Baby Daddy (ABC Family) - Series Premiere: Synopsis and Review
Wednesday the 20th of June, ‘Baby Daddy’ premiered on ABC family at 8:30/7:30c. The series stars Jean-Luc Bilodeau (‘Kyle XY’) as Ben, a twenty-something year old bartender who lives with his friend Tucker (Tahj Mowry, ‘Smart Guy’) and his brother Danny (Derek Theler, ‘90210’). The day Ben’s brother moves in, somebody knocks on his door and leaves a baby on their doorstep. Not just any baby, Ben’s baby. He had no clue that he was a father so this provides him with quite the shock.
From the letter that came with the baby the guys learn that the baby’s name is Emma, and her mother is ‘Angela the crazy actress’. Danny figured they needed some help and called his and Ben’s childhood friend ‘fat pants Riley’. She has lost a lot of weight though, so ‘fat pants’ isn’t very applicable anymore. Riley isn’t exactly an experienced mother, but something, motherly instinct probably, at least makes her comfortable handling Emma. Ben, Danny and Tucker are far from comfortable. In fact, when Riley says they need some more items in order to take care of Emma Ben and Tucker cannot run away faster, leaving Danny to help Riley with Emma, which he is not happy about. In his private moment with Riley, Danny discovers she has a crush on Ben. However, we do get some hints that Danny probably has a crush on Riley himself, thus creating a nice little love triangle.
After the initial shock Ben has to go to work, and there he receives a call from Danny that Angela is at their apartment. Ben rushes home but she’s gone when he gets there, and she hasn’t taken Emma with her. She did, however, leave him some papers to sign so Emma can be adopted. Ben isn’t sure if he should sign them, and the lack of confidence from his brother and friends and mother, who had to hear about her grandchild while getting a manicure, persuades him that he isn’t capable of raising a child.
After a conversation with Riley, Danny realizes that probably all Ben needs is some confidence in himself, and that they haven’t been helping him with that. So he persuades Riley and Tucker to ignore Ben’s calls for help. As the three wait outside of the apartment, Ben figures out how to handle Emma and gets the ego-boost he needs. After this night, he decides to keep Emma, opening a whole new lifestyle for himself, his brother and his friends.
I enjoyed ‘Baby Daddy’. It follows the classic sitcom rules, with small jokes and one bigger storyline that has a big impact on the everyday life. The episodes are short for something this funny but they’re not too short, and funny moments are interspersed with serious moments in an enjoyable rhythm. All in all, this is a nice series. It’s funny, it’s interesting and it’s a bit basic but that’s OK because that makes it easy to watch. Exactly what an ABC family summer series should be like.