MOM

**1/2 (out of ****)

In this corner, we have Allison Janney and Anna Faris, two talented comediennes/actresses who routinely elevate whatever they are in. In the other corner, we have Chuck Lorre, an incredibly prolific yet untalented man who hasn’t produced anything even remotely watchable since being a writer on Roseanne (you ready to throw up?) 22 years ago. Who is going to win this battle? Will Chuck Lorre prove that he can make anyone boring and unfunny? Or will Faris and Janney prove just how valuable they are? In a decision that surprised me more than it should, Faris and Janney win just, if just barely by decision.

It’s hacky. It’s crass. It’s incredibly predictable, both with punchlines and plotlines. It has a laughtrack, that eternally fresh joy of joys that lets you know when to laugh, in case you needed a cue. But these two actresses, doing everything they can to make shit float, actually succeed every once in a while. And Lorre succeeds, in lieu of creativity, to take this pilot to some pretty dark fucking places, places that feel especially dark when you feel that laugh track bust in.

Anna Faris is a thirtyish waitress who is trying to raise two kids fathered by two different dads. She’s trying to put her life back together, after a lifetime of partying. At an AA meeting, she runs into her mom (Janney), who she hasn’t seen for years. It turns out that her mom is trying to get her life together, too, and gosh darnit, these two ladies just might make it work. And then the two talk about how Janney used to cook meth in the house when Faris was a little girl. WHAAAA?!!? I guess Breaking Bad coming to an end is going to leave a hole in our lives, as far as shows about meth go, and Mom is the one that’s going to fill that hole. I’m going to root hard for these chicks; I really hope that they can find more and more ways to make this better than it should be. But even more than that, I’m rooting for them to talk to more Michael Schurs and fewer Chucke Lorres.

-Ryan Haley