It's all about popular...
Last night I watched the new show "GBC," which has several actors I really love in it. In particular, I love Kristen Chenoweth. I think she's a fantastic actor and a phenomenal singer. I also adore Annie Potts, and I've enjoyed Jennifer Aspen (although I admit I had to look up her name) on a lot of different shows. I had conflicted hopes for the show, as it looked like it was supposed to be a sort of "Desperate Housewives," which I've never liked, but slightly funnier. But on the strength of the actors, and hopes that the writing was good, I watched the pilot episode.
I was disappointed, people. The main premise of the show seems to be "Women are mean to each other - isn't that hilarious!" And it's as tawdry and farcical as it can be without actually devolving into Benny Hill. OK, maybe not quite that bad - but the tawdry is there, and it's ... icky. Just icky, without any redeeming funny. It's not the actor's fault - they all acted superbly the parts they had. I believed them, especially the women. (The men were really after-thoughts to the action, or vague plot points. Which, OK, fair play and all, that happens to women a lot in fiction. But it's as annoying when it's the men as it is when it's the women.) (Also, what is up with all the men looking so alike? They don't in their actor photos, but in the show, I swear, it's like they all had the same jawline and teeth. Did they order them special?) The writing wasn't stupid - the dialogue was relatively snappy, and the jokes were intelligent enough. They just weren't funny. Or not funny enough.
The show starts with the main character's husband fleeing the country after stealing money in some Ponzi scheme, and he and his mistress dying in a car crash because she offers to give him a BJ so he won't be so stressed. While he's driving. This was done far better and far funnier in the movie "Parenthood" from 1989. Imitation is not always as flattering as you'd think. Anyway, this leaves our main character, Amanda, a widow with serious financial and social problems, and she has to move herself and her children out of California back to Texas, where she grew up. Where she was apparently the mean girl, the "Queen Bitch" in high school, as she put it at the end of the show. And all the women she done wrong when she was a teenager are successful and hate her and want to see her fail. Amanda claims she's changed, that she's not that girl anymore. But by the end of the show, she's pushed back into a corner. While her reaction does get some of her own back, it also shows just how much of that queen she still is. There were other ways to deal with that scenario. I can think of 10. Some of them funnier. But those wouldn't keep the main premise going, that of "Women are so MEAN. LOL!"
I'm really tired of that stereotype, and it means I won't be watching that show. It's sad, because Annie Potts really is funny, and I love her. I even love her crazy, overbearing, right-wing, pushy stereotype, against my will, because she does it so well, and with so much verve and chewing of scenery. And Ms. Chenowith was happy to chew the scenery along with her, and spit out the pieces in tiny, blonde, angry stereotype chunks. She was great, for the role she had. But it's not enough. I want friends. I want women who like each other and have each other's backs, and bicker and play and care about one another, and screw up and fix things and live lives of hilarity without constant worry that the other women around them who pretend to be nice are going to stab them with cruel words. I want sromance. This is not that show. So disappointed.
I was disappointed, people. The main premise of the show seems to be "Women are mean to each other - isn't that hilarious!" And it's as tawdry and farcical as it can be without actually devolving into Benny Hill. OK, maybe not quite that bad - but the tawdry is there, and it's ... icky. Just icky, without any redeeming funny. It's not the actor's fault - they all acted superbly the parts they had. I believed them, especially the women. (The men were really after-thoughts to the action, or vague plot points. Which, OK, fair play and all, that happens to women a lot in fiction. But it's as annoying when it's the men as it is when it's the women.) (Also, what is up with all the men looking so alike? They don't in their actor photos, but in the show, I swear, it's like they all had the same jawline and teeth. Did they order them special?) The writing wasn't stupid - the dialogue was relatively snappy, and the jokes were intelligent enough. They just weren't funny. Or not funny enough.
The show starts with the main character's husband fleeing the country after stealing money in some Ponzi scheme, and he and his mistress dying in a car crash because she offers to give him a BJ so he won't be so stressed. While he's driving. This was done far better and far funnier in the movie "Parenthood" from 1989. Imitation is not always as flattering as you'd think. Anyway, this leaves our main character, Amanda, a widow with serious financial and social problems, and she has to move herself and her children out of California back to Texas, where she grew up. Where she was apparently the mean girl, the "Queen Bitch" in high school, as she put it at the end of the show. And all the women she done wrong when she was a teenager are successful and hate her and want to see her fail. Amanda claims she's changed, that she's not that girl anymore. But by the end of the show, she's pushed back into a corner. While her reaction does get some of her own back, it also shows just how much of that queen she still is. There were other ways to deal with that scenario. I can think of 10. Some of them funnier. But those wouldn't keep the main premise going, that of "Women are so MEAN. LOL!"
I'm really tired of that stereotype, and it means I won't be watching that show. It's sad, because Annie Potts really is funny, and I love her. I even love her crazy, overbearing, right-wing, pushy stereotype, against my will, because she does it so well, and with so much verve and chewing of scenery. And Ms. Chenowith was happy to chew the scenery along with her, and spit out the pieces in tiny, blonde, angry stereotype chunks. She was great, for the role she had. But it's not enough. I want friends. I want women who like each other and have each other's backs, and bicker and play and care about one another, and screw up and fix things and live lives of hilarity without constant worry that the other women around them who pretend to be nice are going to stab them with cruel words. I want sromance. This is not that show. So disappointed.