I watched a few minutes of it. Rachel Brosnahan’s NY accent is phony enough to be distracting.
Thoroughly enjoyed the show. The only mildly low point to me was when Midge was doing the party circuit and became the straight-man for the guy doing the Hitler bit. Looking forward to the second season.
Just finished it last night, and also thoroughly enjoyed it. The soundtrack brought back memories – I found myself recognizing songs that I don’t think I’d thought about in 50 years (“Pass Me By”, for instance). Loved Tony Shalhoub. And the psychic.
As someone above also mentioned: there were some anachronistic uses of language. And she was awfully free & easy dropping “F”-bombs in her act; that’s the kind of thing that got Lenny Bruce arrested repeatedly. (Actually, I think Midge’s stand-up act was the weakest part of the show).
You know, you’re right. I laughed during the rest of the show and it was nice to see her succeeding in making the Gaslight audience laugh but I personally never really laughed during her stand-up jokes. Maybe because she was largely telling jokes about events I had already seen and laughed at.
But the scenes of her actually up on stage were fairly short so it wasn’t a distraction or problem, just odd to think about in retrospect.
How accurate was Midge’s comedy routine for 1958? Was it written for modern audiences or would it have fit in back then? Her act seemed more like modern comedy than what we saw from the other acts from back then. The Lenny Bruce bits seemed in the same vein as hers, but, from what I understand, he was really on the edge and considered obscene. I have the impression that most comics back then were telling more traditional jokes and one-liners (Take my wife…Please!)
Okay, I’m gonna be that person. I don’t like the show.
Well… I should say, I do like aspects of it. The clothing, the 1950s-era-invoking, NYC Jewish culture stuff (most of which is pleasantly nostalgic for me!), Tony Shalhoub, Marin Hinkle, music… all are very good.
Unfortunately, the main aspect I don’t like is the lead character, aka The Marvelous Mary Sue. 
See, I find her annoying as hell. The actress is fine, sometimes excellent with the dramatic stuff or the slices-of-life involving being newly single and dealing with such a huge life change.
But the chief problem is that to me, this supposedly brilliant comedian is not funny. (I know comedy is subjective, and most people adore this show, so I totally acknowledge I’m probably the weird one.)
Like, I have never laughed at all during her comedy “bits,” including both when she (obnoxiously) holds court and hogs attention in real life, as well as the amazing freeform stand-up that pretty much consists of shocking us with the fact of a 1950s woman saying “fuck” a lot and talking about sex. Ooh. Edgy.
The show itself has funny moments. But y’know, when your character is meant to be the most daring, charismatic, funniest woman anyone’s ever met, to the point where no one less than LENNY BRUCE is instantly enamored of her–well, that chick had better frickin’ make me laugh. And she doesn’t. (Your mileage may, and clearly does, differ.)
To me, the Lenny Bruce thing is really the worst. It’s why Midge is such a Mary Sue–the writers just had to prop up their lead’s street-cred as a comic by using the biggest and most iconic name in comedy as an imprimatur. It makes me cringe with embarrassment. I almost feel outraged on behalf of the estate of Lenny Bruce, that they’re using him this way.
It’s like writing about a composer and putting a fictionalized Leonard Bernstein in the script to fawn all over the new guy. Especially when the so-called genius’s music sounds like subpar Coldplay.
Shows about comedy have a tough job. It reminds me of Aaron Sorkin’s Studio 60, which was about a brilliant, subversive late night comedy show produced by the lead characters. Time and time again we were told how hilarious and groundbreaking and important this pseudo-SNL was. The headwriters (Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford) spoke passionately about their show’s awesome output. And yet, whenever we heard bits from the scripts, or saw sketches on the show, they were duds.
(At least 30 Rock was smart enough to make it clear that they knew the show-within-a-show was crap.)
Anyway. I think part of my problem was the paeans to this show’s brilliance by friends and family and critics before I sat down to watch it. I genuinely wanted the show to be awesome. I love period pieces, and I thrive on comedy. But I sat through episode after episode, hoping that I’d warm up to it. I didn’t just tune in on the pilot–I gave it a fair shot. But it just didn’t work for me.
