Baby Daddy "Pilot" Review

My freshmen year theology class included a project in which students were paired up to figure out why we shouldn't have babies as teenagers. The theology teacher, a woman who would later love me along with the rest of the faculty, did not seem to like me nor my friend so much in theology. My friend and I sat in the back, near a giant map of the world, and made jokes before class officially begun. Naturally, we were going to team up to nail this project. Each group presented their reasons for not wanting to have sex and make a baby. The reasons were boring, the kind of answers you'd expect from dopey freshmen in a theology class. My fellow classmates spoke about waiting for marriage when they'd be in holy matrimony. Smith, my friend, and I weren't interested in listing the same damn things every other group listed. Smith and I aimed for honesty.

We presented our list of reasons for not engaging in premarital sex. None of the reasons seemed to please our teacher. I remember we emphasized the expenses of babies, i.e. babies are very expensive, and we were teenagers who couldn't even talk to the girls we liked. Our reasons barely dealt with religion. For fifteen year olds, we were quite practical and economical about the matter. I think we passed the project. Shortly thereafter, my desk mysteriously disappeared, forcing me to the other side of the room, away from Smith. I failed third quarter theology. I still stand by our project, though. Babies are really expensive. None of this really connects with my thoughts on Baby Daddy.

Baby Daddy on ABC Family deals with a twenty-something year old dude named Ben who finds himself in care of a 3 month old baby. The baby's mother dropped her off. Ben and his roommates have no idea how to raise a baby. His best friend, Tucker, cares about food more than anything else in the world. Ben's brother, Danny, seems to be a professional hockey player who's just been traded to the New York Rangers. The boys are well-adjusted and respectful. They're the kind of twenty-something year olds you'd expect on ABC Family. The token attractive girl of the series is Riley, a life-long friend of Ben's and Danny's who harbors a crush on Ben but can't shake the days when she was called fatpants. Riley saves their asses in act one with her knowledge of diaper-changing and what not.

Baby Daddy is simple and straight-forward. Ben's a directionless dude who's waited tables, worked construction, and now tends bars. Danny's a professional hockey player who's just been traded to the New York Rangers. Tucker wants to eat food. None are ideal to care for a baby. The baby, Emma, has a diaper held together with duct tape. The gags surrounding the baby are worth a chuckle or two. Twice, Ben and Tucker run out of the apartment to avoid caring for the baby alone. Both times, Danny's left with Emma.
Each time, Danny becomes more adept with the baby; he figures out how to hold her, and he even carries the baby around in one of those pouches. Danny sort of rolls with the punches; he's a harmless fun-loving brother who wants to do what he can for Ben. Tucker, too, wants to be there for Ben. In fact, all of his friends want to be there for Ben, but no one thinks Ben can take care of the baby by himself.

The "Pilot" has heart. Ben's mother tells him to sign his paternity away because she still buys his pants, which means, to him and his friends that he's not capable of making the sacrifices one needs to care for a baby. Danny, Tucker and Riley believe in Ben, though. When he frantically texts and calls the three of them to help him when he's alone with Emma, they don't come to his aid, because he needs to know he can care for the baby, and that he doesn't need to give up his little girl if he doesn't want to. The sweetest moments in the "Pilot" occur when the action's centered on Emma. Ben cries when she eats for him. His friends instantly drop everything to help with Emma.

The lack of cynicism in Baby Daddy is breath of fresh air. Emma's never treated as a burden. Ben never thinks about how Emma will prevent him from living the life he wants to. His mother laments the dreams she had that passed her by when she became pregnant with Danny. Ben accepts Emma instantly; he only worries about being unable to care for her, being unable to be a good father to his daughter. The moment at the end when Emma eats is about Ben realizing he has the stuff to be what his daughter needs. In the little scenes when he's alone, he refers to himself as daddy; he embraces his role as parent. Ben doesn't harbor any animosity towards the mother either. Ben's a good man, a good character for young girls to watch on a weekly basis.

Since the show airs on ABC Family, an innocence pervades the story. Riley likes Ben but she's afraid to tell him. Danny teases her about the crush like how schoolchildren would tease one another on the playground. This storytelling doesn't reflect the dating world of twenty-something year olds. I doubt a woman who's in law school would punch someone each time that someone threatened to tell the one who's crushed on about the girl who's crushing on him. Danny happens to be in love with Riley. The professional hockey player who's just been traded to the Rangers can't muster the courage to let the girl know how he feels. I understand why their feelings are elementary, though: this is ABC Family, not HBO's Girls.

Tahj Mowry portrays Tucker. Mowry, of course, is Smart Guy. He doesn't look any different from the last time I watched him in Smart Guy. His comedic timing is still very good. There were funny scenes, mainly any scene involving Tucker and Danny with Emma. The baby, of course, will make your heart melt.
I'd recommend the series to families and preteens, though anyone could watch and enjoy the show. There's no way I will write about the show on a weekly basis, unless I spend each review speculating endlessly about Danny's career with the New York Rangers. I really just wrote about it because I need to write about more current stuff during the summer. I also wanted to see how Mowry performed a decade plus after Smart Guy ended. Man, Smart Guy was awesome. All in all, Baby Daddy is a harmless half-hour of comedy.

THE YOUTUBE CLIP OF THE WEEK