All pictures courtesy of the CW
Where to begin with this show. One of the last premiere week/three
week roundups I will be doing (with the exception of Supergirl and
maybe Wicked City), this one is coming a little late as my computer
and I weren't on the best of terms last week and because I had to
wade through all of my emotions about this show. As a quick reminder
for those of you who want my initial thoughts on this show, I would
point you to a post I did earlier concerning the release of my book
Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend (
#AhStalking). But if you
don't want to click that link then let me give you a brief refresher.
My initial thoughts on the CW's only new show for the fall season
were not exceptionally good or bad. Actually, they were a mixture of
"meh" and "dang it! Not again!" The last
sentiment came from the fact that my book covers virtually the same
topic (more on that later). Funny enough, if I hadn't written the
book over a year ago and decided to edit it as my first comedy to
come out after the summer's The Writer, I might not have been
interested in this show at all. But after having my mojo and dignity
questioned by a few young ladies, I had to step back and wonder about
whether I was still current enough to be entertaining in the
slightest or if I had just happened upon the wrong audience for the
past decade or so. So, with Crazy Ex skewing younger and being a
comedy written by women but for everybody, I figured that at least I
could see what some ladies find funny... if the show proved
successful.
Well, sigh. There's so much here to talk about that I truly don't
know where to begin. I know I say that a lot in these reviews, but
this one is legitimately all over the place. First, as I mentioned
twice already, my book is pretty much on the same thing and was the
only reason I tuned into the show. While I would love to not be so
self-involved and not throw one big advertisement for Yep in
your face, it would be nearly impossible for me to talk about the
show without mentioning the book. I'll try to keep the mentions to a
minimum, but no promises.
 |
| Why Is Josh So Dreamy? |
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend starts Rachel Bloom as Rebecca Bunch, a genius
Harvard and Yale-educated lawyer (refer back to my post on Limitless
to see my thoughts on TVs never-ending crop of geniuses). Like every
other genius, she is really good at what she does but finds that her
life is a total wash outside of her work. One day, after seeing a
butter commercial that asks her when the last time was that she was
happy (poorly worded sentence. Moving on), she remembers that she was
the happiest when she dated an Asian guy ten years ago back in summer
camp named Josh Chan. As if by some miracle, she runs into him on the
streets of NYC and learns that he is moving to West Covina,
California, a small town about thirty minutes outside of LA (I lived
there for a while back when I was homeless; trust me, you can make it
to downtown LA on the I-15 in thirty minutes depending on the time of
day). As the namesake implies, she is crazy enough to quit her job
after receiving a half a million dollar promotion, jump a plane and
fly across country to try to be with Josh Chan. No sure thing! No
back-up plan! Nothing! Just a "we'll see what happens!"
In West Covina, she finds a job at a local law firm in the town
(again, she could have found one in LA but no), she goes to a local
bar where she runs into a bartender friend of Josh, her coworker
points out that she might be crazy and then just dismisses it as her
being in love and she discovers that Josh already has a girlfriend
who is super attractive and who he has been with off and on since
they were children. In fact, this girlfriend of his, Valencia, was
around since their summer camp days ten years ago when Rebecca and
Josh were 15 or 16-year-olds. This lady has staying power. Not to
mention she does yoga as seen on the second episode.
The first episode ran through many of the typical stalking motifs:
she texts excessively, she runs into him by accident and he's weirded
out by her sudden presence in California, she stalks him to a party
where he doesn't show, etc. At the end of the night, after having
spent much of her time with the bartender who instantly liked her
from the moment she walked in, she and her coworker sing about the
awesomeness of love after she realizes and then un-realizes that she
is crazy. Rather than tell the girl to get help, the woman agrees to
help feed her fantasy like a good friend would do. The one problem I
had here is that it comes off as creepy and kind of insincere that
the woman suddenly wants to help her. They haven't been friends for
years, she barely knows this girl, she's clearly quite a bit
older--why would she suddenly nod her head at helping this Rebecca
girl claim this guy. The relationship didn't feel organic.
 |
| I Know We Just Met But Surprise, I'm Crazy Too |
If I'm being honest, neither does the relationship she has with the
bartender Greg. The moment he meets her, he tries sleeping with her
which isn't far from reality, but the way he does it feels so slimy;
yet, he is portrayed as the good and decent guy she should be with.
There's no overreaching connection and even after seeing their first
official date on the fourth episode, I still don't feel a chemistry
between them. Something about Greg makes me think he's gay every time
I look at him. I know, some fans of the show will jump on me and say
"just because he's a sweet guy doesn't mean he's gay or anything
like that." I know. I get that. I have been the sweet guy many
times in my life. But for me, some of the most iconic sweet guys were
Ross and Chandler from Friends. Even though there may have been jokes
about Chandler, I never thought either character was gay. Greg feels
like the gay best friend not the love interest we all hope she falls
for in the end.
