‘SMILF’ Earns a Second Season from Showtime

SMILF star Frankie Shaw
Raven Goodwin as Eliza, Frankie Shaw as Bridgette Bird, Samara Weaving as Nelson Rose in ‘SMILF’ (Photo: Lacey Terrell / SHOWTIME)

Showtime just announced they’ve officially renewed SMILF for a second season. The comedy series is currently airing the eight episode first season on Sunday nights at 10pm ET/PT. Season one wraps up on New Year’s Eve, and season two will start production next year.

SMILF was created by series writer, director and star Frankie Shaw and is inspired by her Sundance Film Festival award winning short film. In addition to Shaw as a single mom, the season one cast includes Connie Britton, Mark Webber, Raven Goodwin, Gabrielle Maiden, Nathaniel De La Rosa, Kimberley Crossman, Blake Clark, Austin Abrams, Mia Kaplan, and Alex Brightman.

“From its first episode, the refreshingly honest point of view of SMILF broke through with audiences, the press and on social media,” stated Gary Levine, President of Programming, Showtime Networks Inc. “Frankie Shaw is a creative force to be reckoned with and we love having her on Showtime. Her show is funny and forthright, pointed and poignant, irreverent and relevant, all at once. We can’t wait to see where Frankie takes SMILF next season.”


SMILF‘s first season has been averaging 4.4 million viewers. It scored the best premiere ratings of any new comedy on the network since 2012.

The Plot and Characters:SMILF tells the semi-autobiographical tale of Southie native ‘Bridgette Bird’ (Shaw), a working-class single mom struggling to give her three-year-old son ‘Larry Bird’ (yes, like the basketball player) the best life she can – or at least a step up from her own. Adapting her Sundance Jury Prize winning short film, Shaw executive produces, writes, directs and stars in this raw look at the challenges of doing it on your own, particularly when you aren’t done growing up yourself. Bridgette juggles many part-time jobs (while harboring secret longings to play professional basketball) to make ends meet. The show explores issues of generational dysfunction, class, race, politics, sexual violence, co-parenting and above all, the possibility for a young broke single mom to dream of something better.

Multiple Emmy® winner Rosie O’Donnell co-stars in her first regular television series role as ‘Tutu,’ Bridgette’s stubborn mom who fetishizes ‘the way things used to be,’ yet suffers from her own long-buried emotional trauma. Miguel Gomez plays Bridgette’s ex and baby daddy ‘Rafi,’ a recovering addict with a never-ending supply of good will and get-rich-quick schemes. His new relationship with the glamorous, always on-trend sportscaster ‘Nelson Rose Taylor’ (Samara Weaving) provides a new source of conflict in their otherwise functional co-parenting relationship.

Connie Britton guest stars as Bridgette’s unstable boss ‘Ally,’ who struggles with boundary issues and a crippling desire for self-betterment. Additional guest stars include Raven Goodwin as Bridgette’s level-headed, real-talking best friend Eliza, Kimberley Crossman as ‘Kit-Cat’ and Mark Webber as ‘Father Eddie,’ a parish priest with a genuine, borderline unhealthy love for Bridgette’s entire family.”