''Carol's Second Act'' is an American television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

created by

Emily Halpern Emily Halpern is an American film and television screenwriter and singer/songwriter. She is best known for co-writing the screenplay of ''Booksmart'' and was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the British Academy of Film and Television Art ...

and Sarah Haskins, which premiered on September 26, 2019 on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. It stars

Patricia Heaton Patricia Helen Heaton (born March 4, 1958) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for her work on sitcoms, having played Debra Barone on ''Everybody Loves Raymond'' (1996–2005) as well as Frances "Frankie" Heck on '' The Middl ...

along with Ito Aghayere,

Lucas Neff Lucas Neff (born November 7, 1985) is an American actor best known for his lead role in the Fox sitcom ''Raising Hope'' (2010-2014). Most recently, he starred in the CBS sitcom ''Carol's Second Act'' (2019) and co-starred as Duncan on '' Monste ...

Jean-Luc Bilodeau Jean-Luc Bilodeau (born November 4, 1990) is a Canadian actor who has been acting since 2004. He is best known for his role as Ben Wheeler in the ABC Family channel program ''Baby Daddy''. Bilodeau has also appeared in films and television seri ...

Sabrina Jalees Sabrina Jalees (born April 19, 1985) is a Canadian comedian, actress, and writer. She has written for various series, and starred as a main cast member alongside Patricia Heaton in the 2019 TV comedy series '' Carol's Second Act.'' Early life an ...

Ashley Tisdale Ashley Michelle Tisdale (born July 2, 1985) is an American actress and singer. During her childhood, she was featured in over 100 advertisements and had minor roles in television and theatre. She achieved mainstream success as Maddie Fitzpatr ...

Kyle MacLachlan Kyle Merritt MacLachlan (; ' McLachlan, February 22, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dale Cooper in ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992), as well as roles ...

, and

Cedric Yarbrough Cedric Percelle Yarbrough (born March 20, 1973) is an American actor and comedian who stars in series '' Reno 911!'' as Deputy S. Jones and as Kenneth on the ABC sitcom '' Speechless'', as well as voicing Gerald Fitzgerald on the Netflix comedy ...

in supporting roles. In May 2020, the series was canceled after one season.

Premise

After raising her two children and retiring from teaching, Carol Kenney embarks on a unique second act: pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor by completing medical school and beginning an

internship An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and gover ...

at the Loyola Memorial Hospital.

Cast

Main

as Dr. Carol Kenney, the oldest member of the newest group of interns at Loyola Memorial Hospital. Carol is divorced and has two adult children. Before medical school, she used to be a high school science teacher. In the episode "Peer Evaluations", she states that she is in her early 50s. * Ito Aghayere as Dr. Maya Jacobs, chief resident at Loyola Memorial with a reputation as a strict disciplinarian and perfectionist. She is in charge of Carol's intern group. *

as Dr. Caleb Sommers, one of the members of Carol's group of interns who secretly feels he doesn't deserve his position due to having gotten in through family connections. He has a complicated relationship with his superior, Dr. Stephen Frost. *

as Dr. Daniel Kutcher, another member of Carol's group of interns. He graduated from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 2014 and from Duke University School of Medicine in 2018 and has already been published in ''

The New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals as well as the oldest continuously published one. His ...

''—twice. Nevertheless, he is insecure and overly idealistic about his profession, seeking glory for himself often at the expense of his fellow interns. *

as Dr. Lexie Gilani, another member of Carol's group of interns who is under immense pressure due to having been the first in her family to attend college. She has no patience for doctors who fail to take their jobs seriously. *

as Jenny Kenney, Carol's big-hearted daughter who works as a pharmaceutical representative. Jenny loves and is supportive of Carol, and her practical and outgoing demeanor is a buoyant counterpoint to her mother's neurotic medical colleagues. Despite Carol having told him that Jenny is off-limits, Daniel has a crush on her. *

as Dr. Stephen Frost, senior attending physician and department chair at Loyola Memorial. He takes an immediate shine to Carol, in contrast to the more merciless Dr. Jacobs. *

as Nurse Dennis, the hospital's merciless nursing supervisor who insists on giving and receiving respect.

Recurring

* Adam Rose as Jake, a nerdy doctor who most of the staff ignores. Also obsessed with Lexie. *

Patrick Fabian Patrick Fabian (born December 7, 1964) is an American film, stage, and television actor. He is known for his role as attorney Howard Hamlin in ''Better Call Saul'' (2015–2022). His film roles include '' End Game'' (2006), ''The Last Exorcism' ...

as Dr. Victor Lewis, a transplant surgeon and Carol's love interest.

Guest

Camille Chen Camille Chen (born September 1, 1979) is a Taiwanese-born American actress. Early life, education, and career Born in Taiwan but raised in the U.S., Chen attended the University of Texas at Austin and then began her career in show business, do ...

as Sharon, a patient's wife. *

Carol Mansell Carol Ann Mansell (born October 1, 1946) is an American film and television actress, best known for her first television role: Ethel MacDoogan (aka Angel 972), the main character in the sitcom ''Down to Earth (US TV series), Down to Earth'', run ...

as Mrs. Zahn, an elderly patient with a fever. *

Matt Braunger Matthew Braunger (born August 1, 1974) is an American actor, writer, and stand-up comedian. His most recent special ''Finally Live In Portland'' was launched by Comedy Dynamics in 2019. Outside of performing stand-up, Braunger is noted for bein ...

as Gary, a patient with a fascinating and rare problem. * Larry VanBuren Jr. as Darrin Alexander, a celebrated college athlete * Ben Kolyke as Coach Dean, Darrin's coach. *

