Will tries to please his daughter, even at the expense of sacrificing everything. Will is one of a group of parents who depend on each other to help raise their children. Friends decide to come together to get him out in the dating world and make him realize that he can not sacrifice everything for being a great father.
While the show doesn't exactly feel fresh, it does have heart and what feels like the bones of a show that could go bolder and nuttier if it gets a chance to find its way over a full season.
Single Parents feels like a comedy that goes for simple snark and believes it's a little more clever than it really is, but then had a bunch of network notes stuck to it about softening those right angles.
I laughed out loud, a bunch of times, at its jerky, disgruntled moms and dads who love their kids but genuinely want to kill the martinets who run their progressive school like a posse of smiley-faced Nurse Ratcheds.
Single Parents takes its cues from the network's other family comedies, such as black-ish, but the jokes are too sophomoric to come close to the brilliance and humor of that award-winning show or the Emmy-amassing Modern Family.
Seriously, whoever cast these little too-wise for their size moppets is a genius... the child actors own and deliver each line like well-seasoned comedy pros with masterful timing.
Though the first episode wobbles in trying to balance the sweet and sentimental stuff with its saltier, funnier edge, Single Parents could become a gem in ABC's family comedy lineup once it sharpens its edges.
There's plenty of material there; hopefully, with a strong cast and writing team behind it, Single Parents can tap into it and find a specific groove all its own.
