TV Review - Baby Daddy: Season 2

Jean-Luc Bilodeau (left) and
the cast of "Baby Daddy"

This series is one that has an interesting premise and a great cast, a sexy cast, but creator Dan Berendsen doesn't make great use of either. As I watched the first two episodes, all I could think was alternate directions or additional lines of dialogue I wished the show had taken. It's a double-edge sword. At one point, I'm engaged but at the other point, I'm not becoming invested in the characters or storyline such that it is.

Jean-Luc Bilodeau reprises his role as Ben, a single father who is raising his baby daughter, while living in a Manhattan apartment with his older brother and former, pro-hockey player Danny, played by Derek Theler, and his best friend Tucker, played by Tahj Mowry. It was essentially Three Men and a Baby, but only the guys are hotter and hornier.

The problem is that the baby becomes the occasional prop or the occasional plot device every now and then. In the first episode of season two, Melissa Peterman who plays Ben and Danny's mother, Bonnie, loses Ben's baby and takes the baby of a black man she meets at a coffee shop.

Instead of actually doing a show about how a baby would affect Ben's life or how he would have to change to become a father, the show focuses on the complicated love triangle between brothers Ben and Danny Wheeler with their girl Friday named Riley, played by Chelsea Kane. The love triangle began in the first season and persists into the second. For some odd reason, neither Ben and Danny will tell Riley how they feel, so Riley is left in limbo.

Episode two of season two introduces a new character that briefly made the love triangle a love square. Matt Dallas who recently co-starred with Bilodeau in the TV series Kyle XY guest stars as Fitch Douglas, a doctor, humanitarian and bartender who is seemingly perfect in every way. He basically sweeps Riley off her feet but encounters resistance from Ben. This could have been a great battle, but like the baby, it just gets dropped.

By the end of the episode, the possible rivalry and tension that could have resulted in heated comedy and drama for Ben and Fitch falls away. The show basically backs away from it for a supremely softer resolution and resets things, so we're back to a love triangle where nobody makes a move, which will no doubt be strung out for the rest of the season.

Three Stars out of Five.
Rated TV-PG-D.
Running Time: 30 mins.
Wednesdays at 8:30PM on ABC Family.