''The Unicorn'' is an American

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 Bill Martin, Mike Schiff and Grady Cooper for

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 ...

which premiered on September 26, 2019 and concluded on March 18, 2021. It stars

Walton Goggins Walton Sanders Goggins Jr. (born November 10, 1971) is an American actor. He has starred in a number of television series, including ''The Shield'' (2002–2008), '' Justified'' (2010–2015), ''Vice Principals'' (2016–2017), ''The Righteous ...

along with

Rob Corddry Robert William Corddry (born February 4, 1971) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his work as a correspondent on ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' (2002–2006) and for his starring role in the film ''Hot Tub Time Machine''. He ...

, Omar Miller,

Maya Lynne Robinson Maya Lynne Robinson is an American actress, writer and producer. She is best known for her portrayal of Geena, D.J. Conner's wife, in the '' Roseanne'' television spin-off ''The Conners'' and the role of Michelle on the CBS series '' The Unicorn. ...

, Ruby Jay, MaKenzie Moss, Devin Bright, and

Michaela Watkins Michaela Suzanne Watkins (born December 14, 1971) is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for starring on the Hulu series '' Casual'' and on the short-lived sitcoms '' The Unicorn'' and ''Trophy Wife'', as well as being a cast memb ...

in supporting roles. In May 2020, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on November 12, 2020. In May 2021, the series was canceled after two seasons.

Premise

A recently widowed father with two daughters is encouraged by his friends to re-enter the dating scene. To his surprise he becomes highly sought after due to his status as both an eligible widower and as a devoted father. The show is set in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

Cast and characters

Main

as Wade, the owner of a landscaping company and a single father trying to find a new balance in his life after his wife's death. *

as Forrest, Wade's friend and Delia's husband who works as a

human resources Human resources (HR) is the set of people who make up the workforce of an organization, business sector, industry, or economy. A narrower concept is human capital, the knowledge and skills which the individuals command. Similar terms include m ...

specialist. * Omar Miller as Ben, a friend of Wade's who coaches the local soccer team and runs an audio technology company. Married to Michelle. *

as Michelle, a friend of Wade's who is a stay-at-home mother of four and Ben's wife. * Ruby Jay as Grace, Wade's older daughter. * Makenzie Moss as Natalie, Wade's younger daughter. * Devin Bright as Noah, Ben and Michelle's son. *

as Delia, Wade's pediatrician friend who is married to Forrest.

Recurring

Betsy Brandt Betsy Brandt (born March 14, 1973) is an American actress. She portrayed Marie Schrader in ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and its spinoff show, ''Better Call Saul'' (2022) and played Heather Hughes in the CBS sitcom ''Life in Pieces'' (2015� ...

as Caroline, Wade's friend who manages a

support group In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic. Members with the same issues can come together for sharing coping str ...

for widows. *

Sarayu Blue Sarayu Rao (born March 7, 1975), also known as Sarayu R. Blue, is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her recurring role as Angela on the Fox sitcom ''Sons of Tucson'', as well as Dr. Sydney Napur on David E. Kelley's ''Monday Morn ...

as Anna, a colleague of Delia's who briefly dates Wade. * Cleo Fraser as Addie, Forrest and Delia's daughter. * Princess K. Mapp as Sahai, Ben and Michele's daughter. *

Helen Hong Helen Hong ( ko, 헬렌 홍; born July 7, 1985) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, director, and producer. She has appeared in such works as '' Jane the Virgin'', ''Parks and Recreation'', and the Coen Brothers' ''Inside Llewyn Davis''. S ...

as Emma, a member of Wade's support group. * Cindy Drummond as Cynthia *

Natalie Zea Natalie Zea (born March 17, 1975) is an American actress known for her performances on television. Zea began her acting career in theatre. Her first major role was on the NBC daytime soap opera ''Passions'' (2000–2002), where she played the ro ...

as Shannon (season 2; guest season 1), Wade's love interest.

