One reviewer from The Guardian gushed that the show was the first of its kind to feel real and complicated: “Unlike Love Island, humiliation and hate-watching are not the goals here. Unlike the usual contestants, these people have real stories, real baggage and, as a consequence – get this! – real emotions.”
Viewers are also already hooked.
My mum your Dad. Loving this programme, what a good idea and I hope they make more of these in the future… #MyMumYourDad,” one fan tweeted.
“I love ‘trash’ tv but I have a feeling My Mum Your Dad will be more meaningful. Its so good to see mature people given the chance to fall in love. We may be a bit saggy in places but we still want “the one” #MyMumYourDaduk #DavinaMcCall,” wrote another.
Well, we will definitely be tuning in!
However, there is already some controversy around My Mum, Your Dad
Of course, there are a few criticisms of the show. One of the big ones is that the premise involves the younger generation watching their parents date and even receive therapy sessions.
For one thing, this means the parents aren’t given much agency.
“The show’s producers appear to have mistaken the middle-aged contestants for helpless geriatrics who can no longer be trusted to boil a kettle, let alone make decisions about who they’d like to date,” wrote a reviewer for the Independent. The reviewer added, “This is a series about middle age as seen through the eyes of youngsters, complete with the ruthless judgment and misplaced embarrassment that comes with that.”
Fans have also voiced their discomfort at the bizarre kids-watch-their-parents-get-therapy structure of the show.
“Not overly comfortable with last night’s My Mum Your Dad,” one viewer tweeted. “The kids shouldn’t have watched their parents opening their hearts in therapy, without them knowing. I had therapy last year and it helped a lot but there has to be trust and honesty. This was wrong.”