In the Motherhood

Washington PostTom Shales

Long story short: These girls are golden.

Chicago Sun-TimesPaige Wiser

It's got snappy writing and superior stars, but treat yourself by looking up the original shows.

Hollywood ReporterRandee Dawn

While the premiere episode holds together well (Emily's son learns there's no Santa and shares that with his fellow kindergarteners, sparking a riot; Jane has a date; Rosemary fakes pregnancy), the follow-up episode--featuring a nanny strike, bad teeth and Jane getting locked out of her house--doesn't hold together.

San Francisco ChronicleTim Goodman

Even though In the Motherhood may have universal appeal, overly familiar premises can lead to lameness, so ABC better hope the rest of the episodes play more like the one on Thursday and less like the one a week later.

SlateTroy Patterson

The show rises to mediocrity on the strength of the occasional snappiness of the dialogue.

Entertainment WeeklyKen Tucker

Flat and obvious, Motherhood stars a trio of superior funnywomen--Will & Grace's Megan Mullally, Curb Your Enthusiasm's 
Cheryl Hines, and Jessica St. Clair of Best Week Ever and Worst Week--as moms who pal around and joke about the stresses in their lives.

NewsdayVerne Gay

It's bright! It's energetic! It has that sort of dialogue that zips, zaps and zings! It's even ironic! Yet, at its very core, Motherhood is completely vacant.

Boston GlobeMatthew Gilbert

To stand out from the pablum of domestic sitcoms, the series needs to lose the working-mom cliches and be more willing to be mean.

Kansas City StarAaron Barnhart

I hate to say it, but if it weren’t for Sanz and Mullally, there would be no reason at all to watch this sitcom.

Los Angeles TimesMary McNamara

In the Motherhood worked as a Web series based on real-life stories but not, it would seem, as a television series based on overused stereotypes.

The New York TimesAlessandra Stanley

It’s an impressive cast and a perfectly good premise, but for some reason, Thursday’s pilot episode is not very funny.

VarietyBrian Lowry

The result is tonally uneven, too-rarely funny and rehashes material that isn't as relatable as it should be to the average parent.

Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen Gray

The ABC sitcom, which runs what seems like an excruciating 21-22 minutes, it's a trio that deserves better.

New York MagazineEmily Nussbaum

If series like In The Motherhood are designed as Trojan horses for product placement, they won’t have much impact if they’re as weakly written as this Frankensteinian mulch of mommy-war cliches and "Santa is dead" gags.

Orlando SentinelHal Boedeker

In the Motherhood represents ABC's feeble attempt to transform a successful Web series into a sitcom. The main problem: The three moms are mighty annoying.

USA TodayRobert Bianco

What you get from Motherhood are witless, barely connected vignettes about three unpleasant, unbelievable women.

New York PostLinda Stasi

With jokes so bad, they make Carrot Top look funny, it's a tough haul for all--all around.

Philadelphia InquirerJonathan Storm

The show is so bad, it might be gone anyway, quickly canceled as ABC scrambles to recover from an 0-for-2 comedy start on its new spring schedule.

New York Daily NewsDavid Hinckley

It's stunning that ABC's new sitcom In the Motherhood, built on stories of life as Mom, manages to come off as stiff, disjointed and curiously unlikable.

Miami HeraldGlenn Garvin

The tedium and unoriginality of this new ABC sitcom, the latest entry in the vastly overworked motherhood-as-martyrdom genre, has to be seen to be believed, though my strong and sincere suggestion is that you just take my word for it.

Newark Star-LedgerAlan Sepinwall

It is really, really atrocious. Not so-bad-it's-good. Just bad. Plain bad. Why am I watching this?-level bad.