Pamela Adlon Talks Bringing Her Real Life To FX's 'Better Things'

To review Pamela Adlon’s IMDb page and her long list of credits (voice of Bobbi Hill on “King of the Hill,” recurring role on “Californication,” to name a couple of the most notable) is to appreciate how inexhaustible she is as an actor, writer, comedian, and voice-over artist, all while being a single mother. She has been working in the industry since she was 12 and, avoiding the pitfalls that befall some child actors, Adlon has kept her brash humor, street smarts, and career intact.

You’d be hard-pressed to find anything written on Adlon lately that doesn’t also mention Louis C.K. Their careers have been interconnected for years. Adlon played C.K.’s wife on the short-lived HBO series “Lucky Louie“ in the early ’00s, and the two have been frequent collaborators ever since. Having written, produced and appeared on several episodes of the C.K’s FX show, “Louie” (she received an Emmy nomination for her appearance), it was Adlon who came to mind when FX reached out to C.K., wanting to make a show centered on a women’s life.

That show, “Better Things,” premiered in September, and a second season has already been announced. Created by, written by, and starring Pamela Adlon (who also serves as the show’s producer, director and showrunner), “Better Things” centers around Sam Fox (Adlon), a 40-something actor raising three daughters of various complicated age, by herself. The girls consist of Max, the disaffected and bratty teen (Mikey Madison); Frankie, the feminist, smart and slightly O.C.D middle-schooler (Hannah Alligood); and Duke, the sweet and singular cherub (Olivia Edward). Those familiar with C.K’s work can see his mark all over “Better Things” (the pair wrote the first season together), but the show is unmistakably hers. Based on her real-life experiences as a single mother, the level of pathos on each show hits hard while Adlon remains funny and refreshing throughout.

In person, Adlon is a powerhouse of innate strength and vulnerability contained in a petite package. Adlon appeared at the 92^nd Street Y in New York City to preview the season finale and sit down with Alexandra Wentworth, actor, author and creator of her own show “Nightcap.” The two related as actors, comedians, and as working mothers whose kids are in the current habit of saying “I hate you” to them on a somewhat regular basis.

(Writer’s note: Some quotes are condensed from different points in the conversation)

Wentworth first made sure to point out to those who weren’t aware that Adlon’s character Sam’s story of a single mom raising three daughters is actually her real world. “Yes, this is my world, but I think the only thing that differs is that in the show, my mother is British and she lives across the street … and in real life, my mother is English and lives next door,” Adlon said. Wentworth interjected, wondering, “What’s the difference between British and English?” “Ask my mother,” responded Adlon. “My mother is a war baby, she is a ‘Hope And Glory‘ war baby [referencing the 1987 British coming-of-age story set during WWII], and didn’t taste an orange until she was 12 and lived on rations, that whole thing, and because of that, now she keeps things.” The character of Sam’s mom, Phyl (short for Phyllis), deals with a similar problem in the show and is played with sympathetic craziness by the wonderful Celia Imrie.

“It’s all based on my life, and I have a depth of stories to tell there. But it’s kind of a catch-22 because everybody is going to take everything that happens to me and my oldest daughter, my middle daughter and my youngest daughter as exactly what’s happening to all of us. They have to go along for the ride and I am very respectful, I haven’t co-opted super-private stories. There are things that are completely fictitious and … things that are pulled from life in the show,” Adlon added.

“Everything when you are raising kids, when you are a kid, is extreme; you always think you are going through the worst of something, and everybody is going through something at the same time in families. One massively horrible thing could happen and then the next day things are on a different trajectory. My friend who was the first ‘mom friend’ that I knew, her son is 25 now and my oldest is 19, the quote that she said to me that stays with me is, ‘You are only as happy as your unhappiest child,’ ” she shared.

An audience question regarding what her favorite aspect of the creative process was found Adlon revealing she’s more at ease behind the camera, saying, “My biggest challenge is definitely acting and writing. Producing and directing is way easier then acting and writing. I’ve always been a ‘mamma,’ so that comes naturally to me. The line-producing and all of that stuff is difficult.”

As women with their own shows, Wentworth and Adlon agreed that shooting schedules are hard, which doesn’t always make it easy at home. “I did [“The Tracy Ullman Show“] show right when I had my first daughter, and I was watching her and she was directing the show, writing the show, starring in the show, and running the show and she was troubleshooting all these things and it was all for her about getting home by dusk to be with her kids,” Adlon said. “For me, if I am shooting in Altadena at midnight or one in the morning and I get home and all my kids are still up and I look at the babysitter and I’m like (gives the middle finger to the audience), ‘Thanks a lot!’ They are all like ‘Hey Mom,’ they don’t really want to talk to me; they just want to be awake in my house.”

“Better Things” is a show about struggle and women and girls and how they deal with it, and finds its truth in being an accurate echo of real life, charted with an insightful eye. The first-season finale airs on FX on November 10^th, and there’s no better time to catch up if you’ve been missing out.