ABC sitcom from Emily Kapnek, formerly of Parks and Recreation. The show revolves around sixteen-year-old Tessa Altman and her father, George, who have just moved from New York City to the affluent suburb of Chatswin.The series takes place not long after Tessa's father does a search and seizure of her bedroom. He searched her room, found an unopened box of condoms, and promptly had a seizure. He decides to get them both away from New York City so he can give her a better life. And what better place to get away to than suburbia?Tessa takes this as well as you might expect.First aired on ABC September 28, 2011, and airs on E4 in the UK/Ireland.The title is rather obviously a portmanteau of suburb and purgatory.The series took some inspiration (mostly the title) from a memoir by Linda Keenan, Suburgatory: Twisted Tales from Darkest Suburbia.Now has an incomplete character sheet.
Artistic License - Geography: The show's map suggests Chatswin is either in south-western Connecticut or the adjacent areas of Westchester County. Yet, culturally, it has far more in common with some parts of Long Island or New Jersey than it does with either Greenwich or Port Chester.
Berserk Button: Learning that he's adopted causes Ryan to go insane and attack his family in their car, followed up by him questioning the reality of everything around him (such as a light pole and a parking meter)...by punching them
Cloudcuckoolander: one not from Chatswin is Tessa's mom Alex, which, unusually for this trope, is not always played for comedy (for one thing, it is used to emphasize how irresponsible she is)
Dawson Casting: Most of the teen characters are played by actors in their early twenties, with Lisa's actress, Allie Grant, being closest in age-17 when the show premiered.
Deadpan Snarker: Tessa. Lisa has her moments too, generally aimed either at Tessa or her mother.
Dalia has her moment, when Tessa introduces her to undercover narc Josh:
Dalia: "Is Tessa showing you around Losertown?" Josh: "Well, if this is Losertown, wouldn't that make you a loser?" Dalia: "Oh, wow. Logic."
The Ditz: Both Dalia and Dallas Royce. Maybe it's genetic?
Dumb Blonde: A good chunk of the cast. Subverted with some characters like Lisa, Noah, and Jill who aren't dumb but sometimes show a lack of common sense.
George thinks Dallas is flirting with him using this trope but it turns out that it's just how she eats bananas.
Expy: You could think Dalia is Regina George mixed with Karen, while Dallas is a less embarrassing Mrs George, and Tessa is essentially Cady. However, Tessa is much more aggressive, self-confident and ambitious than Cady, and Dalia is very open-minded for some things and less manipulative. On the other hand, Tessa also has a striking resemblance to Ginger from As Told by Ginger, which was also created by Emily Kapnek.
Heroes Want Redheads: Despite her outsider "Cool Loser" status, several boys have shown attraction to Tessa, including desirably guys like Ryan Shay and Dalia's crush, Scott Strauss.
George was similarly taken with Tessa's redheaded mother, Alex.
Hidden Depths : Dallas prefers relative poverty to remaining with a man who cheats on her.
Lethal Chef: Well, Lethal Smoker, technically, with the "friendship fish" Lisa smoked in her closet with her dad's home smoker. It gives Tessa food poisoning so bad she needs to go to the hospital, as apparently "you're only supposed to smoke fish for four hours, not four weeks."
Letter Motif: The KKK; Kaitlin, Kenzie and Kimantha.
Missing Mom: Tessa's mother left when she was very young. Lisa's mom Sheila is physically present (in fact, she's a bit of a My Beloved Smother to Tessa) but obviously doesn't give a crap about Lisa.
Mistaken for Gay: Everyone assumes Tessa is a lesbian due to her tomboyish demeanor.
Then Tessa does it again with an undercover narcotics officer. Though this is subverted with Mr Wolfe
Mommy Didn't Show: Subverted in Season 2's Thanksgiving episode. Alex doesn't show up to Tessa's grandma's apartment where she and Tessa are expecting her... because she showed up in Chatswin where she thought Tessa would be. It ends up working out in the end, though.
My Beloved Smother: Sheila attempts to be this for Tessa (and, when his back gives out, George). Ironically, she doesn't seem to give a crap about her own daughter.
One Dialogue, Two Conversations: Tessa, with Josh, the undercover narc investigating steroid use in the school. Tessa infers that the secret he's keeping is that he's still in the closet, while Josh think she knows he's a narc.
Josh: Oh my God, you do know. You can't out me. Nobody's ever figured it out before. Tessa: Wouldn't it be better if everyone knew and it was out in the open? Josh: Are you kidding? That would ruin me. So Ryan is not my guy, is there anybody else worth checking out? Tessa: I do have the sneaky suspicion of Dave Donsky, school quarterback. Josh: Got it, I'll sniff around, see what he's into.
Parental Substitute: Sheila attempts to be this to Tessa, much to George's annoyance. Dallas also tries, much to Tessa's annoyance.
Carmen is one for both Dalia and Noah's son Opus.
Popular Is Dumb: Dalia, Kaitlyn, Kenzie, Kimantha, Ryan; pretty much everyone popular in the whole thing.
Product Placement: Tessa spends one episode practically in love with her tablet. Pretty blatant, especially with commercials for tablets during the episode.
Psychologist Teacher: Subverted; the guidance counselor is as chirpy and clueless as everyone else in town.
Running Gag: Tessa and her "lesbian boots" in the pilot episode.
Dalia attempting to become more Jewish throughout the second season
Ship Tease: Fred reads his wife's diary, where she wrote down an erotic dream of hers involving "George". turns out she was referring to George Stephanopoulos
The Tessa / Dalia interaction rings very similar to Mean Girls.
Tessa's narration in the third episode is also similar to Cady's narration, where the two of them compare the high school and suburbia to the Animal Kingdom.
Mr Wolfe's reference to undercover narc Josh's presence being "just like 'The Wire'!" is a twofer SO: first, to Twenty One Jump Street; second, Maestro Harrell (who plays Malik) is a real-life Wire alumnus.
Malik is a snitch. Chalk up one more Randy Wagstaff reference.
In one episode, George compares his and Dallas's relationship with Scully and Mulder's. At the end of the episode, Dallas is watching the X-Files, wishing Mulder would kiss her Scully.
Ryan initially comes across as a Jerk Jock but is actually a very sweet person, mainly because he is just too stupid to be mean. He also genuinely cares about people, like Lisa and Tessa.
Straw Feminist: Paula, aka "The Witch of East Chatswin," is not really an example, but is considered to be by the residents of Chatswin, who view her as a literal witch.
Dalia: Tessa, you're reminding me of Tyler Perry right now. You're joking, but you're not funny. Tessa: I'm not joking! Although you are right about Tyler Perry.
Another one is when Ryan proposes to Lisa that he defer college for a year so that he can go to whatever school Tessa ends up going to:
Lisa: That's not going to work. Tessa's going to attend a school that values a curious mind, creativity, hard work, intellect...whereas you are most likely to attend the University of Florida
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