The Westport Local Press

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ABC Show “American Housewife”, Set in Westport, Cancelled

A screengrab from the show’s opening credits, showing “Westport Unified” - the fictitious name for the show’s school. 

After five seasons on the ABC Network, “American Housewife” has been cancelled.

The show made headlines in 2016 when they announced the show’s debut name of “The Second Fattest Housewife of Westport”. It was later changed to
”American Housewife” due to the main character’s “relatability” to not only Westport moms, but moms everywhere according to the ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey.

“The wealthy town of Westport, Conn., is full of cookie-cutter mommies and their seemingly perfect offspring, but the members of the Otto family can't be counted among them. Confident housewife Katie Otto shares a home with her husband, Jeff, and their three children Taylor, Harrison and Anna-Kat, and while she loves them all dearly, she recognizes they probably aren't going to land themselves in a magazine spread anytime soon. The matriarch knows her family is beautifully flawed, and she's far from sorry.” the show’s description explained.

Although the show was set in Westport- filming took place in Studio City, California - with names of local schools being changed and swapped with fictitious ones. Lindsay Denninger of Bustle answered the question:Is Westport a Real Town?” with “Westport is a real place, and its role as the setting on American Housewife definitely matters to the show. However, it’s definitely more than yoga legging-clad moms and Range Rovers, so go give it a visit and discover more for yourself.”

In Season 5, American Housewife averaged a 0.55 demo rating and just shy of 3 million total viewers (in Live+Same Day numbers) — down just 5 and 8 percent from its Season 4 numbers. Among the seven sitcoms ABC has aired this TV season, it ranked third in both demo (trailing The Goldbergs and The Conners) and in total audience.”(TVLine)