So, as you might have noticed, my big thing is trying to make the world a better place in whatever little ways I can. There are so many groups of people I’m worried about, not the least of which are teenage girls like two of my beloved cousins. Teenage girls have so much to deal with these days – more than I did, I think. The whole online world, with all of its dangers and complexities, is added to academic and athletic expectations, other girls, boys, pressures, fashion, looks, and everything else teenage girls have to deal with.
With all of these pressures on this demographic of our society, imagine my shock when I saw a preview one day for a new sitcom called, “I hate my teenage daughter.”
The show, which is scheduled to air for the first time on Fox on November 30, is described thusly on Wikipedia:
The series follows two mothers who fear their daughters are turning into the kind of girls who tormented them in high school. The fears would come quickly when Annie Watson (Jaime Pressly), who grew up in an ultra-strict conservative family, begins to notice that she has allowed her daughter Sophie (Kristi Lauren) to do what she wants to do, which she takes advantage of by embarrassing and mocking her mother, while best friend Nikki Miller (Katie Finneran), who grew up unpopular and overweight and has reinvented herself as a Southern Belle, begins to notice how manipulative her daughter Mackenzie (Aisha Dee) has become. Even the ex-husbands aren’t very good fathers: Annie’s ex Matt is too clueless, prompting his lawyer brother Jack to step in (and become an object of Annie’s crush) while Nikki’s ex Gary is letting their complicated relationship become more complicated in the parenting department. These situations are among the major challenges Annie and Nikki must face to keep the daughters from turning into the people they were afraid of when they were their daughters’ age.
There are so many things that are wrong and offensive about this concept it’s hard to know where to begin. However, even if the synopsis of the show was less bothersome, why, during this particular tricky time, are we going to put a television show out there called “I hate my teenage daughter?”
It’s really puzzling to me. What could Fox be thinking?
And what can we do about it?
PS, based on a suggestion from my friend Tara Markus, I’ve started a Facebook page called We Support Teenage Girls. Because we do, don’t we?