Guest

Christina Moore Christina Moore (born April 12, 1973) is an American actress, comedian, fashion designer, model and screenwriter. She was in the main cast of the sketch comedy series ''MADtv'', played Laurie Forman on ''That '70s Show'' during its sixth sea ...

as Lizzie ("Breaking Up is Hard to Do") *

Brittany Ishibashi Brittany Mariko Ishibashi (born November 2, 1980) is a Japanese-American actress. She has had starring television roles on '' Political Animals'', '' Supernatural'' and '' Runaways''. Ishibashi has had roles in films such as '' Teenage Mutant N ...

as Lena ("Three Men Out" and "Put Your Mask on First") *

Missi Pyle Missi Pyle (born November 16, 1972) is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in a number of successful films, including ''Galaxy Quest'' (1999), ''Big Fish'' (2003), ''Bringing Down the House'' (2003), '' Dodgeball: A True Underdog S ...

as Ava ("Wade Delayed") *

Nicole Byer Nicole Byer (born August 29, 1986) is an American comedian, actress, and television host. She is known as the host of the Netflix comedic reality bake-off series ''Nailed It!'' (2018–present), for which she received two Primetime Emmy Award no ...

as Meg, Michelle's sister ("Breaking Up Is Hard to Do", "The Client" and "Out With the Old") *

Donal Logue Donal Francis Logue (born February 27, 1966) is a Canadian actor. He starred in the film ''The Tao of Steve'' and has had roles in the TV series ''Sons of Anarchy'', ''Vikings'', ''Grounded for Life'', ''Copper'', ''Terriers'', and, as Detective ...

as Denny ("The Client") *

Rob Riggle Robert A. Riggle Jr. (born April 21, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, and former United States Marine Officer. He is known for his work as a correspondent on Comedy Central's ''The Daily Show'' from 2006 to 2008; as a cast member on ''Satu ...

as Trey ("Work It" and "Put Your Mask on First")

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2019–20)

Season 2 (2020–21)

Production

Development

On February 6, 2019, it was announced that CBS had given the production a pilot order. On May 9, 2019, it was announced that the production had been given a series order. The series was created by Bill Martin and Mike Schiff, who were also expected to executive produce, alongside Aaron Kaplan, Dana Honor, Wendi Trilling, and

Peyton Reed Peyton Tucker Reed (born July 3, 1964) is an American television and film director. He directed the comedy films ''Bring It On'', ''Down with Love'', ''The Break-Up'', and '' Yes Man'', as well as the superhero film ''Ant-Man'' and its sequels. ...

. The production companies involved with the series are Trill TV,

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 May 15, 2019, it was announced that the series would premiere in the fall of 2019 and air on Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. The series debuted on September 26, 2019. On October 22, 2019, the series received a back order of five episodes. On May 6, 2020, CBS renewed the series for a second season which premiered on November 12, 2020. On May 15, 2021, CBS canceled the series after two seasons.

Casting

In March 2019, it was announced that

Omar Benson Miller Omar Benson Miller (born October 7, 1978) is an American actor. He is known for his work as Walter Simmons on '' CSI: Miami'' (2009–2012), as Charles Greane on ''Ballers'' (2015–2019), as the voice of Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urb ...

and

had been cast in the pilot's starring roles. Along with the announcement of the series order, it was reported that Ruby Jay and Makenzie Moss had joined the main cast. On October 7, 2020, it was announced that

was set to reprise her role as Shannon, the woman with whom Wade had a connection in the first season finale.

Release

Marketing

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

Reception

Critical response

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 ...

, the series holds an approval rating of 85% with an average rating of 6.87/10, based on 27 reviews. The website's critical consensus states, "Warm and funny, ''The Unicorn'' finds humor in unexpected places and shows off a whole new side of the talented Walton Goggins." On

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 ...

, it has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Ratings

Overall

Season 1

Season 2

Home media

The first season was released on DVD on July 21, 2020. The second season was released on DVD on July 13, 2021.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Unicorn (TV Series), The 2010s American sitcoms 2019 American television series debuts 2020s American sitcoms 2021 American television series endings CBS original programming English-language television shows Television series about widowhood Television series by CBS Studios Television series about families Television shows set in North Carolina Television series by Kapital Entertainment