SMILF, which earned creator Frankie Shaw nominations for both Best Comedy and Best Actress at the 2018 Golden Globes, is now streaming first and only on Showmax in South Africa.
In addition to executive producing, directing and writing SMILF, Frankie plays Bridgette Bird, a 20-something from South Boston whose desires for relationships, sex and a career collide with the realities of working-class single motherhood.
This raw, honest comedy is based on her Sundance Film Festival Award-winning short film of the same name – and her own experiences of having a child in her mid-twenties.
SMILF debuted with the third biggest premiere week audience for a comedy ever on SHOWTIME – the network that brought you Shameless – and ended the year on multiple best of 2017 lists, including Deadline, The Los Angeles Times, and Vogue. Forbes described it as “the show Girls wished it could be,’ while WIRED wrote that, “In 2018, TV needs to take a cue from SMILF” and stay “as intimate as it was in 2017.”
“From its first episode, the refreshingly honest point of view of SMILF broke through with audiences, the press and on social media,” said Gary Levine, SHOWTIME’s president of programming. “Frankie Shaw is a creative force to be reckoned with; her show is funny and forthright, pointed and poignant, irreverent and relevant, all at once.”
SMILF stands for ‘Single Mother I’d Like To F*k’ and is meant to be ironic. “There’s no real room for a woman’s existence in the word MILF,” Frankie told The New Yorker. “By getting inside her life experience, we are in a sense changing the meaning, reclaiming it.”
The hit comedy series also features multiple Emmy winner Rosie O’Donnell in her first series regular TV role, as Bridgette’s stubborn mom, while Golden Globe and Emmy nominee Connie Britton (Nashville, Friday Night Lights) guest stars as her unstable boss, Ally, in four episodes. Frankie’s fellow executive producers include Oscar-nominee Michael London (Sideways) and six-time Emmy nominee Lee Eisenberg (The Office).
Other new series streaming on Showmax from today include:
Veep S1-6
Julia-Louis Dreyfus has won the Emmy for Best Actress In A Comedy for the last six years in a row for her role as ambitious, ruthless, bungling politician Selina Meyer. In 2017, Veep won five Emmys, including Outstanding Comedy Series for the third year in a row.
High Maintenance S1
Based on a hit web series, High Maintenance is an HBO comedy about a city of strangers with one common connection: their weed dealer.
The Wire S1-5
Before creating The Deuce, David Simon and George Pelecanos made The Wire, which explores the Baltimore drug scene through the eyes of both the drug dealers and law enforcement. As Variety says, “When television history is written, little else will rival The Wire.” Look out for younger versions of your favourite stars, from Idris Elba (Luther) to Dominic West (The Affair) to Michael Kenneth Williams (The Night Of).
Teen Wolf S6
Teen Wolf is back for the final ten episodes. It’s the last months of high school but will anyone get out alive? Winner of nine Teen Choice Awards, including Choice Summer TV Show.
Imposters S1
A dark comedy that focuses on a female con artist who marries people and then disappears with their money.
Incorporated S1
When corporations hold all the power, the only way to take it back is from the inside. Incorporated was nominated for Best Science Fiction TV Series by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films last year.