The second episode dove deeper into the psyche of Rebecca and its
fractured state. After seeing Valencia and Josh kissing, she sets out
to befriend her ex-boyfriend's girlfriend so she can copy everything
about her which she believes will win Josh. Valencia, just like all
beautiful women, struggles to keep female friends and accepts Rebecca
as her new potential bestie. Rebecca's plan goes awry when she kisses
Valencia in the middle of a club when Josh and Greg join the women
for a night out. She then blurts out that she used to date Josh which
sends the overly jealous Valencia into a rage causing her to ban Josh
from any future contact with Bunch unless supervised by a third
party.
 |
| Are You As Confused As I Am? |
This all leads to the third episode in which Rebecca throws a house
party in hopes of luring Josh to her place and circumventing
Valencia's rules while the woman isn't in town. Surprisingly, this
goes well when Josh comes to the party and manages to use his powers
of cool Asian-ness to turn the pathetic gathering of losers into a
real fly kick-back. Greg came because he's stalking Rebecca almost as
much as she is stalking Josh, though I can't figure out why. And we
also meet Rebecca's psych major neighbor who wants to "study
her" because she's fascinating. In the fourth episode this
translates into the nihilist neighbor actually recording observations
of her strange behavior and wanting to befriend her out of... pity?
What's my grade? Deep sigh. I have to currently give this a C. Let me
backtrack for a moment and go over a few things. First off, I know
that many of the fans of this show probably would like my book which
is hard because alienating a potential customer is never good, but I
have to be honest here. I think the show suffers from a few problems.
The chief problem is probably the tone and pacing.
A little history of the show, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was originally
slated to air on Showtime as a half hour comedy. I guess Showtime
ordered a few episodes but then saw the pilot and decided to pass.
This left the producers in a hell of a predicament. For starters,
they had to expand 30 minutes into 60. Sure, commercial breaks factor
in, but often Showtime shows aren't a full 30 minutes either. The
first two episodes were noticeably drawn-out. Don't get me wrong, I
often have plenty of long scenes in my books, especially in Yep,
but they have to keep moving at a steady pace. The show didn't pack
every second with a joke or with character building. Certain parts
fell flat. For instance, the convenient store scene in the second
episode where Rebecca sees Valencia for the first time could have had
30 seconds shaven from the entire sequence and it would have made
such a difference. The dialogue, while good, is not always delivered
snappy enough so it almost feels like the character is working
through a joke as they say it. And boy are those commercial breaks
long as hell. It feels like they're coming up two minutes short each
week so every break has to be 30 seconds longer. This improved
slightly by episode four.
Another thing, the silence. Listen, I've always defended laugh tracks
on the multi-camera comedy. But I also can enjoy the no laugh track
of the single cam when done right. What I find most often, however,
for a great deal of single cam shows is that they not only remove the
laugh track but they cut down on the filler sounds and cue-ing tones
that help to fill the dead space when no one is talking. Outside of
the musical numbers, sometimes I could barely hear any ambient sound
in the background of scenes crowded with people. It made the show
feel like a show rather than a glance into someone's life. The
best example I could give is of the Bernie Mac Show (one of the
pioneers of this single cam one-hour comedy). When he sits down to
talk to America, there was often some music in the background, not
overpowering but there in order to offset the undertones in his
voice. I'm not going to treat any reader like an idiot but I don't
have time to explain this. However, sound engineers instinctively
know how to fill the dead space without being overbearing.
 |
| Everybody's Singing! |
Speaking of sound, the music is pretty much all original pieces,
which is both good and bad. Bad for the reasons mentioned above. Good
because it shows the creativity of the writers. But you'll have a hit
and miss each episode. I actually didn't like the "Getting Ready
Song" as much as I did the "West Covina" song of the
first episode. And neither came close to the "Yoga" song of
the second episode. Interesting enough, though the songs were a clear
selling point if you've seen any of Rachel Bloom's online stuff, they
have yet to find a harmony with the show. "West Covina"
notwithstanding, nearly every other song seemed like it was either a
pre-conceived funny music video that was stuffed into the show or
overshadows the show and current plot with its catchiness. In other
words, some songs feel as if they are just there and others feel as
if an entire episode or situation was written around them just so
they could use that funny device (hey, I've done it before. Plenty of
writers do it. It happens).
