So for whatever reason, the pilots for two upcoming comedies - ABC's "Selfie" and NBC's "A to Z" - have been posted online a month ahead of their premiere dates. Why? I have no idea! But I figured while they're here, I might as well review them, because we might as well get this shit out of the way as soon as we can!
Okay, that's not really fair. Comedy pilots are rough, and I wouldn't be surprised if even the worst of this years' crop turned into a really great show at some point. But the state of network comedy has been fairly disappointing in the past few years, so I'm having a hard time working up optimism for this years' batch of new shows. Especially when it includes a show that is titled Bad Judge.
But here we go! Since it's hard to get anything too insightful from a pilot, I'll be reviewing my pilots this year with a template that covers most of the basics and addresses whether I think they're worth tuning into again.
Selfie
ABC, Tuesdays at 8:00 PM E.T.
Who's involved? "Selfie" was one of my more anticipated pilots this fall, mostly because Karen Gillan and John Cho are both high-quality individuals and Emily Kapnek created Suburgatory, which was a pretty good show that could've been a great show if it didn't try so hard to fit into the mold of a family network comedy. Generally, my rule with pilots is that the people working on it are often just as important as what's on the screen, because a pilot is rarely a good example of the potential of what the people working on it are capable of. Now, sometimes, this rule steers me very wrong. (Remember Up All Night?!) But other times, getting a bunch of talented people in a room together is enough to make a show at least worthwhile, once all of the quirks are worked out.
What's it about? "Selfie" has been sold as a modern day "My Fair Lady" (or, more recently, "Pygmalion"), where John Cho's Henry attempts to take vapid, social media-obsessed Eliza Dooley (Gillan) and transform her into a person that's actually...not awful? And worthy of being loved? It's kind of shallow premise, and I don't think the "My Fair Lady" template has enough of a modern spin to fully land. But at least the show actually has a premise, and seems to want to be about something more than just "look at these silly people hanging out together!". There's also the potential for this to eventually develop into a pretty solid workplace comedy, as the company that Eliza and Henry work for seems to have plenty of comedy to mine, and there's some potentially interesting supporting characters hanging around the margins.
Is it any good? The pilot itself is...not very good, no. There are parts of it that are kind of amusing, and there's plenty of nuggets inside the show that could turn into something worthwhile, but it seems deliberately off-putting at points, and its strong reliance on social media trends of the moment make it feel instantly dated. There's a handful of internet memes from the not-too-distant past referenced that already feel more like throwbacks than current references (Flappy Bird was the biggest offender, along with the phrase "epic fail") that demonstrate some of the problems with doing a show so heavily influenced by social media trends: what was relevant when this script was written or even going into production are going to feel dated by the time this is airing. It also doesn't help that the shows' view on social media sometimes borders on "get off my lawn" territory - sure, there's plenty of annoying people on Instagram, but boiling the entire trend of the internet and social networking to shallow, vapid catchphrases feels quite reductive. That said, there are parts of this pilot that unquestionably work. Karen Gillan and John Cho have really solid chemistry, and while neither of their characters are fully formed yet (and Gillan's character needs to be toned down a few notches), it's not hard to see both the actors and the writers figuring them out to the point where watching them interact will be a real treat. And while the "let's make this shallow person have a big heart!" premise is groan-worthy, the show seems to be aiming for a more interesting "these people are both flawed and will help each other grow into better people" route, particularly by the end of the pilot. The key to Selfie's success will be if it can tone down its grating and shallow "social media is so vapid and people like Eliza Dooley need to be fixed!" side and highlight the smaller, intricate details about these two people that exist in spades. I'm not sure if they're up to the task yet, but I really hope they are, because this one features a lot of talent that's far too good to be wasted.
Will I be watching again? This is one I'd like to keep an eye on for a few weeks, until it becomes clear what, exactly, it's setting out to do. I'll watch at least a few more episodes, maybe just for Gillan and Cho alone.
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