185.html
2. ↑ https://deadline.com/2020/06/abc-2020-21-schedule-the-bachelorette-fall-debut-the-conners-moves-wednesday-black-ish-midseason-cut-one-comedy-night-big-sky-call-your-mother-1202960600/
3. ↑ https://deadline.com/2021/05/american-housewife-canceled-abc-katy-mixon-five-seasons-1234754256/
4. ↑ https://deadline.com/2016/02/katie-mixon-star-the-second-fattest-housewife-in-westport-abc-pilot-1201704661/
5. ↑ https://deadline.com/2016/03/apb-fox-drama-pilot-cast-taylor-handley-ward-horton-cbs-bunker-hill-1201711836/
6. ↑ https://deadline.com/2016/03/four-stars-cbs-pilot-cast-ashley-zukerman-ali-wong-in-abc-second-fattest-housewife-1201713123/
7. ↑ https://deadline.com/2016/03/diedrich-bader-cast-male-lead-katy-mixon-second-fattest-housewife-in-westport-abc-pilot-1201714535/
8. ↑ https://deadline.com/2016/07/american-housewife-meg-donnelly-cast-abc-comedy-recasting-1201793752/
9. ↑ https://deadline.com/2020/09/american-housewife-anna-kat-role-recast-giselle-eisenberg-replaces-julia-butters-exits-abc-comedy-series-season-5-1234575693/
10. ↑ https://deadline.com/2020/11/american-housewife-carly-hughes-exits-abc-comedy-toxic-environment-investigation-positive-changes-1234610754/

## External links

* American Housewife on ABC Database (Fandom)
* American Housewife on Television Fandom
* American Housewife on Wikipedia