“This is horrifying, like a scary movie or something…”
So utters a rapper during the odd interlude “The Sexy Getting Ready Song” during the première of CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. And that’s all you need to know about this dud.
You’re a glutton for punishment, you say? Well, Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) is an attorney who just moved from New York City to West Covina of all places to stalk her ex-boyfriend. That’s about it.
Seemingly, writer Rene Gube (Bloom is also credited with writing unknown episodes, and hopefully we never know them) fashioned Rebecca after Tina Fey but instead of infusing the character with humor she gets a dose of bizarre and fair smattering of gross. That’s probably the point, but it does not work. At all.
Instead, the writing is forced and not at all the slapstick it intends to be. What works on TBS for Gube (The Ground Floor, Men at Work) fails horribly on CW.
The premise has potential but derails fast. Nothing is believable. In fact, the characters are downright pathetic and despicable. Gube obviously goes for the Glee crowd with this sour egg, as it is ripe with weird song and dance numbers that, while on one hand are somewhat cleverly written, are misplaced in this horrible pilot.
So what if it claims to have “positive reviews” via Rotten Tomatoes? I mean, were these people paid to write a positive review? That’s what social media managers are for, after all they try to get people to write positive reviews for a show in hopes to boost ratings. Still, the fact that it had low ratings during its première yesterday, says it all.
Packaging the show for CW gives off an entirely different vibe and marketing is everything. Maybe it might have worked for HBO, but I am not sure it would have helped this weird musical comedy, that seems to totally miss the mark.
Remind me never to watch Crazy Ex-Girlfriend again or go to West Covina, for that matter.