The title drew my attention last spring but the show did not. Notes from the Underbelly: Now that's a title for ya. With cursory glances at its promos, I figured out the show had something to do with pregnant women who may or may not want to be pregnant and then crossed it off my "to watch" list. Reason? Been there done that, pictures and children to prove it. Still, ABC's been promoting the show so heavily that Notes caught my attention again.

Despite not having time for TV, I decided to watch the sitcom online thinking I may not be interested in this show at this point in my life, but surely young mothers and mommy bloggers will like it. And after researching the show, I could tell ABC wants mommy bloggers to plug the show. They want you, mommy bloggers. They really do.

Does that translate into attracting mommy bloggers through plot and character development? Like the book that inspires the show by novelist Risa Green, Notes from the Underbelly is promoted as a comedy about pregnancy, but I'm unsure whether mommy bloggers will find the show's portrayal of a mommy blogger funny.

In the "Blackout" episode that aired on December 3, one of the show's characters, Julie, proudly admits that she's a mommy blogger. Julie is the show's stereotypical, happy, stay-at-home mom, and during the brief blackout at the beginning of the episode, she suggests the central characters play a game telling their most embarrassing moments. Here's some of the dialogue that begins with Danny, the show's spacey bachelor, immediately shouting Andrew's most embarrassing moment (Andrew and his wife, Lauren, are the show's central couple).

Danny: Andrew got wood in a 7th grade basketball physical!

Andrew: Danny had sex with a 50 year old!

Danny: Why would that be embarrassing? She looked exactly like Blithe Danner (Notes).

Other dialogue follows that sets up a later dilemna in the episode. Then it's back to game. Cooper--the show's cynical, baby-hating career woman--steers the game toward Julie. She wants to know Julie's most embarrassing moment. However, Julie says she doesn't have any embarrassing moments (a bit of character revelation here, I guess, since Julie's the one who suggested they play the game in the first place).

Julie: I'm proud of everything that I do that's why I started blogging. It's like a video diary online. It's all about baby Perry. I don't want to brag but I've had six hits.

Cooper: Okay, Julie wins. Her blog beats Dan's wood. (Notes from the Underbelly)

Later it's revealed that Julie discusses her sex life in her blog, and Cooper uses the blog to gain popularity at work so she can get a bonus. You'll have to watch the whole episode to understand that.

When I saw that a featured character had a blog, I wondered. Is this how the show hopes to get attention and viewers, to make one of its featured characters a mommy blogger?

Considering the show's image for the type of person who has a mommy blog, how her having a blog is used later in the show, and that her having the blog won the "most embarrassing" game, I'm not sure it should work out that Notes wins mommy blogger love. The way the mommy blogger has been presented could just as easily indicate that the show's writers don't think much of mommy bloggers.

Julie, the blogger, is portrayed as an obsessive mom whose entire world revolves around her baby. Also, Andrew describes her in that same episode as a person who asks stupid questions. (She does come off as a bit daft.) Finally, with her admission that she's proud of everything she does and that's why she started her mommy/baby blog, she comes off as narcissistic, which might peg her as one of those "hipster parents" Time magazine writer James Poniewozik criticized:

There's an unsettling parenting-as-performance aspect to this genre, an effort to elbow one's way into the baby photos. Look, sweetie! Here's me putting you into your Sex Pistols onesie! Here's me making your first mix CD! Once, it was understood that raising kids was about subordinating yourself, recognizing that, as least as far as Darwin and the gene pool were concerned, you were no longer the star. This is not to say the hipster writers are bad parents--or writers; their work can be wise and moving. But the generation that as children was told by TV that "the most important person in the whole wide world is you" is finding it hard to pass that torch. (Time, "Too Cool for Preschool")

Slate.com connected the dots just that way when Notes premiered in April.

I doubt this portrayal of a mom will win viewers at Mothering.com, where Notes already has naysayers. Nevertheless, the show does have a fan or two. Michelle at Buckingham Palace appears to enjoy it and wasn't at all offended by its portrayal of mommy bloggers. She also seems to have the admirable quality of being able to laugh at herself:

The characters are hilarious. Well last night they were making fun of the fanatic mom that has a blog... and I thought...

AHHHHH... THAT'S ME!!!! I HAVE A BLOG ALL ABOUT MY KID!!!!!!

and folks.. those of you who know me... I am the first character.. the one that hates babies and the like!

WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?!?! I AM A CREEPY FANATIC MOM.

Okay.. I have to start my own blog... a blog not about Liam or the house.

I'll start that as soon as I have something to say that's not about Liam or the house... did I mention how cute Liam is though? HAHAHA.

Hi, my name is Michelle. And I am a blogger mom.

Notes appeals to some viewers, but that number may not be large enough. According Yahoo News the show's ratings are dismal, and the writer wonders why it was renewed. Professional reviewers are also lukewarm.

I found some positive and some mixed reviews, but I-so-hate-it reviews seem more common like these from The New York Times, USA Today, and Babble.com. The folks at Babble dislike the show enough to revisit the bashing.

Apparently, Slate concurs with James Poniewozik's analysis that most Gen X parents (especially those who write about their experiences) are narcissists.

Snark aside, Babble and Slate both find the show ultimately unable to deliver anything but trite, superficial commentaries on the wealthy and privileged few. As if everyone has the ability to choose whether or not to work once their baby is born, or whether to buy a Bugaboo or MacLaren stroller, or bigger car. As if that is what parenting boils down to these days. (Babble.com's "Slate slashes Notes")

The reviews referenced all come from last spring when the Notes debuted, but I'm not sure the show's improved. The episode I saw is part of this season and struck me the same way older episodes struck the Babble.com blogger: "superficial commentaries on the wealthy and privileged few."

Furthermore, I'm uncomfortable with the show's promotion of the mommy wars myth:

Notes pits housewives against career gals and constrained fathers against liberated bachelors. It's about the loss of identity, the accrual of responsibilities, the social rivalries among friends, and—what's that in the Maclaren?—ah, yes, the baby. Coochie-coochie-coo. (Slate)

I could probably criticize it for its absence of mothers of color; however, given that the main characters are the way that they are, self-absorbed and upper-middle-class, it's probably realistic that they don't have any obvious mothers of color in their circle of close friends. As a writer, I favor that realism, characters that reflect the true state of America on class and race.

Oh, but let me be fair. Julie's husband Eric appears to be a person of color, and Lauren did have a black doctor as her obstetrician. Due to a screw-up, however, she lost him. No time to go into that now. And does it matter what I think about Notes from the Underbelly? Pregnant or baby free, I'm not part its targeted demographic..

Photo credit: Found the image from Design Mom's blog, but ABC gets due credit.

Nordette Adams is a Contributing Editor for BlogHer.com.