It really kills me when they come up with a great idea like this - 90s girl band fades into obscurity only to have a second chance when a current artist samples one of their old hits - and proceed to run it into the ground under the weight of character cliches and poor writing.
I think it's really high time that someone decided that middled-aged women can be written as something other than botoxed airheads, sassy divas or Melissa McCarthy clones. Indeed, the most successful character is Sara Bareilles as Dawn because she actually comes across as someone who is just normal. Renée Elise Goldsberry has an underdeveloped role as the fallen diva, but you can see her intelligence and depth shining through, hopefully to be snapped up for a dramatic role in the near future. Paula Pell is good and very natural but obviously given the Melissa McCarthy template. Busy Philips is so bad in this it's just straight out embarrassing.
Also, can we ease off with all the references to bodily functions in female heavy comedies? It was funny the first 10,000 times and now it just seems lazy and contrived. It's been 10 years since Bridesmaids and it's not funny anymore.
Still, there is an uneasy charm to this show and I'm hoping it will find its groove in the next season, but I think it's most likely doomed. Girl/boy bands are also a uniquely British thing and I couldn't help but wonder how this would have been treated by an English production house.
I think it's really high time that someone decided that middled-aged women can be written as something other than botoxed airheads, sassy divas or Melissa McCarthy clones. Indeed, the most successful character is Sara Bareilles as Dawn because she actually comes across as someone who is just normal. Renée Elise Goldsberry has an underdeveloped role as the fallen diva, but you can see her intelligence and depth shining through, hopefully to be snapped up for a dramatic role in the near future. Paula Pell is good and very natural but obviously given the Melissa McCarthy template. Busy Philips is so bad in this it's just straight out embarrassing.
Also, can we ease off with all the references to bodily functions in female heavy comedies? It was funny the first 10,000 times and now it just seems lazy and contrived. It's been 10 years since Bridesmaids and it's not funny anymore.
Still, there is an uneasy charm to this show and I'm hoping it will find its groove in the next season, but I think it's most likely doomed. Girl/boy bands are also a uniquely British thing and I couldn't help but wonder how this would have been treated by an English production house.