FX said:

Better Things is a new comedy series on FX co-created by Pamela Adlon and Louis C.K., starring Adlon as “Sam Fox,” a single, working actor with no filter trying to raise her three daughters – “Max” (Mikey Madison), “Frankie” (Hannah Alligood) and “Duke” (Olivia Edward) – in Los Angeles. She is mom, dad, referee and the cops.

Sam also watches out for her mother, “Phil” (Celia Imrie), an English expatriate, who lives across the street. Sam’s just trying to earn a living, navigate her daughters’ lives, have fun with a friend or two and also — just maybe — squeeze in some private time once in a while.

Better Things premieres Thursday, Sept. 8th on FX.

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It's about family... and, ugh, everything that comes with it. Get a FIRST LOOK at FX's new comedy, Better Things.

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biosnake20 said:

Her oldest daughter

http://www.usnews.com/pubdbimages/image/35857/FE_DA_120823ObamaSweat425x283.jpg

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biosnake20 said:

Her oldest daughter

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xxracerxx said:

.....creepy, she is like 15.

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xxracerxx said:

.....creepy, she is like 15.

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xxracerxx said:

.....creepy, she is like 15.

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Yet the ways that Sam finds to carry on enrich this constantly surprising and often poignant show. Adlon shines when giving an unplanned empowerment speech, counseling a woman on a terrible first date and telling off a friend’s lazy husband.

When one daughter talks about being a loser, Sam delivers stirring words that underscore why this is one of the year’s most promising shows. FX supplied the first five episodes, and “Better Things” just keeps getting better.

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FX Better Things is like Louie in many ways -- many good ways -- while still being able to shine with its own voice. Pamela Adlon always managed to steal scenes and create memorable moments on Louie, but here, as the lead, she's a revelation. The pilot episode doesn't even have a story agenda other than to just bring us into Sam's world and it still works remarkably well.

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xxracerxx said:

.....creepy, she is like 15.

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But the heart of nearly every episode is the absurd, ordinary chaos of Adlon’s girl tribe: The three young actresses who play her daughters — newcomers Hannah Alligood, Olivia Edward, and Mikey Madison — are refreshingly un-sitcomy. And her relationship to them — annoyed, exasperated, totally committed — feels like something resembling actual parenthood. Whether it’s turning its squinty eye on soccer practice or sexting or how to handle your best friend’s useless stoner husband, that real-lifeness, in all its weird, mundane, un-laugh-tracked glory, is the best thing about Better Things. Grade: B+

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Following Better Things’ panel at the Television Critics Association summer press tour, The A.V. Club spoke with Adlon about the show’s inception and the allure of TV shows about families—with a brief interruption from her young co-stars.

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Before it can even think about getting off its feet for a minute, Better Things will also have to endure being compared to its spiritual-companion series Louie. But, just like its harried lead, Better Things expertly juggles all of those expectations, while also delivering a winsome new family drama. Grade: B+

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Cornballer said:

- Onion A|V Club review

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TV Guide said:

A traditionally funnier show, a distaff Louie. ... Adlon's sardonic sensibility is perfectly suited to a show that preaches female empowerment while delivering a blunt reality check.

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Philadelphia Inquirer said:

Better Things is as endearing, and as irrepressible, as Adlon herself.

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Lactose_Intolerant said:

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Sam/Pilot

Meet Sam Fox. Written by Pamela Adlon & Louis C.K.; directed by Louis C.K.

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She’s a terrific and effortlessly funny actress who establishes vivid characters with vivid lives. But Sam Fox obviously required a bigger reach, and Adlon accomplishes that here. The idea is to find the emotional center of Sam, not just the superficial comic one. Who is she? Why is she here? And why is motherhood so maddening and vitally important at the same time, and how are the mistakes made also the mistakes that become a parent’s legacy? Adlon’s Sam struggles with these questions, and the result is a deeper, more emotionally engaged counterpart to Louie. Therein lies the biggest difference of all.

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"Write what you know" is one of the fundamental rules of writing, and with good reason. Autobiographical comedy can sometimes feel self-indulgent (autobiographical drama, too), but the good ones — and these are both very, very good shows right out of the box — use their intimate knowledge of their creators' own lives to speak truths that will resonate to an audience that hasn't been through the same experience.

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And just as Louie is occasionally a sharp exploration of the world of stand-up comedy, Better Things is as much a critique of the dysfunctional film and TV industry as it is a bittersweet exploration of Sam’s family and romantic life. Plastic surgery, over-the-top scene work, voice-over jobs, and frustrating auditions—where Adlon is joined by fellow crackle-voiced actresses Julie Bowen and her doppelgänger Constance Zimmer—add up to paint a picture of Hollywood that is both loving and damning.

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Better Things presents Adlon's trademark hard truths, her dark comedic tones so evident on Louie prior – but it's also her coming out series as a creator, as a skilled storyteller with a distinctive point of view all her own. You don't apprentice with Louis C.K. and not take every note you can – that would be foolish. There's so much fortune for Adlon to have that association. But as she makes her own mark with Better Things, as Aziz Ansari did over on Netflix with Master of None and Glover is doing with Atlanta, give Adlon all the credit for learning how to make the framework of a workable, original, idiosyncratic series from one of the best ever. But more importantly give her credit for the distinctive sense-of-self that she poured into the rest of it. Her world is different. Better Things is trying new storylines for modern motherhood, femininity, sexual identity, aging, cultural expectations – so many intriguing parts that make the all-too-short episodes of this first season fly by. Adlon is building something insightful and funny (and sad and true, etc.) that bears watching for its own merits.

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There’s enough here to suggest that Better Things will get better should Adlon have the chance to refine what’s already a good but somewhat unformed show. Assuming Louie‘s retirement is permanent, Better Things has an opening to become the go-to program for parents looking to vent once the kids are in bed.

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So one of the first qualities you notice about “Better Things,” her tough-minded, warmhearted new series on FX — beginning on Thursday and created by her and Louis C.K. — is how different it feels from “Louie.” While there are stylistic and tonal similarities, Ms. Adlon’s show is lighter and more conventional, with a straightforward brand of storytelling that doesn’t venture into the magical-realist territory Louis C.K. frequently traverses.

And while there’s frustration, anger and heartbreak baked into the premise of “Better Things” — a single working mother raising three girls by herself — it’s not a dark show. The dominant mood is hopeful exasperation. Set in Los Angeles, it has a sunnier vibe than “Louie,” which inhabits a sometimes ominous nighttime New York.

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