‘American Housewife’ ABC TV Show Drops ‘The Second Fattest Housewife in Westport’ Title [Video]
Katy Mixon can be seen in the above photo from Tuesday, May 17, when Mixon was in New York at the ABC 2016 Network Upfront Presentation. Mixon is set to star in the ABC TV series titled American Housewife, which is a lot less controversial title than the title the show carried during the pilot season: The Second Fattest Housewife in Westport.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, ABC ditched the title The Second Fattest Housewife in Westport and changed it to American Housewife because the script changed to focus not merely on issues of “fatness,” but to include the topics of raising a normal family in a rich atmosphere such as Westport, Connecticut.
https://youtu.be/A9JRoZsnINw
However, body issues are still a central theme throughout the sneak peak trailer of American Housewife that was released to the public. Katy’s similarly-named main character bemoans her husband’s advances for hanky-panky after she ate a big meal. While he plays around with her midsection and questions why she’s wearing Spanx, Mixon’s TV counterpart tells him that Spanx are articles of shape-wear that help a woman’s middle portion get sucked in while her chest gets lifted up. As a result, he quips that she’s wearing the Spanx correctly.
The official trailer for American Housewife is already getting plenty of attention online. The above YouTube video from the ABC Television Network YouTube channel has received more than 1 million views since being upload on May 17. The video’s description explains how Mixon, from Mike and Molly fame, feels like she doesn’t fit in with the groups of thin moms in the moneyed city.
“Katie Otto (Katy Mixon, Mike and Molly), a confident, unapologetic wife and mother of three, raises her flawed family in the wealthy town of Westport, Connecticut, filled with ‘perfect’ mommies and their ‘perfect’ offspring.”
The particular American housewife who Mixon embodies is one who notes all the super-thin women around her with their firm glutes shown off in yoga pants — as well as the craziness of the housewife who wears two FitBits. Her Katie character bemoans all the green drinks surrounding her — and even tosses one in the trash as her daughter leaves the dad to deal with his raging wife.
Indeed, if ABC had decided to leave Mixon’s title as The Second Fattest Housewife in Westport as it transitioned from pilot season until its premiere date, the network would have likely heard plenty of feedback about using such a hot-button word as “fattest” in the title of the comedy.
Five years after that photo was taken, Katy lit up the red carpet once more in preparation for her new American Housewife comedy, as seen in the below photo from May 17.
Patrick Moran, ABC Studios chief, explained that the name change to drop the “fattest” and more wording from the title wasn’t necessarily about feared controversy, but about a shift in script focus.
“In the development process, [the comedy] moved away from being all about … body issues and toward this idea of how do you raise a family in a moneyed environment.”
[Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP Images]
