Network: ABC
Episodes: 103 (half-hour)
Seasons: Five

TV show dates: October 11, 2016 — March 31, 2021
Series status: Cancelled

Performers include: Katy Mixon, Diedrich Bader, Meg Donnelly, Daniel DiMaggio, Julia Butters, Giselle Eisenberg, Carly Hughes, and Ali Wong.

TV show description:      
Set in Westport, Connecticut, this single-camera comedy series revolves around an average wife and mom who does her best to stand out from the community’s “perfect” housewives and their privileged children.

A confident, unapologetic wife and mother of three, Katie Otto (Katy Mixon) is in her forties. She’s also a woman of a certain size, intelligent, very funny, and loving. Despite her flaws and unconventional ways, Katie ultimately only wants the best for her kids and will fight tooth-and-nail to instill some good old-fashioned values in them, if it’s the last thing she does.

Her husband, who’s a well-educated professor of history, is named Greg (Diedrich Bader). Logical, Greg supports Katie in every way possible but is always grounded. They work to make sure their children do not end up like everyone else in their neighborhood. Unfortunately, that isn’t going to be easy.

Their oldest teenage daughter, Taylor (Meg Donnelly), is already set on the “perfect” path. Gorgeous at 14, her form of rebellion from her parents is her single-minded focus on sports. Athletics come naturally to Taylor, who has no interest in (or aptitude for) school work.

Middle-child Oliver (Daniel DiMaggio) is 12 and is clean-cut, self-assured, articulate, and a self-professed fiscal conservative. He’s the kind of kid who refuses to join in his school’s food drive because it promotes a welfare state. Deep down, he’s a good kid and uses his wits to find ways to help people and develop his portfolio.

Anna Kat (Julia Butters then Giselle Eisenberg) is the youngest of the Otto clan and sometimes needs a little extra help navigating life. She has OCD, which results in some strange behavior — she has to stand still when the clock is 13 minutes past the hour, she has one ritual for going upstairs and another for everything else in her life, and she is compelled to pee exclusively in the back yard.

Katie’s friends, Angela (Carly Hughes) and Doris (Ali Wong), help keep her struggles all in perspective and are the allies she needs in a town where “keeping it real” is not a compliment.

What do you think? Do you like the American Housewife TV show? Do you think it should have been cancelled or renewed for a sixth season?