Lost at Birth

Separated at Birth is the ABC’s final all-new comedy for 2026. Their announced comedy line-up for 2027 is entirely returning series, so this might be our last chance for a surprise for a while. Then again, who likes surprises? At least when Dog Park returns we’ll know to have a scraper handy to get it off our shoes.

The premise of Separated at Birth is yet another of those ABC classics where it feels like someone decided the best way to win big in the ratings was to smash two fairly different ideas together. Half the show is about paramedic Sameer (Nazeem Hussain) dealing with the fallout from the birth of his first child. Which is a bit more severe than usual: while still in the delivery room, his wife Aaleyah (Sana’a Shaik) asks for a divorce.

The other half is him hanging out with his bestie and work partner Donna (Urzila Carlson). Urzila can be very funny but she mostly plays the same character in everything. So you know what you’re getting here. But at least her usual performance makes for a fairly convincing paramedic; Hussain, who also is playing according to type, is less convincing. As Donna says in the first two minutes, “Sameer’s a dickhead”.

Oh yeah, by the way; despite the premise, this is a comedy. Well, it’s trying to be. Some of the time at least. As things develop, it becomes clear a big part of the series is about Sameer dealing with his soon-to-be-ex relatives. So why is he a paramedic? Wasn’t there a funnier job he could be doing for a few scenes each episode?

Worse, Sameer isn’t just a dickhead, he’s a bit of a dick. Once again we get to see a man-child trying to avoid family responsibility (while also being a paramedic?). It’s not automatically unfunny, but it’s very, very well-worn ground. And Hussain, who can be funny in the right role, just isn’t good enough at selling the serious stuff that’s supposed to make him more than just an annoying comedy loser.

Separated at Birth knows what it’s serving up. Early on, everyone lets us know exactly what kind of guy Sameer is. But just because it’s a decent portrait of a dickhead that doesn’t mean we want to spend three hours across six episodes with him.

Old-fashioned sitcoms where everyone plays an unchanging type aren’t popular these days. But that format forced writers to try and make sure the characters worked from the start. Today we get dramedies where the lead character is on a journey. Which means they start off as an annoying tool and by the end… sorry, we don’t stick around that long.

In theory, Sameer dodging his wife’s calls when she goes into labour could be funny. Him denying reality while she’s having contractions? Also possibly funny. Blocking his extended family from seeing the baby after it’s born? Yeah, maybe that’s a laugh. But coming one after the other – this is barely the first ten minutes of episode one – it just hammers home how pathetic he is.

The whole thing feels off balance. The performances are big pretty much across the board, with only Shaik coming off as a plausible human being (probably because she’s rarely given any jokes). That doesn’t matter when it’s time for comedy, so Urzila comes off pretty well.

But the subject matter isn’t all that funny, and the family stuff is a mixed bag. Often this wants us to take seriously the sad plight of an immature, responsibility-shirking chump when his wife wises up and realises the father of her child isn’t up to the task. Yeah, nah.

There are jokes here that do work. There are dramatic moments that land. But for the most part, the characters and performances are too broad for the drama, and the drama keeps tripping up the comedy. Like too many ABC comedies these days, it’s trying to do too much. As a result, it doesn’t succeed at anything.

Separated at Birth should have been separated into two separate series. And then the ABC should have passed on both of them.