Mary (voice of Rachel Dratch) is the long dormant imaginary friend of Alice (Jenna Elfman), created in her childhood to help her deal with emotionally absent parents. Although she's been gone for several decades, she suddenly reappears in Alice's life when she starts dating divorced father of three, Ben (Steven Schneider).
Not having dated a dad with kids before, Alice worries if she's up to the task, what she will say to the children, etc. And her meeting them for the first time is delightfully comical. That storyline alone would have made for a potentially funny sitcom. But somehow this remnant from childhood pops up, for what reason I don't know, because she/it adds nothing to the show. The imaginary friend doesn't offer valuable advice about how to talk to children, or dating a divorced dad, or...anything. Why she is even there is a mystery.
Although the kids have unique personalities that will be entertaining in future episodes (the boy is neurotic about his image, the middle girl is a nerd, and the youngest girl has a fear of death), Mary is completely unnecessary...and often simply annoying. But who knows ~ maybe Alice will see a shrink to banish her for good, and they'll have to rename the show 'Unneccesary Mary'.
Not having dated a dad with kids before, Alice worries if she's up to the task, what she will say to the children, etc. And her meeting them for the first time is delightfully comical. That storyline alone would have made for a potentially funny sitcom. But somehow this remnant from childhood pops up, for what reason I don't know, because she/it adds nothing to the show. The imaginary friend doesn't offer valuable advice about how to talk to children, or dating a divorced dad, or...anything. Why she is even there is a mystery.
Although the kids have unique personalities that will be entertaining in future episodes (the boy is neurotic about his image, the middle girl is a nerd, and the youngest girl has a fear of death), Mary is completely unnecessary...and often simply annoying. But who knows ~ maybe Alice will see a shrink to banish her for good, and they'll have to rename the show 'Unneccesary Mary'.