{"id":585915,"date":"2026-04-15T15:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T15:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/585915\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T15:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T15:19:08","slug":"apple-tv-dramedy-doesnt-quite-succeed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/585915\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple TV Dramedy Doesn’t Quite Succeed\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBased on Rufia Thorpe\u2019s acclaimed 2024 novel and adapted to television by David E. Kelley, Apple TV<\/a>\u2019s dramedy, \u201cMargo\u2019s Got Money Troubles<\/a>,\u201d follows college freshman Margo Millet (Elle Fanning<\/a>), an aspiring writer whose world unravels after she becomes pregnant during an affair with her married professor, Mark (Michael Angarano). Despite some titillating plot points, the series never quite delivers an authentic portrait of a determined young mom who uses sex work as a move toward financial freedom.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMargo\u2019s Got Money Troubles\u201d opens at Fullerton Community College. After class, Mark, Margo\u2019s English literature teacher, pulls her aside to compliment her work on her latest assignment. Viewers will immediately clock him as a slimeball, but Margo is delighted someone finally recognizes her writing, and almost immediately, their affair begins. When Margo realizes she\u2019s pregnant, Mark does exactly what\u2019s expected: He vanishes. From there, Margo begins piecing together her new life with the help of her beauty-obsessed mother, Shyanne (Michelle Pfeiffer<\/a>), and her father, Jinx (Nick Offerman<\/a>), a former pro wrestler and recovering addict who has been in and out of her life for as long as she can remember.<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite her parents\u2019 love, Margo quickly realizes that raising a child takes a ton of money and resources. Moreover, Shyanne and Jinx\u2019s personal issues and financial constraints stop them from being a foolproof support system for Margot and their new grandbaby. Therefore, when Margo learns about OnlyFans, she decides to tie her joy of writing and creativity to sex work in an attempt to provide for her baby.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u200bThere is nothing overtly wrong with \u201cMargo\u2019s Got Money Troubles\u201d \u2014 the actors are solid, and the premise is intriguing enough. Two main things drive the series. The first is Margo\u2019s tumultuous relationship with her roommates and her best friend Becca (Sasha Diamond). Though one of Margo\u2019s roommates, Susie (Thaddea Graham), remains by her side throughout her pregnancy and even acts as a reliable companion once she gives birth to her son, her other roommates, fellow college students, are confused by her choices and frustrated by her screaming, colicky infant. Additionally, despite her sometimes crass delivery, Becca tries to be the voice of reason from the beginning. She tells Margo to end the romance with Mark and even questions her decision to continue her pregnancy rather than pursue her dreams and eventually move to New York City. Their relationship showcases how the late teens and early twenties can either shatter or reinforce female friendships forever. It\u2019s a nuanced depiction rarely showcased on television, and refreshing to witness here.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe second highlight is the depiction of Margo and Shyanne\u2019s mother-daughter bond. Having experienced her own tumultuous relationship with Jinx and barely getting by as a struggling single mom, Shyanne is both heartbroken by Margo\u2019s choices and completely protective and loving toward her. The pair share the show\u2019s more compelling and complex scenes. In Episode 5, \u201cFlamingos,\u201d during a short trip to Las Vegas for Shyanne\u2019s wedding to a boring man named Kenny (Greg Kinnear),\u00a0 Margo finally tells her mother about her OnlyFans work. Shyanne\u2019s reaction is one of the most gut-wrenching and authentic of the series.<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, \u201cMargo\u2019s Got Money Troubles\u201d feels a bit off-center. While Offerman is convincing in his role, the rest of the main cast seem just out of place. Pfeiffer is almost too elegant as Shyanne, a Bloomingdale\u2019s employee determined to get her happily ever after despite the mess her only child has made. Likewise, in her first role since her Academy Award nomination for \u201cSentimental Value,\u201d Fanning\u2019s maturity makes her feel miscast as Margo, a 19-year-old with an underdeveloped frontal lobe, determined to make detrimental decisions.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis isn\u2019t to say the audience can\u2019t feel Margo\u2019s frustration, anger, sadness and love for her infant son. Yet, Fanning is just a bit too pulled together in the role as if she\u2019s trying on the sex worker\u2019s costumes instead of truly embodying her. Also, Kelley\u2019s decision to infuse Margo\u2019s OnlyFans persona, Hungry Ghost, into the series, starting with Episode 6: \u201cGrude Match,\u201d feels disjointed, throwing off the show\u2019s tone rather than providing the seamless integration that should have elevated the story. Like real-life OnlyFans models and sex workers, Margo is very serious about her career and providing for her baby. However, this depiction feels false, lacking the comedic heft to truly be the dramedy it\u2019s billed as. Instead, the show presents as a bubblegum, off-kilter version of Netflix\u2019s 2021 miniseries \u201cMaid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOverall, \u201cMargo\u2019s Got Money Troubles\u201d has several important themes: family, the stigma of sex work and the follies of youth. Still, its overstretched narrative (the show may have worked better in six episodes instead of eight) and lack of grit strip away its authenticity. While there are many interesting characters and storylines, by the time the finale episode, \u201cLock and Load,\u201d comes to an end, the luster of the series dulls considerably. In the end, it feels like a cautionary tale rather than one of triumph.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe first three episodes of \u201cMargo\u2019s Got Money Troubles\u201d debut April 15 on Apple TV, with the remaining episodes airing weekly on Wednesdays.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Based on Rufia Thorpe\u2019s acclaimed 2024 novel and adapted to television by David E. Kelley, Apple TV\u2019s dramedy,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585916,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[5896,25102,88,170720,166458,3713,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-585915","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-apple-tv","9":"tag-elle-fanning","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-margou2019s-got-money-troubles","12":"tag-michelle-pfeiffer","13":"tag-nick-offerman","14":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585915","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585915"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585915\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}