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cjlasky7Caught the preview of Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, and I couldn't shake a feeling of familiarity. Shadowkat mentioned Buffy's musical episode ("Once More with Feeling") and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend as possible touchstones, but I connected it to a more obscure source: Bryan Fuller's Wonderfalls.
Both series feature an intelligent, but emotionally disconnected young woman granted a mysterious power that forces her to engage with the people around her. Zoey isn't anywhere near the slacker Jaye was (Zoey actively campaigns for--and gets--the promotion), but both women have that patina of snark that effectively isolates them for real engagement.
ZEP's pilot isn't anywhere near as well written as OMWF or the best of Wonderfalls (I saw all the "plot twists" coming from miles off), but Jane Levy has a brittle charm as Zoey, and the musical selections are professionally sung--and danced! I don't remember ever praising a TV comedy for its choreography, but Mandy Moore's choreography really popped here. (It's especially noteworthy because the main character isn't participating in the routine, and the choreographer has to place her so she doesn't gum up the dancers. Zoey fleeing the Beatles-crazed mob was brilliantly done.)
It seems a waste to hire a charismatic actor like Peter Gallagher if he's just going to sit on the couch, blinking. (Nice....catatonia there, Peter.) Let's see if he comes out of it for more than a weekly musical number. I also hope for much more from Lauren Graham, who can dominate (and has dominated) a quirky comedy like this with the sheer force of her personality.
A good start! I'll be back in February.
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Stumptown finally granted my wish and bailed out of its supremely uninteresting love triangle, and god bless 'em, they did it in the best way possible: forcing the two guys involved to team up. Hoffman blackmailing Grey to go undercover was a combination of civic mindedness, career ambition, and just plain spite, and it adds much needed dimension to his character. The team up also opens up the guys for endless amounts of Dex snark, and from the previews, our heroine is ready:
DEX: So what are you guys? Tango and Cash? Turner and Hooch?
GREY: Please stop.
DEX: Cagney and Lacey?
The case of the week ably paralleled the reality show judge and his troubled brother with Dex's own problems with an increasingly independent Ansel. I love it that Dex needs Ansel around much more than he needs her to take care of him, and letting him go leaves her truly alone for the first time. Great comedic touches with the pet shop owner and Dex's moment of TV stardom. Cobie Smulders, as usual, nails all the emotional beats. A step up all around.
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The Good Place had a sluggish first half of the season. It got bogged down in setting up the new iteration of the experiment with new characters. It spent too much time untangling the switch in Janets, and the showrunners made the fundamental mistake of splitting off Chidi from the main group. But with the all Chidi, all the time character retrospective ("The Answer") ending the year, our favorite philosophy professor rejoined the gang--and in the first ep of the home stretch, the show is running at full power again.
For the first time in a long while, the jokes were laugh out loud funny; there were excellent character beats for the newly confident Chidi and a surprisingly sentimental Shawn; Maya Rudolph and D'Arcy Carden were a great comedy team; and Chidi's blackboard got an extended workout. Not quite up to the best of S2, but darn close.
(RIP Disco Janet. Sniff. Last dance tonight....)
Both series feature an intelligent, but emotionally disconnected young woman granted a mysterious power that forces her to engage with the people around her. Zoey isn't anywhere near the slacker Jaye was (Zoey actively campaigns for--and gets--the promotion), but both women have that patina of snark that effectively isolates them for real engagement.
ZEP's pilot isn't anywhere near as well written as OMWF or the best of Wonderfalls (I saw all the "plot twists" coming from miles off), but Jane Levy has a brittle charm as Zoey, and the musical selections are professionally sung--and danced! I don't remember ever praising a TV comedy for its choreography, but Mandy Moore's choreography really popped here. (It's especially noteworthy because the main character isn't participating in the routine, and the choreographer has to place her so she doesn't gum up the dancers. Zoey fleeing the Beatles-crazed mob was brilliantly done.)
It seems a waste to hire a charismatic actor like Peter Gallagher if he's just going to sit on the couch, blinking. (Nice....catatonia there, Peter.) Let's see if he comes out of it for more than a weekly musical number. I also hope for much more from Lauren Graham, who can dominate (and has dominated) a quirky comedy like this with the sheer force of her personality.
