Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Call Your Mother’ On ABC, Where Kyra Sedgwick Plays A Mother Who Moves To LA To Hover Over Her Adult Kids

It’s odd to see Kyra Sedgwick starring in a multicamera network sitcom. She did star in one 20-odd years ago, but it only lasted three episodes. Before and since, she’s been known for dramas like Ten Days In The Valley or cop shows like The Closer. She’s guested on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but she just doesn’t seem like the type of actor to lead a traditional sitcom. So how is she in Kari Lizer’s new series Call Your Mother? 

CALL YOUR MOTHER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Multiple scenes of a woman leaving messages for her adult son.

The Gist: Jean Raines (Kyra Sedgwick) is upset. Why? Because she hasn’t heard from her 23-year-old son Freddie (Joey Bragg) for (gasp) four whole days. Since she’s been the only parental figure in her kids’ lives since their father died when they were young, and it just pains her that Freddie and his older sister Jackie (Rachel Sennott) are living in Los Angeles, 2,000 miles away from their Iowa home, and not updating her on what’s going on in their lives.

So, she does what any sane mother would do: She gets on a plane to fly there and check in, much to the chagrin of her high school buddy Sharon (Sherri Shepherd). When she gets there, she rents a guest house from Danny (Patrick Brammall) a recently-divorced therapist who overshares about how his wife was cheating on him, but is handsome and has a lovable dog named Ripper. Jean overshares, too, telling him about how she seems to be completely out of touch with her kids’ lives.

She pops in on Freddie, opening his unlocked door to see him making out with Celia (Emma Caymares), whose job is “Instagram influencer”; Jean had no idea Freddie was dating anyone. She also finds out that Freddie and Jackie have stopped communicating with each other. When she goes to visit Jackie, she finds out from her new roommate Lane (Austin Crute) that not only did Jackie break up with who she was dating, but she’s now dating her far-older boss.

Upset that she thinks her kids’ lives are going on while she’s in the dark, she decides to stay around, but not before having both her kids over for dinner in order for them to work out their differences.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Given that Call Your Mother is created by Kari Lizer, we’ll say it’s an unfunny version of Lizer’s hit series The New Adventures Of Old Christine.

Our Take: Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time Sedgwick, known mostly for her dramatic acting, has carried a sitcom; she starred in a very short-lived ABC comedy called Talk To Me in 2000. That show lasted three episodes; we’re pretty sure that Call Your Mother will go longer, but that’s only because ABC is devoid of fresh content during these pandemic times. From what we can see from the first episode — the only one ABC gave to critics for review — there’s nothing about this aggressively unfunny show that will keep anyone watching.

Where to start? How about with Sedgwick’s portrayal of an extremely overbearing mother? This seems like the sort of role that is so unpleasant and one-dimensional that you wonder why an accomplished actor like Sedgwick would sign on for such a role. On first blush, Jean seems like just another in the long line of TV mothers who can’t seem to let her adult children live their lives. There is some insight into her personal life — she’s had sex once in the past eight years — but for the most part she’s portrayed as a woman who just sits with her phone, wishing her kids would just call, dammit.

Then there’s Freddie and Jackie. One is the favored child, and the other is the one who keeps in touch, but is always criticized by Jean. Neither of them have anything resembling distinctive personalities; Jackie is obviously high-strung, but game developer Freddie doesn’t exactly seem laid back. Even though there’s a scene where Jackie explains to Freddie why she never called him — he never called her first! — it feels about as deep and heartfelt as a Shoebox Greetings card with that old lady on the front. The less said about Freddie’s influencer girlfriend, the better.

None of the lines in the pilot land, especially the one in the promos where Jean says she hasn’t been kissed in five years despite not having sex in four. The apartments look way too nice for single twentysomethings in LA, and Danny just seems to be there to be pathetic about his divorce.

There are sitcoms that have had bad first episodes that have the potential to get better, like Mayim Bialik’s recently-debuting series Call Me Kat. But there are some sitcoms that have first episodes that are so bad, there isn’t even a glimmer that you can identify that will make you think the show can find itself. Call Your Mother is one of those shows.

Sex and Skin: Nothing.

Parting Shot: After talking with Sharon on the phone, who both seem to be ready for bed despite a two-hour time difference, Jean gets into bed, which already has someone in it: Ripper.

Sleeper Star: Austin Crute, who plays Jackie’s roommate Lane, is the only character we gave a hoot about, mainly because he is perplexed about how people don’t perceive he’s gay when he so obviously is. Oh, and the dog that plays Ripper is pretty good.

Most Pilot-y Line: In her schmaltzy speech to her kids, Jean actually says, “We are a village,” and it’s not taken as a laugh line. Oh, and the show should also be cited for its criminal underuse of Sherri Shepherd. Yes, her role is just a recurring one, but she’s the only one in the cast with extensive sitcom experience. Use her more, Kari Lizer!

Our Call: SKIP IT. There’s a reason why Kyra Sedgwick hasn’t starred in a sitcom in 20 years. Her character isn’t the only unpleasant thing about Call Your Mother, but there’s nothing about it that makes us want to see Jean butt into her adult kids’ lives.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream Call Your Mother On ABC.com