Whew. Okay, I vented my spleen. I know I didn’t convince anyone, and I’m glad others are having fun with the show. Just wanted to express my disappointment with something that I’d been looking forward to. I’m not surprised it got renewed, given how many people love it! I’ll just find my yuks elsewhere. 
Comedy is subjective, her stand-up was not what makes the show at all. It is everything else.
Lenny’s comedy doesn’t really hold up today anyway or even 30 years ago. Carlin, Pryor and others were much funnier. What Lenny was, was the trailblazer, he did humor that was not seen in the places he played. I mean Red Foxx and others were already doing humor as edgy as Lenny, but in clubs where they could get away from it or Burlesque shows. Lenny brought it basically to white clubs and at the time that is what counted in comedy and what got him in so much trouble.
Some of her comedy was funny in the first season, but most of the best laughs I got were from Susie (Alex Borstein). I think I look at the show as a really well done Mad Men type show, a dramedy and not a comedy.
Personally I really thought her stand up comedy was pretty funny. I laughed at it at any rate. Though it definitely seemed more observational, sometimes Seinfeldian in that way, which may not have really fitted the comedy of the era.
That seems a bit overstated. Bruce talks to her because they’re off to prison together and takes pity on her. He then pretty much forgets about her until Susie asks him to do the show and he (to my eyes, anyway) agrees mainly because he owes her one for bailing him out – literally. The first time, he was already arrested and sitting in the squad car when she gets put there so I don’t know if he had even heard her (or saw her) during her big debut.
I eventually remembered the other term that made me wince: “fat suit”
Yes! That exact same analogy occurred to me too! (Although I think I liked the show overall more than you did.) It’s one thing to write about comedy…writing comedy itself is different. And harder. (I was going to say it was beyond Sorkin’s ability, but Sports Night was often hilarious.)
Yes !! I watched three episodes and was thinking of writing a similar post but you have said it a lot better. Mrs Maisel is just not very funny and that kind of breaks the show for me. I found Tony Shaloub’s linear algebra rant funnier than anything from her. And like you I like a lot of the period stuff. I think I would have really enjoyed a show where she became a journalist or activist or something.
Loved the show. I actually found the standup pretty funny. And I thought it was supposed to be clear that Bruce was enamoured of her partly because he liked her comedy and partly because she is ridiculously pretty. I took it that that was essential to the character.
The few things that bothered me have mostly been mentioned. The New York accents from several actors, particularly the lead, were bad enough to be distracting. And the slang as totally anachronistic. John McWhorter called that out on his linguistics podcast. Also, and this is really mostly related to the accents, it’s very strange to me that they seem to have filled a cast of almost entirely Jewish characters with almost entirely non-jewish actors. I love Tony Shaloub and his performance was funny; but I didn’t buy him as a mid century upper west side Jew.
Last, to whomever asked about the bedroom off the kitchen: yes, it would have originally been a maid’s room. Most of those eventually got converted to kids’ bedrooms when live in maids went out of fashion. The apartment was referred to as a “classic six”, which typically includes a maid’s room. Classic Six - Wikipedia
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Say what? Yes, as you mentioned, Shalhoub isn’t Jewish, but being Lebanese, he does capture some Middle eastern-ness which helps mitigate that. However, Brosnahan is definitely Jewish (culturally if not religious). Zegen (Mr. Maisal) is Jewish - his parents were even Holocaust survivors. Alex Borstein (Susie) is Jewish.
That’s 3 major characters (though I guess one could say that Shalhoub is more of a major character than Zegen and that’s fair).
Huh. Ignorance fought. Based on her name, I would have thought Brosnahan was Irish. Wikipedia says she’s from Wisconsin though. I’m pretty sure Lenny Bruce would say that makes her goyish even if she’s Jewish. Her accent is terrible either way.
Shaloub is of course middle eastern but I would expect the character to be German-Jewish. I like his performance but it just seems an odd choice to me. Then again, these are minor nitpicks; they are all acting after all.
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Just FYI, Mrs Maisel is FREE for everyone, no Prime needed, through Monday 1/15/18.
This is in celebration of the Golden Globe win.
I’m enjoying the hell out of this one. Having grown up Jewish, I’ve a keen ear and eye for whether schtick is on the ball or bad schtick. This show is hitting an awful lot of home runs, IMHO.