Essence Atkins Essence Uhura Atkins (born February 7, 1972) is an American actress. She began her career appearing on television sitcoms, before her regular role on the short-lived first African-American prime-time drama '' Under One Roof'' ( CBS, 1995). Atkin ...

as Kathleen, Darrin's mother. *

Jane Kaczmarek Jane Frances Kaczmarek (; born December 21, 1955) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Malcolm's mother Lois on the Fox television sitcom '' Malcolm in the Middle'' (2000–2006), which earned her three Golden Globe nominat ...

as Phyllis, Carol's friend from her teaching days. *

Alan Blumenfeld Alan Blumenfeld (born September 4, 1952) is an American character actor, best known for his role in NBC's TV series ''Heroes'' as Maury Parkman, the telepath father of Matt Parkman played by Greg Grunberg, and as Bob Buss in the telefilm ''2g ...

as Mr. Tuverson, an unpleasant and perverted patient of Carol's *

John Ross Bowie John Ross Bowie (born May 30, 1971) is an American actor and comedian best known for playing Barry Kripke on ''The Big Bang Theory'' and Jimmy DiMeo on '' Speechless,'' in addition to over 100 film and TV credits. He is of no known relation to s ...

as Gordon, a patient who pretends to be sick to avoid his visiting in-laws *

Kerri Kenney Kerri Kenney-Silver (born January 20, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and musician. She is best known for starring as Trudy Wiegel on the mockumentary series ''Reno 911!'' and previously for her sketch comedy work on MT ...

as Nancy * Marisa Davila as Harper * Punam Patel as Dr. Mehta *

Scott Lawrence Scott Lawrence (born September 27, 1963) is an American actor best known for his role as Cmdr. Sturgis Turner on the CBS series '' JAG''. Lawrence played the role from 2001 until 2005, when the series ended. He is also known for being the maj ...

as Dr. Darnton *

Kausar Mohammed Kausar Mohammed is an American actress, comedian, writer, and voice actress. She is best known for her roles in ''East of La Brea'', ''What Men Want'', '' Little'' and voicing Yasmina 'Yaz' Fadoula in Netflix's ''Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous''. ...

as Aisha *

Larry Joe Campbell Lawrence Joseph Campbell (born November 29, 1970) is an American actor and comedian best known for his role as Andy on the ABC sitcom ''According to Jim''. Early life Born in Cadillac, Michigan, Campbell graduated from high school at Pine Ri ...

as Eddie, a patient who is on the waiting list for a liver transplant *

Kelsey Grammer Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955) is an American actor and producer. He gained notoriety and acclaim for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcom '' Cheers'' (1984-1993) and its spin-off ''Frasier'' (1993-2004), ...

as Dr. Richard Kenney, Carol's ex-husband and Jenny's father

Episodes

Production

Development

On January 28, 2019, it was announced that CBS had given the production a pilot order. The pilot was written by Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins, who also executive produce (along with Heaton, Aaron Kaplan and David Hunt). Production companies involved with the pilot include FourBoys Entertainment,

Kapital Entertainment Kapital Entertainment is an American entertainment company founded by Aaron Kaplan in 2009. Prior to founding Kapital, Kaplan was the worldwide head of scripted television at William Morris Agency to which he joined in 1991. He exited the compan ...

and

CBS Television Studios CBS Studios, Inc. is an American television production company which is a subsidiary of CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. It was formed on January 17, 2006, by CBS Corporation as CBS Paramount Television, as a renaming of the o ...

. On February 12, 2019, it was announced that

Pamela Fryman Pamela Gail Fryman (born 1959) is an American sitcom director and producer. She directed all but twelve episodes of the television series ''How I Met Your Mother''. Early life Fryman was born and grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Career F ...

would direct the pilot. On May 6, 2019, it was announced that the production had been given a series order. The next day, it was announced that the series would premiere that fall, and air Thursday nights during the 2019–2020 television season. The series debuted on September 26, 2019. On October 22, 2019, it received a back order of five episodes. On May 6, 2020, CBS canceled the series after one season.

Casting

In March 2019, it was announced that

Bonnie Dennison Bonnie Dennison (born February 15, 1989) is an American actress. She was born in New York City. From 2002 to 2005, she played Emily Yokas on the NBC television show ''Third Watch''. In 2007, she joined the cast of the long-running CBS daytime dr ...

, Ito Aghayere,

and

had been cast in the pilot's lead roles. On June 7, 2019, it was announced that

had replaced Dennison in the role of Jenny. On November 5, 2019,

was promoted to series regular.

Sexual harassment allegations

In October 2019, two female writers alleged

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment involving the use of explicit or implicit sexual overtones, including the unwelcome and inappropriate promises of rewards in exchange for sexual favors. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions fro ...

by executive producer David Hunt. After their internal complaints to CBS, they said, the writers' access to the set and the showrunners, including Hunt, was limited. Believing this to be retaliation for their complaints, they left the show. Hunt was required to watch a training video although he denied any inappropriate contact with either woman; the producers also say the restrictions on the writers had been planned before they were aware of the women's complaints.

Release

Marketing

On May 15, 2019, CBS released the first official trailer for the series.

Reception

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 58% approval rating with an average rating of 5.63/10, based on 12 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "While ''Carol's Second Act'' earns high marks for bringing Patricia Heaton front and center, awkward plotting and lackluster jokes hold it back from living up to its star's high standards."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 61 out of 100 based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Ratings

Home media

The complete series of ''Carol's Second Act'' was released on DVD on November 17, 2020, via Amazon.

References

External links

* *{{IMDb title 2010s American medical television series 2010s American sitcoms 2010s American workplace comedy television series 2019 American television series debuts 2020 American television series endings 2020s American medical television series 2020s American sitcoms 2020s American workplace comedy television series CBS original programming English-language television shows Television series by CBS Studios Television series by Kapital Entertainment