# Bless This Mess (TV series)
*Bless This Mess* is an American single-camera television sitcom that aired on ABC from April 16, 2019 to 2020, following newlyweds Rio ([Lake Bell](https://www.edgepedia.org/lake-bell)) and Mike ([Dax Shepard](https://www.edgepedia.org/dax-shepard)) as they leave New York City to run a run-down farm in rural Nebraska.[1](https://abc.com/show/057ee5f2-6810-46b7-99ff-9ab29da37009/about-the-show) • [2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9418572) The series was co-created by Lake Bell and [Elizabeth Meriwether](https://www.edgepedia.org/elizabeth-meriwether), the creator of *New Girl*, and produced by 20th Century Fox Television and ABC Studios.[1](https://abc.com/show/057ee5f2-6810-46b7-99ff-9ab29da37009/about-the-show)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Network and run | ABC, April 16, 2019 to 2020; two seasons, 26 episodes[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9418572) • [3](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/bless-this-mess) |
| Format | Single-camera comedy, half-hour episodes, rated TV-PG[1](https://abc.com/show/057ee5f2-6810-46b7-99ff-9ab29da37009/about-the-show) • [3](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/bless-this-mess) |
| Creators | Lake Bell and Elizabeth Meriwether, also executive producers alongside Jake Kasdan, Melvin Mar, Erin O'Malley, Katherine Pope, and Dax Shepard[1](https://abc.com/show/057ee5f2-6810-46b7-99ff-9ab29da37009/about-the-show) |
| Premise | Newlyweds leave New York for a farm in Bucksnort, Nebraska, that Mike inherited, intending to grow alfalfa with no farming experience[1](https://abc.com/show/057ee5f2-6810-46b7-99ff-9ab29da37009/about-the-show) • [4](https://time.com/5568318/bless-this-mess-tv-show-review/) |
| Lead cast | Lake Bell as Rio, Dax Shepard as Mike, Ed Begley Jr. as Rudy, Pam Grier as Constance, David Koechner as Beau, Lennon Parham as Kay, JT Neal as Jacob[5](https://abc.com/show/057ee5f2-6810-46b7-99ff-9ab29da37009/cast) |
| Critical scores | Metacritic season 1 Metascore 60 (mixed or average, 10 reviews); Rotten Tomatoes season 1: 82% from 11 critics, 74% audience score[6](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/bless-this-mess/season-1/) • [7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/bless_this_mess/s01) |
| Viewer rating | 7.0/10 on IMDb from about 5,400 users[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9418572/ratings/) |
## Premise and characters
Rio, a psychotherapist, and Mike, a music journalist, have been married a year when they abandon their New York lives, including their jobs and Rio's overbearing mother, for the Nebraska farm Mike inherited from his great aunt.[1](https://abc.com/show/057ee5f2-6810-46b7-99ff-9ab29da37009/about-the-show) • [4](https://time.com/5568318/bless-this-mess-tv-show-review/) They arrive expecting a life like a [Pinterest](https://www.edgepedia.org/pinterest) page and find useless soil, a wrecked house, and a handyman named Rudy living on the property.[4](https://time.com/5568318/bless-this-mess-tv-show-review/) The couple set out to become alfalfa farmers despite having no agricultural experience.[4](https://time.com/5568318/bless-this-mess-tv-show-review/)
The ensemble around them includes Rudy ([Ed Begley Jr.](https://www.edgepedia.org/ed-begley-jr)), who lives in the couple's barn but comes inside to use their toilet; Constance ([Pam Grier](https://www.edgepedia.org/pam-grier)), who owns the general store, serves as the local sheriff, and runs the town theater; and the neighboring Bowman family, Beau ([David Koechner](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-koechner)) and Kay (Lennon Parham), whose son Jacob (JT Neal) helps on the farm.[5](https://abc.com/show/057ee5f2-6810-46b7-99ff-9ab29da37009/cast) • [3](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/bless-this-mess) Guest and recurring players included Susie Essman as Rio's mother Donna and Rita Moreno as Theresa.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/bless-this-mess/season-1/)
## Production
Lake Bell, who wrote, directed, and starred in the 2013 film *In a World ...*, developed the series with Elizabeth Meriwether and co-wrote the pilot; Bell also directed episodes and served as an executive producer with Shepard.[1](https://abc.com/show/057ee5f2-6810-46b7-99ff-9ab29da37009/about-the-show) • [9](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-bless-this-mess-review-20190416-story.html) The series premiered on April 16, 2019, in a Tuesday 9:30 p.m. slot with a six-episode first season.[3](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/bless-this-mess) • [9](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-bless-this-mess-review-20190416-story.html) It was renewed for a second season, which brought the total to 26 episodes before the series ended in 2020.[2](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9418572)
