What is Amanda Baggish?

The Real Housewives of Whatever Town is the latest in a long series of Who Is Amanda Bironis? TV shows that have been premiering on Canadian television. In this one, Bironis plays herself, and this time, she plays herself as the wife of a well-known plastic surgeon. So far, it’s just an hour or so show, but it already generated quite a bit of buzz from the people who saw it. Some have even called it a “How to Make a Girl Fall in Love” type of reality show.

Bironis plays a new character in this series, Dr. David Storey, a resident of Toronto. He is also the president of the newly formed Screen Actors Guild. And, he is a bit of a ladies’ man as well. He married a much younger woman named Rachel Hunter (Lori Singer) and has two teenage daughters with his wife. However, when his family members are murdered, he has to start searching for his own life again.

Bironis plays the role of trying to help the audience get to know Storey and what he’s all about. He is, after all, a new character, and it takes some getting to know the man. The show opens up when Bironis’s character, Beverly, calls her sister in Los Angeles and they are speaking over the phone on a walk home from an outdoor event when something catches their attention. It’s a doodle and a drawing that was done by Storey as a way to memorialize their late father. This leads to the two women talking about what their father meant to them, and about what he did for their lives.

What happens next is an explosive part of the show and leaves Bironis deeply disturbed and wondering how could this happen. She is determined to find out who drew the picture and why it has had such an impact on both of them. So much for quiet mornings. As the show progresses, Bironis learns more about the life of Storey and what drove him to do what he did.

Much of the show is devoted to Bironis’ sister, Deanna. She becomes almost a love interest for the character, especially as the show goes on. Deanna is a character who has been through a lot and has come out stronger and wiser since her divorce with Storey’s father. She is, in fact, one of the central characters on the show, and her relationship with Storey is what continues to make the show so interesting.

What really makes Who is Amanda Baggish exciting though is her ability to play off of other characters. On many shows, the actors play very similar to each other, but with Who is Amanda, we see multiple people with very different characteristics. We watch Taggert as a confident man who is more outgoing and willing to try new things. We also see Stephanie as the ambitious, hard-bodied single woman, and we get to see what exactly it is that pushes Storey over the edge. This is an ensemble cast, and sometimes the lead or the supporting actor may fit into the role they are playing more than the character they are playing. The show works off of stereotypes and brings them to life.

The show is most exciting for what it doesn’t do. Where other shows might have had romantic interludes between Storey and his father or between Storey and other significant characters, the show rarely delves into the romance between Storey and his own mother. This is not to say that the show is less interesting than The OC or Other Family. Those shows definitely deserve to exist. What I am saying is that What is Amanda Baggish is not nearly as well written or acted as those shows, and this is where the show starts to falter.

The OC, which was canceled after one season due to low ratings, has managed to get better with each season that it went on. The show’s characters have gotten richer and deeper, the show’s story has more depth, and the mythology surrounding the main characters has been given a real life voice. This is all while what is Amanda Balionis has never been able to claim as her own.