I grew up in Philly and have lived in NY since 1981. I would agree with those who are nitpicking around her NY accent. It’s uneven. Now, I shot a movie with British actor ( and all-around good guy ) Tim Roth. He had the same dialogue coach, at that point, through his entire career. He and she made sure his Staten Island accent was consistent and accurate. I suspect that either the star here doesn’t have a good dialogue coach, OR there isn’t time for re-takes because her accent slipped. That said, I think she’s a minor miracle of accuracy. This is because she is portraying the Very Intelligent Jewish American Princess with breathtaking accuracy. I grew up with these girls. I dated them as young women, and I’m friends with them now that we’re all in our 50’s. She is just nailing it, nailing it, nailing it.
Most of the cast is. I knew men like Kevin Pollack- who at first really came off as a bit of a caricature. But he’s not. A lot of the extras and bit part casting is minor miracles of found talent. The elevator operator in her building? Genius. Some of Jane’s best work- the writing in her scenes is superb. I’m seeing that character as someone who started out as a nothing schlub from Flushing. Paid her dues. Made it big, then made it massively America Adores Her big. Then had to learn how to put on the ritz. The scene with her servants? That shot through the door off of the foyer in her mansion? Oh my god. SHE is such new money that the downstairs maids have contempt for her. And yet her way is to give a quiet reserved WASPish " Fuck You " to the servants, the world, everyone- by showing her perfectly she has learned to put on that ritz. What a great character, actually. I don’t see it as broad strokes. ( heh heh heh ). I see Jane’s character as painfully alone, despite the adoring fans who surround her on stage after the show.
Tony’s an actor’s actor. His use of his body as an instrument is a treat. As much as the husband reminds me of the character “Sack” from The Wedding Crashers, he loves her in the First Gal I Really Loved kinda way. I don’t think they will last. I’d hate to see him become her Agent, clashing week in and week out against Alex Borstein’s harsh agent. Too easy. And it also would feel like the caterpillar only half-emerging from the cocoon. ( I’m not the only one who caught that symbolism when she shed her tulle top of her outfit to bare her True Self in the pilot, am I? )
It’s funny and broad and messy. And I must say, I find it utterly believable that Lenny Bruce would have befriended her. Not a stretch in the least, actually.
Re: the Classic 6. My ex brother in law and his wife own one on the Upper West Size, near 96th & West End. That small room off of the kitchen? They turned into a minuscule computer room/ bedroom with a fold-open futon. Many a night I slept there. That’s a thing. Not a made-up convention for the show.
I find the patter and phrasing in the larger family scenes endearing, not just because I grew up around adults who were that age in the 1940’s/ 1950’s. But because the rhythms and dialogue ring true to ANY large family. It’s not cliché “Jewish family speak”. Watch Cher and company in “Moonstruck”. Same endearing rhythms, same crisp witty dialogue. It’s good writing. I hope it wins an Emmy for the writers.
The use of modern-day phrases is lazy. Plain and simple. Something that never would have made it past Matthew Weiner on “Mad Men”. They need to have someone reading scripts JUST for era-appropriate phrasing.
Cannot wait for Season Two and yet, I must. I might watch the whole schmeg again before that !!!
Season Two is released.
I watched the first two episodes last night.
It was great.
Listening to my friends and reading this thread, I thought, “What’s wrong with me? What am I missing?” Until I read this:
And this:
I wanted to like the show. I love the 50s setting (hell, I’m re-watching Perry Mason and Route 66 because of the original settings). I love the New York Jewish thing. I generally love fast-paced, witty dialogue (adore Aaron Sorkin), and I’ve been in love with Tony Shaloub ever since *Wings *(he was the ONLY sexy guy on that show). But this show… I just hated it. I couldn’t get through the second episode. I hated the loud, obnoxious, aggressive way the characters interact. It did seem Joan Rivers-ish to me, and I couldn’t stand her (may she rest in peace). To me the show is just annoying, not funny. Maybe I should give it another try. Fifty million Dopers can’t be wrong, right?
If the NYC “loud, obnoxious, aggressive” stuff bothers you, I doubt a second try will help. To me Alex Borstein’s Susie might be the best character on the show, at least for laughs, and “loud, obnoxious, aggressive” is exactly what she is and pretty much all she is.