Target: Trophy Women

Hey, remember Sarah Haskins? Funny lady saying smart things about how women’s representation in the media in funny ways? I called her My Fake Internet Girlfriend? You can find posts here, here and, well, just click the “Sarah Haskins” tag. (Sadly Current TV no longer supports its own old embed – boo, you suck – so I’ve embedded working prime example below. With bonus cameo by Leisha Hailey.)



Well, she left Current and stopped doing her Target Women segments back in 2010. And since then you really haven’t heard much from her. I garnered from following her on The Tweeter Machine that she got married and had a kid. And earlier this month, while again reading The Tweets, this time from the Television Critics Association press tour I read that she had created a new TV series coming to ABC this fall. It’s called “Trophy Wife.” I know, we all hate the title already. At the TCA’s last week, the show’s producers said the title was meant to be “ironic.” But see how well that worked out for Alanis Morissette? Also, the concept is also a little meh. A woman marries a man 20 years her senior who already has two ex-wives and assorted children from his previous marriages and hijinks ensues. If Sarah Haskin’s name wasn’t attached to it, I’d skip it and rewatch “The Fosters” instead for some blended family kickassery.

But Sarah does have her name attached to it, and it is actually based loosely on her real life. She moved to LA, met Blake Edward’s son (who is also 20 years her senior and the stepson of Julie Andrews), got married and had a kid. But this is Sarah. She has skewered everything from Botox, rom-coms and that yogurt that makes you poop. So surely she’ll be able to bring a feminist twist to the May-December cliché of being the so-called trophy wife, right?

Having seen the pilot, I can say it has promise. It’s not great, not by a long shot. At least not yet. It relies on an irritating voiceover technique from its heroine, played by Malin Akerman. But I do think there’s potential for a lot of wonderful female performances and perspective from the all the wives – the exes are played by Marcia Gay Harden and Michaela Watkins.

So, guess what, I’m going to give a show called – gulp, grit my teeth – “Trophy Wife” a chance. Because Sarah has never been off target on women before. So let’s see how she does this time.



p.s. Though, I’ll be honest, the Asian stepson is by far my favorite character so far.