I really tried to like this show.
Every so often, the major networks like to throw a musical comedy our way to spice things up a bit. Sure, the only one that actually stuck around was Glee, but that doesn’t keep the suits over in Hollywood from trying to push the genre as far as it can possibly go. NBC’s latest effort in this particular field is Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, which created a conundrum in my mind over the course of the nine episodes that have aired up to this point.
On one hand, there are many moments in it that will make you want to roll your eyes into the back of your skull. On the other, it’s so ridiculous that it’s actually kind of funny.
Most Of The Cast Has Nothing To Do.
On the plus side, it’s sort of moving when Zoey’s dad lights up during a song.
I have often said that good-to-great shows promote a sense of balance among the cast. Unfortunately, this one doesn’t do that.
The plot is entirely centered around Zoey Clarke (Jane Levy), an engineering manager who works at a fictitious San Francisco tech firm by the name of SPRQ Point. While Levy gives a decent performance in certain spots, her character is surprisingly two-dimensional most of the time because of the writing. While I can tell you that she’s not that much of a Mary Sue, it is rather difficult to empathize with her apparent struggles because she waffles a lot and can be seen as a passive protagonist in many episodes.
Zoey’s love interests, Max (Skylar Astin) and Simon (John Clarence Stewart), are a bit of a mixed bag, but I kind of blame the writers for that. Out of all of the non-disabled characters, Max seems to be the only one who isn’t batshit crazy, but the writers mucked it up by giving him an irrational and unrequited crush on the title character. By contrast, Simon is a cardboard cutout who has never met a girl like Zoey before… even though he’s engaged.
To cap it all off, the supporting cast is largely there to tick boxes on the SJW scorecard, but can also deliver some surprisingly resonant moments. On the silly end of the spectrum, Mo (Alex Newell) triples as Zoey’s queer best friend, the woke line-reader, and a fulfillment of the “Magical Negro” trope. In most shows, it’d be easy to fast-forward through a character like this one, but the writers often make that impossible here by tying the character into exposition about the episode’s plot.
On the other hand, Mary Steenburgen and Peter Gallagher are surprisingly good as Zoey’s parents, Maggie and Mitch Clarke. At first, I was deeply conflicted about their presence because they figure into a subplot that can be summed up as a terminal disability tearjerker, but their skills completely won me over. I particularly like the moments where Mitch’s humanity pierces through the brain disease, even if it’s only for a few minutes in each episode. At the very least, these two show that the writers actually tried to give the overall story a sense of heart.
The Plot Is Ridiculously Goofy And Exhausting.
Max is going to waste his time trying to get out of the friend zone when there are plenty of other women who might be interested in him. Go figure.
Most of the time, the television musical genre is a place where incredible premises come home to roost. Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist has one, but the trouble is that it usually falls short of the mark when the writers want to execute it.
As I mentioned above, the show is a largely character-driven dramedy that focuses on Zoey. In the pilot, she undergoes an MRI during an earthquake, which somehow gives her the ability to read people’s innermost thoughts in the form of musical numbers. At first, I rolled with it because of the possibilities, but I soon discovered that the meat and potatoes largely aren’t there.
Why, you ask? Well, I think that my assertion rests on the fact that every single episode relies on rather generic problems of the week that are just an excuse to shove in some musical numbers. This would be fine if the story was presented as a movie or most of the characters weren’t cardboard, but the various subplots just drag on and on and on to the point of exhaustion.
In fact, there were at least three separate episodes where I laughed at the characters instead of with them. For instance, I have an inkling that Max is going to stick around because he’s the likable rom-com guy who is supposed to sell false hope to the male demographic, but any man with a modicum of self-respect would have moved on from simping for the title character a while ago.
Sooner or later, some of this stuff is going to be turned into memes, but not the good kind.
The Music Is Good, But…
The show tries to humanize an Afghanistan veteran, but then puts him in the wrong because he’s afraid of what might happen if his deaf daughter goes to sub-Saharan Africa. WOKE!
If you’ve followed this website for any length of time, you’ll know that I’ve consistently stated that visual productions should not get cookies for their technical aspects if the stories don’t make sense. With that said, there are exceptions to every rule, and the musical genre is one of them. After all, it’s blatantly obvious that the format relies on songs to propel the story forward, so one has to judge their integration in order to come to a reasonable conclusion.
Fortunately, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist largely nails it in this area.
Of course, there are some exceptions that might irk certain viewers. I already mentioned one in the picture above, but there is another in “Zoey’s Extraordinary Confession.” In that episode, Zoey and her brother, David (Andrew Leeds), are concerned about their father’s welfare, but the mom comes in and sings “A Little Less Conversation” by Elvis Presley.
I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure that a song about getting laid doesn’t fit into a subplot about a guy who is dying because of a degenerative brain disease. Not in this context anyway.
Conclusion.
Oh, yeah. Lauren Graham is here, too.
Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist may not get a second season, but that’s because it is of middling quality. The characters are paper thin, the story is wobbly at best, and some of the songs feel incredibly out of place. If you’re extremely hungry for entertainment, you might find something to like on it, but I genuinely believe that anyone who is interested in this genre should find a way to watch Galavant. That show is sorely underrated!
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