Review: USA Network Has a New Winner in PLAYING HOUSE

Last night USA Network premiered its new comedy, Playing House, with two back-to-back episodes. I confess that I enjoyed them so much that I watched the re-air at 10pm central time. USA has a new hit. Smart comedies are few and far between these days so “Playing House” is refreshing. The show’s stars and creators, Lennon Parham and Jessica St. Clair might just be two of the funniest ladies on TV. They have everything that Nice Girls TV looks for: intelligence, talent, whit and snark (in spades).

Of course the fact that Parham and St. Clair are BFFs is reality just adds a sense of security and completeness that most shows have to settle into with the first few episodes.

Keegen – Michael Key fits right in with the girls’ brand of humor and with the show’s style. He plays an old flame of Emma’s, Mark, who is a cop and now married to one of the girls’ school chums. Mark isn’t a fan of Emma’s since she turned down his marriage proposal and split town. Making things more interesting is the woman that Mark did marry. Her name is Tina (Lindsay Sloane) and while in school Emma labeled her ‘Bird Bones’ because it doesn’t take much for Tina to break a bone and end up in a splint. In fact she has a collection of them in various sizes so she can save herself the trouble of going to the emergency room. She just slaps on a splint and goes on with her life. I don’t know how much of Tina we’ll get to see in the series but I hope it’s a lot because she was hilarious.

Maggie’s cheating husband, Bruce, is played by Brad Morris. Brad reminded me of  Phoebe’s brother on “Friends”. He’s clueless and careless and I can see that he’ll be the cause of much eye-rolling and guffaws. Coincidentally, Brad was featured in a Key and Peele episode, so there’s a connection with Keegan adding to the easy familiarity of the characters on “Playing House”.

Playing Maggie’s little brother, Zach, is Zach Woods. Zach is a sweetheart and willing to do anything for his sister, but he’s a bit quirky and naive. He can get into trouble when following a scent on something but when push comes to shove, he can be counted on.

“Playing House” is not a family-friendly comedy. It can get raunchy and inappropriate for younger eyes. For adults, it’s perfect. The dialog is at times quick and spicy and at other times it slows down just enough for you to get in touch with a tender moment between characters.

Do I gush too much? Probably, but you will too when you invest your time in this show. For me, it’s the perfect ending to my Tuesday night lineup. I actually want to be in the Emma/Maggie besties club.

“Playing House” airs on Tuesday nights at 10/9c on USA.