Finally, the characters. Everyone seems to be a caricature or is not
even attempting to be a real human making the ebb and flow of the
show confusing at times. Is the fact that Greg is instantly obsessed
with her, and Paula (her coworker) is willing to help her supposed to
convey that we are seeing this entire world from her mentally
unstable point of view, or are they just as unstable? Or is the show
trying to subvert her mental illness and "craziness" by
making everyone around her seem crazier, and by default making her
look less crazy? This, in part, seems to be the case as her craziness
is pitied by the neighbor and bolstered into a "this is actually
normal behavior" thought process. Thinking about it, at least
she spent real time with Josh, albeit ten years ago. Greg had no
prior knowledge of her, yet he lusts after her but hasn't conveyed
any sense of love at first sight. To be clear, my other book
Unrequited is all about me falling in love at first sight with a
girl. There's an overwhelming sense of "oh my god, my world has
changed forever." Greg just seems to be hanging around in hopes
of getting that pity sex when Josh finally wises up and coldly turns
her down.
 |
| Nice Guy Bartender Greg. Gay Best Friend? |
And speaking of Josh, did they have to make him a bit of an idiot?
Contrary to the title song of the show, I think her craziness is made
to be less nuanced because of his lack of any true attractiveness
outside of his physical looks. He's sort of a nice guy but he was
also begging Rebecca to lie to his girlfriend about having dated ten
years prior. This dynamic alone confuses the "this is actually
normal behavior and we're all a little maladjusted" message. If
he had something legitimately going for him or the man and woman were
shown on equal footing, the viewer might feel more inclined to
sympathize with her plight. I get the whole "they're opposites"
thing but it feels more like the show is reinforcing the crazy
stereotype rather than subverting it and making viewers consider the
meaning behind such language.
And for the part I was actually dreading, my comparison with my book.
Honestly, there are tons of similarities between the book and the
show, which actually rather ticks me off, because long story short I
had some stories stolen from me a long while back and have been
paranoid ever since. But stuff like: the other girl being into Yoga,
the protagonist being a smart but quirky adult adolescent, selfies,
twitter, etc. All of it is in the book. Don't want to spoil anything
but even the parents are similar, which makes me wonder if I dislike
or hate my own book. Of course, it's all slightly different and from
what I've seen I approach lost love and mental instability from a
different angle while still trying to toe a delicate line of funny
and heartfelt, but who knows if I succeed, either.
Should you be watching? Hell, the real question is for how long can
you watch. The ratings for this show have been abysmal. Yes, Monday
at 8pm is a tough slot, especially with no lead-in as critical
darling Jane the Virgin comes on at 9pm, but these ratings are...
man! Crazy didn't even premiere to a million viewers. It weighed in
just shy at 950,000... out of 310 million people in the US. It has a
0.8 share in the 18-49 demographic. The numbers went up the second
week but then they went down the third to 860,000. I'm not even sure
that the people who watch this show know about this show. Bear in
mind, The Flash gets 4 million viewers weekly which is good for the
CW. Arrow gets even more. But to not even have a million people
watching the show and to have it premiere late and for Supergirl on
CBS to now have its premiere which is also geared toward a younger
and female audience, I'm really not sure if it can survive. And in
fairness, I can't recommend you watch a show when I have a feeling it
might get canceled and you end up with TV heartbreak (it's real).
Granted, the one lone saving grace of this is that even though it is
the lowest rated show on the channel currently, it is still on the
CW. They aren't too quick to expel shows and they blew half their
fall season advertising budget on this show, so it would be hard to
just walk away. But I can't see advertisers staying much longer if
the ratings don't jump at least to 1.2 million by Thanksgiving. If
you love this show, you have to tell everyone you know. Shameless
plug, the book might be better (Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My
Ex-Boyfriend).
What do you think? Have you heard of this show? Have you seen it? If
so, will you continue to watch? What was your favorite song? Let me
know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you
see no comments).
Check out my scary reads: #AFuriousWind,
#DARKER,
#BrandNewHome
or
#ThePowerOfTen.
For those interested in something a little more dramatic, check
out #TheWriter.
The full first season is out now exclusively on Amazon. Or check out the crazy, action-packed crime novel #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in the coming months. Join us on
Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my
blog with that Google+ button to the right side.
Until next time, this
has been another blog post.
P.S. That sounded way cooler in my head. I was thinking I was going
to have this cool sign-off specifically for NaBloPoMo (National Blog
Posting Month where you do a post a day), but that didn't work out at
all. That was just as bad as all of the rest of them. How am I ever
gonna get through this month with such bad writing? Eh! I'll think of
something good, I know it.
Amazon
Goodreads Author Page
Goodreads Books Similar to TV Shows
Twitter@filmbooksbball
