1 March 2018
SMILF comes first and only to Showmax
Update: SMILF is no longer on Showmax. Find your next binge in the full series catalogue here.
- SMILF was nominated for Best Comedy and Best Actress at the 2018 Golden Globes
- Based on a Sundance winning short film – and creator Frankie Shaw’s own experiences as a 20-something mom
- Third biggest comedy premiere on SHOWTIME ever
- Multiple year-end best of lists, including Deadline, The LA Times and Vogue • Co-starring Emmy-winner Rosie O’Donnell in her first series regular TV role
- First and only on Showmax
SMILF, which earned creator Frankie Shaw nominations for both Best Comedy and Best Actress at the 2018 Golden Globes, is now streaming first and only on Showmax in Africa. Watch now »
In addition to executive producing, directing and writing SMILF, Frankie plays Bridgette Bird, a 20-something from South Boston whose desires for relationships, sex and a career collide with the realities of working-class single motherhood.
The raw, honest comedy is based on her Sundance Film Festival Award-winning short film of the same name – and her own experiences of having a child in her mid-twenties. (Watch the NSFW Vimeo Staff Pick short film that started it all here.)
SMILF debuted with the third biggest premiere week audience for a comedy ever on SHOWTIME – the network that brought you Shameless – and ended the year on multiple Best of 2017 lists, including Deadline, The Los Angeles Times, and Vogue. Forbes described it as “the show Girls wished it could be,’ while WIRED wrote that, “In 2018, TV needs to take a cue from SMILF” and stay “as intimate as it was in 2017.”
“From its first episode, the refreshingly honest point of view of SMILF broke through with audiences, the press and on social media,” said Gary Levine, SHOWTIME’s president of programming. “Frankie Shaw is a creative force to be reckoned with; her show is funny and forthright, pointed and poignant, irreverent and relevant, all at once.”
SMILF stands for “Single Mother I’d Like To F*k” and is meant to be ironic. “There’s no real room for a woman’s existence in the word MILF,” Frankie told The New Yorker. “By getting inside her life experience, we are in a sense changing the meaning, reclaiming it.”
The hit comedy series also features multiple Emmy winner Rosie O’Donnell in her first series regular TV role, as Bridgette’s stubborn mom, while Golden Globe and Emmy nominee Connie Britton (Nashville, Friday Night Lights) guest stars as her unstable boss, Ally, in four episodes. Frankie’s fellow executive producers include Oscar-nominee Michael London (Sideways) and six-time Emmy nominee Lee Eisenberg (The Office).
Seasons 1 and 2 of SMILF are both on Showmax.
Original African stories by local talent
Empini S1
Stream the Showmax Original drama series Empini from 23 May 2024.
Original Sin: My Son The Killer
Original Sin: My Son The Killer follows the murder of Andrea Venter by Gerhard Jansen van Vuuren, who then went on the run from South Africa to Brazil.
Tracking Thabo Bester
From the makers of Devilsdorp and the director of Convict Conman comes the true-crime documentary South Africa has been waiting for. Two episodes now streaming, and the remaining two episodes land on 22 March 2024 on Showmax.
The Illuminated
The Showmax Original docuseries The Illuminated explores different religious movements in South Africa. Stream now, with new episodes every Wednesday.
Koek S1
The crime comedy Koek, starring Cindy Swanepoel, now streaming on Showmax, with new episodes every Thursday.
Ekhaya Backpackers S1
Stream the Showmax Original comedy series Ekhaya Backpackers, with new episodes every Thursday.
Cheta M
Cheta M explores the love story between Adanna and Nnanna, young lovers who battle the spiritual and political forces in their way. Stream now, with new episodes Wednesday to Friday.
Youngins S1
Stream Tshedza Pictures’s first teen drama, Showmax Original Youngins, with three new episodes every week.
All episodes of Second family are now streaming
Single Kiasi S3: The girls are back
The best movies to stream
10 Rotten Tomatoes-approved movies on Showmax: ranked
From Jaws and Kanarie, to Get Out and Minari, these are the freshest movies on Showmax according to Rotten Tomatoes.
10 movies everyone’s watching on Showmax now
Stream these 10 fun, eye-popping movies that your fellow Showmax fans are loving, including Queen & Slim, Babylon, Equalizer 3 and more.
Transformers movies on Showmax: ranked
All seven Transformers movies are ready to stream on Showmax, including the 2007 original and the latest, Rise of the Beasts.
DC superhero movies on Showmax: ranked
See the ranked list of DC superhero movies now streaming on Showmax, including the feel-good Shazam! Fury of the Gods.