quick thoughts: Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist
We watched the pilot episode of 'Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist' tonight. I know pilot episodes are usually pretty rough, still ironing out a few things, but I'm not sure I'm sold on the overall premise.
(minor spoilers for the pilot episode below, though not much to spoil)
It reminded me a lot of 'Wonderfalls', with some strange incident causing the main character to question their sanity but end up doing good things for those around them, possibly in a way they would not have before. It has had shades of the episode of 'Buffy' when she can read minds and tries to use it to her advantage.
Except, I wasn't really taken with Zoey as a character. Again, this might just be pilot episode problems, a very rough sketch of who they want her to be. The overly sexist guy at the office was also really obnoxious (and how has he not been fired when the company is run by a woman?) and the "plot twist" that the nice guy is also super competitive and wants Zoey to fail but is just nice to her face? Not a cliche I'm sure people in the tech world want to see reinforce.
And speaking of cliches, Zoey's neighbor across the hall? The sassy black woman who doesn't give a AF? Who also sings loudly and smokes pot? She just made me feel uncomfortable.
Also, I'm not sure using well known pop songs really...work? I think this could have been a much stronger series with original music written for specific moments. I found the cover songs to almost be distracting, knowing that the lyrics didn't actually apply to the situation they were being plugged in to (except for the David Cassidy song at the end, which worked).
I guess it is good all these trained dancers and choreographers will get some employment if the show stays on the air.
I just don't quite see where the show can go? It's unclear if Zoey is missing parts of conversations when people go into song mode or if she is essentially blacking out. That seems bad. I knew as soon as they showed her father with his "rare disease" that her ability to hear people's thoughts as interpreted by popular music of yesterday and today would give them a sappy moment together by the end of the pilot. Things like that make me feel manipulated and I don't like that.
So what is the point of the show? What's the goal? What is Zoey's story arc going to be? Right now, it just feels awkward. I'm trying to decide if we will watch the next one. We literally have nothing else in the queue right now so we might end up watching it because it is there.
This entry was originally posted at https://orangerful.dreamwidth.org/1353427.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
(minor spoilers for the pilot episode below, though not much to spoil)
It reminded me a lot of 'Wonderfalls', with some strange incident causing the main character to question their sanity but end up doing good things for those around them, possibly in a way they would not have before. It has had shades of the episode of 'Buffy' when she can read minds and tries to use it to her advantage.
Except, I wasn't really taken with Zoey as a character. Again, this might just be pilot episode problems, a very rough sketch of who they want her to be. The overly sexist guy at the office was also really obnoxious (and how has he not been fired when the company is run by a woman?) and the "plot twist" that the nice guy is also super competitive and wants Zoey to fail but is just nice to her face? Not a cliche I'm sure people in the tech world want to see reinforce.
And speaking of cliches, Zoey's neighbor across the hall? The sassy black woman who doesn't give a AF? Who also sings loudly and smokes pot? She just made me feel uncomfortable.
Also, I'm not sure using well known pop songs really...work? I think this could have been a much stronger series with original music written for specific moments. I found the cover songs to almost be distracting, knowing that the lyrics didn't actually apply to the situation they were being plugged in to (except for the David Cassidy song at the end, which worked).
I guess it is good all these trained dancers and choreographers will get some employment if the show stays on the air.
I just don't quite see where the show can go? It's unclear if Zoey is missing parts of conversations when people go into song mode or if she is essentially blacking out. That seems bad. I knew as soon as they showed her father with his "rare disease" that her ability to hear people's thoughts as interpreted by popular music of yesterday and today would give them a sappy moment together by the end of the pilot. Things like that make me feel manipulated and I don't like that.
So what is the point of the show? What's the goal? What is Zoey's story arc going to be? Right now, it just feels awkward. I'm trying to decide if we will watch the next one. We literally have nothing else in the queue right now so we might end up watching it because it is there.
This entry was originally posted at https://orangerful.dreamwidth.org/1353427.html. Please comment there using OpenID.