B ack in the day, America knew Westport through the TV camera. In the final year of “I Love Lucy,” LucyandDesi–alongwithFredand Ethel Mertz, of course – “moved” from New York to Westport. In one memorable episode, Lucy destroyed the Minute Man statue – right before the “Yankee Doodle Day” celebration. A still-famous episode from the first season of the “Twilight Zone,” called “A Stop At Willoughby” – written by Westport resident Rod Serling – features a commuter heading home from Manhattan. The train conductor calls out “Westport,” but the man ends up in an idyllic 1880s town called Willoughby instead. A few years later, Elizabeth Montgomery and her “Bewitched” family lived at “1164 Morning Glory Circle” in Westport. If that sounds like a pseudo-local address with a California house number – hey, the series was filmed on a Hollywood lot. Viewers who knew Westport through those three shows were watching on small black-and-white TVs. Half a century later the town is back on the screen, as the setting for two new series. Our televisions are now huge and plasma (or we watch on tiny mobile screens). All burst with color. But America still gets a black-and-white view of life in Westport, Connecticut. One show uses the town as the setting for life in the family of “the second fattest housewife” in town. The other uses it as headquarters for a hedge fund, a place rife with double deals, shady deals, and a dominatrix to boot. Sure, Westport is home to housewives (though it’s been a while since anyone used that term). They come in all shapes and sizes (admittedly, mostly thin). Westport is also home to Bridgewater Associates, often described as “the largest hedge fund in the world” (and, in an industry obsessed with privacy, one of the most private – many Westporters don’t even know it’s there). But how exactly did these two Hollywood shows wind up on Fairfield County’s Gold Coast? In the case of “American Housewife” – the title that’s replaced the original “The Second Fattest Housewife in Westport,” though the plot is the same: “a confident, unapologetic plump mother of three raises her flawed family in the wealthy town of Westport, Connecticut, filled with ‘perfect’ mommies and their ‘perfect’ offspring” – creator Sarah Dunn knew the town, and liked it. She calls herself “the second fattest housewife” in
Garrison, New York, though both her conception of “fat,” and Hollywood’s, is many pounds off the mark. She and her husband actually considered moving to Westport from New York – the schools are great, especially for a child with special needs, which Dunn has – but wound up in Putnam County instead. She considered setting “Housewife” in New Canaan or Darien, but didn’t think people outside of Connecticut knew either town. Greenwich, meanwhile, “sounded too rich.” So Westport it was. The “Westport” viewers will see when it premieres Tuesday, October 11 (8:30 p.m., ABC) is one in which 40-year-old women try to look like teenagers (and wear not one but two Fitbits). They work out obsessively, down green drinks, and own labradoodles. Their sons read the Robb Report , everyone talks about money, and (of course) they all live in very large homes. “I’m overweight,” Dunn repeats. “I took a spin class at the Westport SoulCycle. It’s a hard place to be a mom. There are a lot of very beautiful, very fit women who don’t look like they have kids but do.” Katie Otto – the “fat” housewife played by Katy Mixon of “Mike and Molly” fame – is “a beautiful woman, with a beautiful shape,” Dunn says. “She has a relatable body for Americans. She doesn’t start on a diet on the show. That’s not her. I care about women feeling proud of who they are, no matter what size. I don’t think 40-year-olds need to be size 4.” But is that the type of women who really fill Westport? Is she reflecting – or creating – a stereotype? “There are probably different Westports, just like there are different Beverly Hillses,” Dunn admits. “There is a lot of wealth in Westport, and there are people just hanging on. This is not a reality show about Westport. It’s a 21-minute comedy.” Warming to her subject, she continues: “This is not a send-up of Westport. It’s not a caricature. Westport stands in for any wealthy suburb, where women are involved with their schools and their kids.” Dunn hopes that viewers “see Westport as a beautiful place, with great schools. There’s a fun, fantasy element there too, I think.” She would like to include references to places like the Spotted Horse, Longshore and Compo HOLLYWOOD’S TAKE ONWESTPORT BY DAN WOOG
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