Premise: A
woman abandons her successful career to move across country in pursuit of her
ex. Yeah… crazy.
Verdict: This
a show trying to be a Tina Fey show, but you can’t be Tina Fey if you are not
Tina Fey.
I was planning to
skip this one due to irrational TV hatred [and lack of interest], but I guess that is a moot point now…
Let’s just say that in the spirit of TV fairness I watched the pilot a few days
back and decided to recap it before the new episode hits the airwaves.
Crazy Ex Girlfriend has a certain charm, I’ll admit, which is
probably the reason critics haven’t completely dismissed it. Having said that…
if I had to use a word to describe it, it would be “mess”.
There are so many
things on Crazy Ex Girlfriend that
are just not right. First… the premise. This is basically a show about a
stalker. A woman that gets so obsessed with the guy she dated for two minutes
in summer camp that she quits her job and moves to a small town in California
because he “makes her feel warm inside”. OK… crazy premises sometimes make good
shows, but nothing in the pilot
indicated that this might be the case.
I was expecting the “following
the ex” plotline to be a departure point. Something akin to Felicity who moves
to NY after a boy only to realize that she was not chasing him, she just wanted
to have a life of her own and be able to make her own mistakes. Ben was just an
excuse. Felicity comes to this conclusion by the end of the pilot. However,
this type of epiphany never came for Rebecca - the ‘heroine’ of Crazy ex -
which makes me think that the show is truly going to be about a crazy ex with
no redeemable story [I might be wrong, but that’s the impression I got]. Also,
let’s not forget that Felicity was 18 not a grown woman. She was allowed to
make stupid mistakes.
OK… a show about a
crazy character could still work as a quirky comedy. Just take a look at Arrested Development and Community or even Happy Endings. Those characters are definitely dysfunctional. I
believe Crazy Ex Girlfriend was
trying to go there, but it doesn’t take it far enough. The show has a surreal
element to it… but it is too vanilla to be considered edgy.
Which brings me to
the other thing that drove me crazy [no pun intended]: the musical numbers. The
R & B parody was pretty funny, but it looked like an SNL sketch rather
than a scene out of a dramedy. The rest of the “break into song” moments were
just flat out annoying. And I don’t think I have a prejudice against music
numbers, I watched Glee and
used to love the flash mobs on Eli
Stone…but that was part of the plot. Here, it just felt like a girl singing
for no good reason.
At the end of the
day, this show felt like something trying to be similar to Unbreakable
Kimmy Schmidt without the quirk that makes it special.
Should you watch it? I feel bad about this, because there is
always the possibility of the show “finding itself” but… I am going to say no. Sorry Crazy Ex…
i hated the musical numbers
ReplyDeletei really liked the actress, i felt she did crazy well
there was a certain charm to it but there was something off as well..
basically there is something off and I am not entirely sure what it is plus it is the type of show that could get tired really quickly...though it does not look like it will survive for too long
not watching episode 2
Agree... and I also liked the girl! She was good... but it felt like two shows mashed together... one cutesy and the other one kinda edgy and the result was just kind of awkward... Doubt it will last too
Deletethis tv show is amazing!i like it very much! its about relatonships and love, crazy ex, perfect!It inspired me on writing my article about crazy ex https://kovla.com/blog/3-quick-ways-to-stop-obsessing-over-your-ex-in-pictures/ enjoy!
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