This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
ABC's "Suburgatory" (Wednesday, 7:30 p.m., Ch. 4) has the best title of any new show on TV this fall. It's pretty funny. And star Jane Levy is going to be, well, a star.
Levy stars as 16-year-old Tessa Altman. She is perfectly happy living in Manhattan, believing - as most New Yorkers do - that anywhere other than New York is uncivilized and unworthy of her presence.
But the her dad, George (Jeremy Sisto), discovers condoms in her drawer. They aren't hers - really - but George completely over-reacts and moves them to the suburbs.
It's a little crazy, but then this is a TV comedy.
Upon arriving in suburbia, Tessa and George (a single dad) are both fish out of water. And they're astonished by the plastic suburban moms.
"It's like the million mom march," Tessa says. "They're shuffling out of the tanning salons in their mani-pedi flip-flops, with their ever-present daughters and enormous frozen coffee drinks."
Things get worse when she gets to the local high school and meets the local mean girl, Dalia (Carly Chaikin). And then meets the mean girl's mom, Dallas (Cheryl Hines).
"Suburgatory" is wry and sometimes mean, but it has a heart. It's sort of a weekly version of "Easy A," the 2010 Emma Stone film comedy.
And Levy is great.