## Reception
**Critics.** Season 1 scored 60 on Metacritic, with five positive and five mixed reviews and none negative.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/bless-this-mess/season-1/) On Rotten Tomatoes the same season holds 82% among 11 critics, with a critics consensus praising the ensemble, and a 74% audience score.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/bless_this_mess/s01) Reviewers repeatedly compared the premise to *Green Acres*, the 1960s sitcom about a Manhattan couple who move to a farm, and to the film *[The Money Pit](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-money-pit)* for the collapsing house.[9](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-bless-this-mess-review-20190416-story.html) • [4](https://time.com/5568318/bless-this-mess-tv-show-review/) Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times called the pilot "fully formed and funny, a dry contemporary comedy built on an old foundation"; Time's Judy Berman wrote that, as with *New Girl*, neither rural nor urban characters come across as caricatures.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/bless-this-mess/season-1/) More critical reviews found the fish-out-of-water humor predictable, with [The Hollywood Reporter](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-hollywood-reporter)'s Daniel Fienberg faulting hackneyed beats and CNN's Brian Lowry calling the show insubstantial.[6](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/bless-this-mess/season-1/)
**Audiences.** IMDb users gave the series 7.0/10, with the unweighted mean of ratings at 7.3; episode ratings rose from 6.5 for the pilot to the mid-7s over the run.[8](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9418572/ratings/)
## Rural portrayal and afterlife
A scholarly chapter by David Karle and Charles Weak in *Rural Imaginations for a Globalized World* argues that the series reimagines rural life in contrast with 1960s television that stereotyped rural dwellers as unsophisticated, offering a multilayered reading of rural people and spaces even if it does not engage the full complexity of contemporary globalized rural life.[10](https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004731943_025)
The series remains available to stream on Hulu and Disney+, and to buy on Amazon Video, the Apple TV Store, and Fandango At Home.[11](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/bless-this-mess)
## References
1. [About Bless This Mess, ABC](https://abc.com/show/057ee5f2-6810-46b7-99ff-9ab29da37009/about-the-show)
2. [Bless This Mess (TV Series 2019–2020), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9418572)
3. [Bless This Mess: Parents' Guide & TV Review, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/bless-this-mess)
4. [Bless This Mess Is the First Promising Network Sitcom of 2019, Time](https://time.com/5568318/bless-this-mess-tv-show-review/)
5. [Bless This Mess, Cast, Characters and Stars, ABC](https://abc.com/show/057ee5f2-6810-46b7-99ff-9ab29da37009/cast)
6. [Bless This Mess season 1 Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/bless-this-mess/season-1/)
7. [Bless This Mess: Season 1, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/bless_this_mess/s01)
8. [Bless This Mess (2019–2020) Ratings, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9418572/ratings/)
9. [In ABC's 'Bless This Mess,' the clueless hipster as comedy target, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-et-st-bless-this-mess-review-20190416-story.html)
10. [David Karle and Charles Weak, "Bless This Mess: Complex Rural Realities in an American Sitcom," in Rural Imaginations for a Globalized World, Brill](https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004731943_025)
11. [Bless This Mess streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/bless-this-mess)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Sitcom and comedy series › American sitcoms and comedy series › 2010s and later network sitcoms*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license