American Housewife is an American sitcom television series that debuted on October 11, 2016, on ABC. Created and written by Sarah Dunn and co-executive produced with Aaron Kaplan, Kenny Schwartz, Rick Wiener, and Ruben Fleischer, the Kapital Entertainment–ABC Studios co-production was greenlighted to series order on May 12, 2016.^[1] A preview was released on May 17, 2016.^[2] On November 4, 2016, ABC gave a full-season order of 22 episodes with an additional episode ordered on December 13, 2016, for a 23-episode first season.^[3][4]

In May 2017, ABC renewed American Housewife for a second season, which premiered on September 27, 2017.^[5][6] On October 31, ABC ordered two additional episodes, bringing the season total to 24.^[7] In May 2018, ABC renewed American Housewife for a third season of 23 episodes,^[8] which premiered on September 26, 2018.^[9] In May 2019, the series was renewed for a fourth season,^[10] and set to premiere on September 27, 2019.^[11]

The series chronicles the daily life of Katie Otto, a wife and mother who tries to stand out among the wealthy, pretentious, arrogant housewives and their privileged children after moving to the town of Westport, Connecticut. Compared to the other residents who own big houses, Katie and her family are renters. She lives with Greg, her level-headed husband who is a university professor, and their three children. Taylor is their athletic, headstrong oldest daughter who wants to fit in with her peers; Oliver, their savvy, ambitious, and snarky son, is the middle child; and Anna-Kat, sweet but obsessive-compulsive, is the youngest and Katie's blatant favorite. Katie frequently vents her frustration to and seeks advice from her two closest friends: Doris, whose strict parenting style sharply contrasts with Katie's; and Angela, a divorced lesbian mother with a calm parenting style.

On January 28, 2016, it was announced that ABC had given the production a pilot order as The Second Fattest Housewife In Westport.^[13] The episode was written by Sarah Dunn who was expected to executive produce alongside Aaron Kaplan, Kenny Schwartz and Rick Wiener. Production companies involved with the pilot include Eight Sisters Productions, Weiner & Schwartz Productions, Kapital Entertainment, and ABC Studios. On May 12, 2016, ABC officially ordered the pilot to series.^[14] A few days later, it was announced that the series, now titled American Housewife, would premiere on October 11, 2016 and aired on Tuesdays at 9:30 P.M.^[15] On November 4, 2016, ABC picked up the series for a full season of 22 episodes and on December 13, an additional episode was ordered.^[3][4] On May 11, 2017, ABC renewed the series for a second season,^[16] which premiered on September 27, 2017. On May 11, 2018, ABC renewed the series for a third season of 23 episodes,^[8] which premiered on September 26, 2018. On May 10, 2019, ABC renewed the series for a fourth season^[10] and set to premiere on September 27, 2019.^[11]

On February 17, 2016, it was announced that Katy Mixon had been cast in the pilot's lead role.^[17] In March 2016, it was reported that Carly Hughes, Ali Wong and Diedrich Bader had also joined the pilot's main cast.^[18][19][20] On June 27, 2016, it was announced that Meg Donnelly had been cast to replace Johnny Sequoyah in the pilot role of Taylor, Katie and Greg's character's daughter.^[21]

American Housewife has received mixed reviews from television critics, with Katy Mixon's performance being praised as the show's highlight. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 54%, based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "American Housewife is boosted by a strong and enjoyable lead performance by Katy Mixon, yet her performance alone strains to sustain an excessively quirky show that relies too heavily on stereotypes."^[22] Metacritic reported a score of 60 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[23]

In November 2017, the episode "Boo-Who?" featured character Taylor Otto dressed up as a "pregnant Norwalk prom girl", poking fun at the city of Norwalk, Connecticut, which borders the show's location of Westport. Before this incident, there were various other episodes in which Norwalk was mocked: The characters refused to swim in a Norwalk swimming pool, acting like the pool water was diseased because of Norwalk people; one of the children took bets on how many of the girlfriends of Norwalk’s basketball team would be pregnant post season; and Oliver Otto used a neighbor's Hispanic housekeeper to alter flawed Polo shirts and sell them to Norwalk students, believing that no Westport resident would buy them (Oliver ended up earning a lot of money). This brought condemnation from residents, school officials, and politicians of Norwalk. After a petition calling for the producers to stop "bullying" Norwalk got over 500 signatures and media coverage, a Disney spokesperson released a statement saying "As a comedy, ‘American Housewife’ isn’t intended to offend anyone. We’ve heard the concerns of the people of Norwalk and have made the decision to omit any mentions of the city from future episodes".^[33]