Bobby Hill

Bobby is the only child of Hank and Peggy Hill, a soft-hearted kid in Arlen, Texas who would rather crack jokes, dabble in comedy or cooking or whatever new hobby has caught his eye than throw a football. He's affectionate, a little goofy, and not remotely interested in becoming the man his father assumes he should be.

The joke of casting a grown woman as a teenage boy could have been a gimmick, but Pamela Adlon finds Bobby's exact register: eager, unguarded, funny without knowing it's funny. The show's real tenderness lives in the gap between Hank's idea of manhood and Bobby's cheerful refusal to fit it.