So, who’s seen this? I stumbled across it on Hulu the other day, and it was enjoyable. I’ll definitely be watching again.
*“Zoey Clarke is a whip-smart computer coder forging her way in the tech world of San Francisco. After an unexpected event, she starts to hear the innermost wants and desires of the people around her through music. People are unknowingly singing their feelings through popular songs – just to her. At first, she questions her own sanity and turns to the only person she thinks can help explain what’s happening – her neighbor Mo, a devoted music enthusiast and DJ. With Mo’s help, she realizes what’s happening and soon discovers that this unwanted curse may just be an incredibly wonderful gift.”
*
I’m definitely interested. The premise sounds fun and I’ve been a fan of Jane Levy ever since Suburgatory. Is it just me or is she very Emma Stonelike, both physically and in acting styles?
Saw an ad for it the other day. I recognized the lead actress from somewhere and it took me a while to figure it out: she was the first Mandy Milkovich on the first season of Shameless (she was replaced by another actress in subsequent seasons).
I see she starred in an ABC show called Suburgatory but I’ve never heard of that.
Anyways, this looked interesting. I’ll check it out if I remember.
I watched it. It’s a fair but inferior version of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Biggest issue is that they don’t have the equivalent of Rachel Bloom writing the songs. Using existing songs lessens their impact, since they don’t fit the situation exactly. It was disconcerting to see Skylar Austin, but I guess that’s where he ended up going after Rachel made her decision.
Good enough to give it another shot, but not outstanding.
Elsewhere I had seen the show compared to Eli Stone, which I had thoroughly enjoyed, so I decided to give it a try. Couldn’t even make it through the first episode. Among other things, I found the neighbor incredibly annoying; if I had ever had a neighbor like her the police and the landlord would have been receiving frequent noise complaints, and I certainly wouldn’t have been confiding anything to her.
I don’t understand this mentality. If the show has potential, why not give it a chance? The perfect example of this (to me, anyway) is Parks and Rec. Almost anyone who is familiar with the series will say skip the first season; because the writers figured out what wasn’t working and fixed it.
Anyway, I agree with you that the neighbor is annoying. I feel like the TV execs say "you must input a ‘whacky’ character. :rolleyes: While I enjoyed the show, I have hope that the writers fix her character.
I liked it a little but probably not enough to keep watching. Random bursts of song aren’t really my thing. I liked the story, the parents, the job. I even liked the maligned neighbor. I did like the music mostly but I just don’t like this kind of thing. Not a big fan of fantasy dance sequences out of animated Disney.
I will generally give a show at least two episodes before deciding it’s not worth watching, on the assumption that it may either improve or grow on me. But sometimes a show just grates on me to the point where I can’t stand to watch it. That was the case here. It wasn’t just one thing, but enough things that I couldn’t see myself ever getting into it.
There are quite a few popular shows that I have no interest in watching; a recent one that comes to mind is The Unicorn; I watched the first episode because I’m a big fan of Walton Goggins (I loved him in Justified) but I just couldn’t get into the premise. Part of that may be because after my wife died I had several co-workers, friends, and even casual acquaintances make remarks about how I was now “prime husband material” (including comments about women bringing me food) and it just struck a little too close to home.
She reminded me more of Bethany Joy Lenz from One Tree Hill.
I enjoyed it a lot. Certainly the premise is in my wheelhouse as cross between musical (Glee, Crazy Exgirlfriend) and quirky superpower (Wonderfalls, Joan of Arcadia).
I’m not sure if it’s a good or bad sign that it’s being promoted so much. The entire episode came up as an ad on YouTube. And after I watched it on Hulu I learned it was released early as a free preview.
I have mixed feelings about the realistic singing abilities. It’s nice that they got Mary Steenburgen and Peter Gallagher and Lauren Graham, but unless Peter has a getting cured story arc, there’s not much for him to do outside of his imaginary singing.
It’s also cool to see a second series featuring multiple female coders outside of the hacker trope.
I found it interesting how many songs they had, including a Beetles song! Especially in light of how it’s been so difficult to secure original run soundtrack rights for many series and even film DVD such that they’ve had to change songs out. I guess either it’s gotten way easier to secure music rights or doing covers is just cheaper. Maybe Glee broke the ice on that.
Speaking of Glee, I liked the upstairs neighbor too.
The cliffhanger was a little weird, I thought her best friend was gay for some reason, not just in the friend zone.
I liked it. Interesting concept. Some of the vocalists in the pilot could have been a bit better, but I’m sure they will improve with time and practice. As one who loves rock and pop from all eras, I’ll look forward to watching the show.
I’d expect at least one Beatles song, if not two. What I did not expect, and what blew me away was the inclusion of “I Think I Love You,” originally by the Partridge Family in 1970. If they’re willing to consider something like that, who knows what else we will hear as the series progresses?
Almost every scene at the software company bothered me; they don’t work that way. And her neighbor was a stereotypical “magical negro.” And many of the songs were both incredibly on the nose and wrong for the characters (Her co-worker was born almost 20 years after “I think I love you” charted. Why would he be thinking that song instead of something like “It’s gonna be me” or “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” or from his own teenage years instead of his parents’? Same thing for Peter Gallagher & True Colors.)
I may watch the second episode, because I kind of like the idea, but it didn’t quite work in the pilot.
Watched the first three episodes (episodes 2 and 3 yesterday). I don’t like all the songs, but I like enough of them enough to enjoy the music in general.
Not sure if there are more employees than they show, but when Zoey said she and Joan were the only females that seemed odd (none in HR/support/accounting/sales?).
The only in the programming area – sure.
Surprised that Stephanie Styles (Autumn) gest second billing.
(Lauren Graham is listed as “Special Guest Star”)
Mo annoyed me at first but has become much more likeable. Same with Zoey’s brother (thought he might be the bad sibling but is basically good)
Watched the first, but couldn’t finish the second. It came across as a far inferior version of * Crazy Ex-Girlfriend*, with weaker songs, worse singing, and no actual depth of character.
Using existing songs limited it, forcing the plot to conform to them instead of developing naturally. Jukebox musicals on Broadway get around this by fitting them into the musician’s lives, but the best musicals create original songs that are designed for the show. The conceit here is going to get tedious very quickly.
Well, I watched the entire season (one week at a time, not binging), and I watched the season finale tonight. I liked the series as a whole. and the final song
American Pie (though I really like the Weird Al version), played after the funeral of her dad.
Fit the situation well. I did tear up – maybe it brought up memories of the death of my mom
I disliked some aspects of most of the characters, but in general I liked them. The ASL version of Fight Song was cool.
I really enjoyed the show. I was hoping that the dad’s arc would go differently. I wonder if he will feature in ghostly visits or flashbacks next season.
I did think Zoey’s decision to jump Mr. Friend was really, really weird, given everything that had come before it.
What gave you that vibe?