Critic Reviews

In its pilot form, at least, Trophy Wife is surprisingly self-assured and confident, the sort of show that seems ready to hit its stride in just a week or two.

Akerman has to be everything. Good thing she's a nimble actress.... Whitford is always winning, and even the poor exes find wiggle room inside their cliches.

Akerman has wit and style, and so does the show.

A pilot that was better than it sounded on paper (though I'm not sure there isn't more funny chemistry between Marcia Gay Harden--who plays Wife No. 1--and Akerman than there is between Whitford and Akerman).

The charming pilot swerves quickly from the expected Bravo-reality-show-catfight scenario and becomes something more complicated and rewarding: a good-hearted comedy about an extended family (including Pete’s two ex-wives) figuring out how to make itself work on the fly.

Trophy Wife is nominally about a marriage, but if its very polished and sure-handed pilot is any indication, it is just as focused on Kate’s dynamic with Pete’s ex-wives.

Trophy Wife is charming and buoyant, and it has fun with tasks that feel like homework on many other new shows: It creates specific characters, establishes a consistent tone and sets up a host of relationships that are full of potential.

Trophy Wife is the only new sitcom [this fall] that clears the double hurdles of cast chemistry and story pacing in the pilot episode.

While Trophy Wife is an often-amusing comedy, it doesn't entirely work as a family comedy, because it has yet to convince us that these people could ever be part of the same family.

The unfortunate title is a disservice to this show's main character.... Luckily, the second episode makes Kate sympathetic, as she tries (and fails) to put her stepson (Albert Tsai) to bed. Akerman has nice, playful chemistry with Tsai, who shows good comic timing even though he's only 9.