Hulu's 'Mother Up!' Struggles to Be the Next 'Family Guy'


If The Awesomes is Hulu's promising stroll into original programming, Mother Up! is its first major stumble. The new animated comedy stars Eva Longoria as a high-powered music executive who moves to the suburbs to raise her children after a work scandal.

Mother Up! was clearly envisioned as a sort of female-fronted Family Guy, pitched "as if Peter Griffin were a woman." Longoria's Rudi Wilson makes crude jokes about her kid, and she doesn't get along with the Stepford moms who populate the 'burbs.

But the difference between Rudi and Peter Griffin is that although both are inept parents, Griffin is dumb and doesn't know any better. Rudi is smart, but a lazy, awful person. It's not funny watching her repeatedly fail to engage her children or show them any affection whatsoever; it's sad. The main character ignores her kids, but not in a frosty Betty Draper way. It's more of a "this is quite depressing and I don't want to watch it anymore" kind of way. Worse, perhaps: Family Guy is funny. Mother Up! is not.

In the first episode of Mother Up!, Rudi is a stylish party woman who has made her name in the music business as a take-no-prisoners, straight-talking executive capable of handling even the most petulant, immature of rappers. She can handle Two Bit, an egomaniacal rapper she just wooed to her label, because she calls him out on his nonsense. "You're a rich, spoiled brat and no one ever tells you you're being stupid," she tells him.

But that's exactly what Rudi needs herself. She's forced to resign from her job in a scandal. Then, she announces she's moving her family to the suburbs so she can look like a good mom in front of the press. But literally nothing Rudi does is motivated by anything other than self-interest. She's supposed to be a brash, anti-hero mom, but there's nothing redeemable about her at all.

Mother Up on Hulu

Rudi is not an anti-hero — she's really just an asshole. Breaking Bad's Walter White ended up being a selfish, egomaniacal, controlling criminal who let his ego get in the way of his happiness. But he started as a man who wanted to provide for his family after he was gone. Rudi has no such drive. She doesn't like her family, and there's no humor in watching a terrible person be terrible with no redeeming qualities, other than the fact she's voiced by a popular, likable actress.

Women can be anti-heroes too: We watched eight seasons of Nancy Botwin fumbling her way into the drug trade on Weeds, even though she, too, was a selfish criminal. But Nancy at least loved her kids (deep down). And Showtime's Emmy-winning Nurse Jackie is six seasons deep into chronicling the life of a pretty unlikable addict; but again, she also loves her family. Mother Up! is different because there's no love to be found.

'Damn Stepford Nightmare'

It's clear some of the humor here is aimed at overworked moms, a sort of wink saying, "Hey, we're not all perfect!" It takes some typical mommy blog complaints and animates them for grown-ups. But Mother Up! is not something overworked moms will relate to, because they, presumably, actually like their children.

The Mother Up! theme song — and its title, too — paints the picture of a woman who hates everything about her new life but ultimately takes responsibility for her kids and settles into parenting."Now I'm stuck in hell suburbia, never knew what two kids could do to ya, soccer moms and carpools make me scream," sings a Pink-like female rocker (listen, below). "This is gonna be tough but I gotta mother up."

We know Rudi never takes responsibility for anything, and her lazy parenting is enhanced by the not-at-all realized suburban world around her. Rudi's new life is populated by an adoring neighbor woman seduced by Rudi's glamorous former life, a well-meaning, sunny-dispositioned neighbor man struggling with an angsty teenage son, and a bunch of judgey supermoms. Rudi calls it a "damn Stepford nightmare."

But Mother Up! is not making fun of the suburbs in any subversive way. It's pointing out obvious tropes — over-involved parents! nosy neighbors! — and saying mean things about them. Isn't this homogenous, safe atmosphere supposed to make Rudi a better person? Or at least realize what is truly important in her life? Because in episode 2 Rudi still can't do her own chores (she fired the household staff when she moved), but she makes no effort to try, manipulating her neighbor into doing them for her. Why are people nice to her? She does nothing nice for anyone else, ever.

Until Rudi learns a lesson or two, showing even one modicum of self-improvement, the show won't be any easier to watch. And why should we tune in? Two episodes in and Rudi hasn't changed. Without any character development, there's no reason to watch. The jokes aren't that funny or innovative. The fish-out-of-water concept has been done before, and better, many times.

If it's a Hulu original animated series you're looking for, The Awesomes might have gotten off to a rocky start, but at least it's charming and amusing. That's something Mother Up! is lacking: charm. If you don't like the protagonist (and if you're not supposed to), then everything around her should be interesting.

But the suburban characters are flat, the city characters are awful, and the kids are cute, but how can we care about them when Rudi doesn't?

A Smart Move by Hulu Falls Flat

"I'm a fan of animation and I watch Family Guy and I watch American Dad and you always see these really flawed fathers and the really perfect mom who is trying to hold the family together because the dads, they're just idiots," Longoria told the AP. Though Mother Up! might be a response to that problem, it's not a solution. Rudi is flawed, but she has no one around to redeem her.

Longoria's track record as a producer is mixed: Her reality experiment on NBC, Ready for Love, didn't last more than three weeks. But the soapy Devious Maids on Lifetime was renewed for a second season.

It's smart for Hulu to get into business with such a high-profile actress-turned-producer; it's unfortunate the project is not a good one.

The Mother Up! pilot and follow-up episode are available to stream now, and subsequent episodes will roll out on a weekly basis.

Image: Hulu

Load Comments

The New Stuff

The Next Big Thing

What's Hot