Single Parents is an ABC sitcom starring Taran Killam, Leighton Meester, Kimrie Lewis, Jake Choi, and Brad Garrett.
Will Cooper (Killam) is a single parent who has absorbed himself in his daughter's life since he and his wife divorced. On the first day of school, he meets Angie, Poppy, Miggy, and Douglas, fellow single parents who are attempting to navigate the challenges of parenthood without sacrificing their own adult identities.
The show premiered on September 26, 2018 and was picked up for a full season of 23 episodes on October 17, 2018. On May 10, 2019, ABC renewed the show for a second season. On May 21, 2020, ABC announced that the show would not be back for a third season.
This series provides examples of:
- Accidental Misnaming: Douglas buys Miggy a website to sell his sneakers: Sneaks by Mickey
- Animal-Eared Headband: Three girls in the kids' class are constantly wearing bunny-ear headbands.
- Asian Airhead: Miggy's list of potential careers included "abbreviated jobs" like CEO, CFO, and UTI, along with "millionaire."
- Casting Gag:
- Will's ex-wife is played by Taran Killam's ex-SNL cast mate Vanessa Bayer.
- Angie’s deadbeat former boyfriend, Graham’s father, is played by Adam Brody, the real-life husband of Leighton Meester.
- Caught on Tape: While competing to see who could sleep-train baby Jack, Angie catches Douglas coddling and singing Jack to sleep on the baby monitor.
- Celebrity Paradox:
- Will sings "My Shot" from Hamilton, Taran Killam was a King George replacement on Broadway.
- Saturday Night Live is also referenced, Killam having been a cast member for six years.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Will’s girlfriend, Dr. Dewan, is neither spoken of nor heard from again after appearing at the parent social. In fact, Will slips back into a relationship with his ex-wife just three episodes later.
- Convenience Store Gift Shopping:
- Angie has to do this (albeit at Will's house) when Owen surprises her with a gift on Christmas Eve.
- Owen is a bit guilty of this as well. Angie points out that the vanilla candle he bought is the same one in the restrooms at work.
- Sophie thinks Will does this based on his lackluster Christmas presents, while her mom always manages to send her fantastic gifts. Angie sees right through the ruse and Will admits that he switches the gifts every year because it makes Sophie happy.
- A Day in the Limelight: Emma and Amy, in "The Shed."
- Different in Every Episode: The establishing shot of Hilltop School has a different message on the signboard in every episode.
- The Dragon: In "JOUST!", Emma and Amy serve as Rory's running mates, and after winning the election, his enforcers.
- Everything Sounds Sexier in French: Will can’t resist his ex-wife when she speaks in a foreign language.
- Face Doodling: The twins write “farts” on Graham’s forehead. Angie’s attempt to make them apologize results in a pen-drawn mustache on her upper lip.
- "Fawlty Towers" Plot: As seen in "They Call Me DOCTOR Biscuits"
- God Save Us from the Queen!: Bunny is implied to be this in "JOUST!"
- Human Notepad:
- To help Miggy move on from his ex, dermatologist Douglas removes Miggy’s “Zara” tattoo. During the procedure, he notes, and the audience sees, the abundance of tattoos covering Miggy’s body. Also becomes an issue for Miggy when he dates golf pro Bobbi and she asks him to cover up his tattoos.
- Graham becomes one when the twins write “farts” on his forehead with permanent marker. Angie is not amused.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every episode's name is a quote from the episode script.
- Kindhearted Simpleton: Asian Airhead Miggy is being a single parent, looking after his son, so his baby mamma can go to college.
- Makeover Montage: A not so successful example when the kids give Poppy one before she meets her potential soulmate.
- May–December Romance: The reason Douglas married his wife. Figuring he could have a few years of fun, have a couple kids, then go senile before really having to bother. The twist being his young wife died instead, leaving him with twin girls to raise.
- Mic Drop: Angie caps a rousing speech with one, much to Will’s chagrin since the mic was a rental.
- Mistaken for Cheating: In "Welcome to Hilltop!", Angie and Poppy stalk Miggy's girlfriend Homily because they think she's cheating on him. Turns out the man she's seeing is her and Miggy's shared boyfriend, and the three are a throuple.
- Mistaken for Romance: In "The Angie-man", Will's parents think that Will and Angie are dating because they're such close friends. They keep the ruse going because his parents also tell them that their relationship was the only thing keeping them together.
- Mysterious Woman: "Big Red" to Douglas, who steals a cab from him and piques his interest. Unfortunately, his next encounter with her is dressed as a giant chipmunk for Halloween.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Poppy and Douglas in "JOUST!," after Rory wins the election, decrees no more elections, and demands the other students bow before him.
- No Social Skills: Will's girlfriend, Dr. Monica Dewan, has difficulty dealing with kids and parents in social situations outside of her office.
- Only Sane Man: Douglas and Sophie take turns playing this trope.
- Parent-Child Team: While the typical storyline pairs the parents, several episodes have paired a parent with one of the kids, such as Poppy and Sophie's drama show binge watching and Will and Graham's tight relationship.
- Polyamory: In "Welcome to Hilltop!" Angie and Poppy find out that Miggy and his girlfriend Homily have become a throuple with another man. The episode also ends with Angie trying out a Polyamorous dating app after seeing how happy the three of them are.
- Santa's Existence Clause: Graham's belief in Santa is shaken by Bunny Ears, but Santa's "appearance" in his house on Christmas Eve and his ability to answer the tough questions squelches any doubt (for Miggy too!).
- Sexiness Score: In the Valentine's Day Episode "A Cash-Grab Cooked Up by the Crepe Paper Industry", Graham gives his crush a valentine while telling her she's a "10".
- Shout-Out:
- Emma and Amy reveal a hole they are carving through the drywall in their room. Douglas knows about it and routinely patches it up, but allows them to keep digging since it keeps them busy.
- Rory dresses up as wealthy businessman Edward Lewis for Halloween and is thrilled when someone finally recognizes him.
- Single-Minded Twins: Emma and Amy. Douglas even claims that he successfully turned them into a single person.
- Sinister Surveillance: Douglas places cameras in every room in his house in an attempt to catch Mark, a rival dermatologist whom he suspects stole his Ronald Reagan’s White House collectible pen at last year’s parent social.
- Something We Forgot: The second season premiere shows how the parents spent their summer while the children were at camp. The final shot has them relaxing by Douglas' pool as the kids appear, angry that they forgot to pick them up from the bus station.
- Special Guest: Will has to deal with Lance Bass when he forgets to mail the deposit to secure Sophie’s spot at Lance Bass Space Camp.
- The Drag-Along: Graham plays this trope most of the time.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: Emma and Amy are pretty scheming and apparently dispose of damning evidence on the regular, but considering their father it's not too shocking. Who really takes the cake is Louisa, one of the kids' classmates who seems to live in the 1800s and who's only entertainment is watching her pet owl hunt.
- Twin Telepathy: Emma pretends to be able to sense what Amy just did, only to get exasperated when Angie immediately believes her, complaining that people have ridiculous ideas about what twins can do."We don't know the extent of your powers!"
- Tyrant Takes the Helm: Rory, in "JOUST!" after defeating Bunny, the multi-term incumbent, in the race for class president, and ends up being worse than she ever was, just a minute into his term. His first order of business? Eliminating all elections. His second? Demanding that the students bow before him.
- Written-In Absence: Rory only appears by video conference in the Christmas episode. It's explained that he's in Hawaii with his father for the holidays this year since Poppy had him last Christmas.
