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Ellen Pompeo Ditches the Scrubs for Hulu’s Disappointing Natalia Grace Drama ‘Good American Family’: TV Review


Ellen Pompeo ditches the 'Grey's Anatomy' scrubs to play a mother accused of abandoning her adopted daughter, Natalia Grace, in 'Good American Family'

Coming so late in the scripted true-crime trend (after “Love & Death,” “The Act,” “The Staircase” and countless more), “Good American Family” is distinguished by the presence of Pompeo, taking on her first new role since Grey’s Anatomy” gave her a lifetime sinecure nearly two decades ago. Still, Pompeo only really gets to push against her entrenched star persona in the series’ latter half, where she goes full “Mommie Dearest” — that is, if Faye Dunaway swapped her Joan Crawford eyebrows for an atrocious blonde wig. Duplass, as convincing a beta male here as he is on “The Morning Show,” makes Michael hilarious in his sad-sack loserdom (I laughed out loud at the use of Green Day’s “Basket Case” as the soundtrack to his aging Gen Xer freakout), but he can’t sell the man’s several sudden changes of heart without more grounding in the script.

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