A good start! I'll be back in February.
***********************
Stumptown finally granted my wish and bailed out of its supremely uninteresting love triangle, and god bless 'em, they did it in the best way possible: forcing the two guys involved to team up. Hoffman blackmailing Grey to go undercover was a combination of civic mindedness, career ambition, and just plain spite, and it adds much needed dimension to his character. The team up also opens up the guys for endless amounts of Dex snark, and from the previews, our heroine is ready:
DEX: So what are you guys? Tango and Cash? Turner and Hooch?
GREY: Please stop.
DEX: Cagney and Lacey?
The case of the week ably paralleled the reality show judge and his troubled brother with Dex's own problems with an increasingly independent Ansel. I love it that Dex needs Ansel around much more than he needs her to take care of him, and letting him go leaves her truly alone for the first time. Great comedic touches with the pet shop owner and Dex's moment of TV stardom. Cobie Smulders, as usual, nails all the emotional beats. A step up all around.
**************************
The Good Place had a sluggish first half of the season. It got bogged down in setting up the new iteration of the experiment with new characters. It spent too much time untangling the switch in Janets, and the showrunners made the fundamental mistake of splitting off Chidi from the main group. But with the all Chidi, all the time character retrospective ("The Answer") ending the year, our favorite philosophy professor rejoined the gang--and in the first ep of the home stretch, the show is running at full power again.
For the first time in a long while, the jokes were laugh out loud funny; there were excellent character beats for the newly confident Chidi and a surprisingly sentimental Shawn; Maya Rudolph and D'Arcy Carden were a great comedy team; and Chidi's blackboard got an extended workout. Not quite up to the best of S2, but darn close.
(RIP Disco Janet. Sniff. Last dance tonight....)
no subject
Date: 2020-01-11 02:45 am (UTC)Also we don't have the same sense of humor. I thought Zoe was funny, Good Place...eh, not so much. In fact it bordered on unwatchable. I almost gave up.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-11 06:24 am (UTC)No, I enjoyed ZEP! I thought it was fun and it has a ton of potential. It's just that once the premise was laid out, I pretty much predicted how the rest of the hour would go. (I need a few more curveballs in my whimsical comedies.) The cast is wonderful. Jane Levy is a solid lead, and anything with Mary Steenbergen, Lauren Graham and Peter Gallagher is going to be worth a watch.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-11 05:39 pm (UTC)Actually, everything but soap operas are predictable in my opinion. That's one of the reasons I watch soap operas. But I also am spoiled, so ...I know what's happening ahead of time most of the time, but they do occasionally surprise me.
I was surprised by The Witcher last weekend, I really didn't know where they were going with it. It had three different timelines. Also This is Us and a lot of relationship dramas surprise me. Actually relationship drama tends to be unpredictable for the most part. Anything that is plot centric or plot heavy tends to be predictable --- kind of goes with the territory. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2020-01-11 04:41 am (UTC)Stumptown has been one of my highlights for the current TV season, and you're right, that part near the end with Dex and Ansel was superbly done. Lovely work all around for the entire season, writing, acting, you name it. 7 to 8 out of 10.
Haven't had the intermediate seasons fallout with The Good Place like I know some have, but I've come to the belief that some TV series benefit by being seen either on DVD / Blu-Ray or else streamed so they can be seen without weeks or months of interruption. For example, the most recent season of The 100, which I watched live as it debuted over the summer and then again late this fall on DVD, where it felt far more coherent than it did over the original broadcasts.
Likewise, I only started watching The Good Place after the second season was over, on DVD. The current season is the first one I've watched live.
~sigh~ In some annoying local(?) news, Comcast just upped my cable cost by an entire $5.00, which is a hell of a lot for a previous $33.00 subscription to basic/basic cable! All of it, according to the invoice, went to the "broadcast fee". Eeesh!
Need to get my rooftop antenna replaced this spring, and then switch over to streaming, or else back to satellite like I had years ago. Seriously, 40 bucks a month to get free over-the-air TV? Noooo thank you, Comcast.
no subject
Date: 2020-01-11 06:33 am (UTC)I get the feeling Stumptown is one step away from turning into a great series. It's got so much rich material to mine; they just need to figure out the best way to get it on the air...