THE MICK

The Mick was a Kaitlyn Olsen starring comedy that aired on for 2 seasons from 2017 to 2018. It was an incredibly well written, sharp-wit comedy that fit well alongside another Kaitlyn Olsen starring hit show at the time, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. The show had some incredible break out stars in Sofia Black-D’Elia (who went on to star in the fantastic Single Drunk Female), Thomas Barbusca (Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, Arrested Development), Carla Jimenez who is incredible in everything she has been in, notably Raising Hope, Better Off Ted, and Last Man Standing. The whole cast is amazing, I don’t want this to end up reading like the end credits.
The premise: The titular “Mick” Mickenzie Molng is unapologetic degenerate of a woman from (to quote  Wikipedia here): “a tough part of Rhode Island”, from A tough part of Rhode Island. More than one part, huh?
The Mick ends up as guardian of her high maintenance niece and two nephews after her extremely wealthy sister and sister’s husband get arrested for fraud and racketeering (and brings along her dipshit ex-boyfriend) and thus, we are awarded comedy.

While the show did struggle somewhat for an audience, it wasn’t exactly a flop. It drew OK ratings, it got a mixed bag of critical attention, I feel like it was just hitting its stride when it was cancelled. While the network tried to claim low ratings, there were plenty of shows on the same network with lower ratings that ran for much longer. What really happened here was the network unexpectedly won the rights to air professional football. Rather than put a little work into shuffling around the schedule they just blanket cancelled any shows with conflicting air times. So goodbye Ghosted, Last Man on Earth, and The Mick among other shows that might have been just getting started, that might have been destined for greatness. That’s right, they cancelled nearly their entire Thursday night comedy lineup. Which also included Brooklyn 99 at the time. B-99 was famously saved by fans and picked up at another network.

At least we got 2 great seasons. Where It’s Always Sunny… are outrageous people who stumbled all over an ordinary world like a bull in a china shop, The Mick would be outrageous people flying just barely under the radar in an ordinary world. They were the weird neighbors who you suspect are squatting in that mansion at the end of the block, who you know are insane, you just don’t have any proof. 

I liked it quite a bit, it could have been a massive hit, it was cancelled before it ever had a decent chance. You can currently see Kaitlyn Olsen’s masterful comedic work as a recurring character on Hacks.