Sunday, March 16, 2008

the return of amy sherman-palladino

I'm a huge fan of Gilmore Girls, so obviously I was excited when I heard A S-P was creating a new show. I love the witty banter in her writing, the likability of her characters, the silly but relate-able situations she creates in general... So why wouldn't The Return of Jezebel James be any different?

Well, on paper, The Return of Jezebel James seemed like it could have potential. Familiar actors, interesting and different premise for a show, 30 minutes of what could only be light-hearted and happy comedy, right? Well... Not so much. At least not for me. I feel like Parker Posey is just a very weird actress -- I have nothing against her, and hey she's from Laurel, MD, just down the road from me! But she just enunciates her speaking in such weird ways that when you have fast and (trying to be) witty dialog, her speaking makes the flow of conversation end up a bit disjointed. I HATED how she kept calling her sister "Ko-Ko,"equally enunciating EACH syllable. Her character was a little too successful and way too ditzy to back up that success. (Btw, I was also a little resentful because she has my dream job -- I've always loved the idea of becoming a children's book editor!) Most of the time I just wanted her to shut up. A bit harsh, maybe. ::shrug:: On the other hand, I really liked Lauren Ambrose (of course I had a bias of having liked her in the one other role I've ever seen her in, in Can't Hardly Wait), and her portrayal of her character was a lot more believable. As Jenn pointed out, they were such different styles of acting that it really did feel that Parker and Lauren belonged in two separate tv shows. I also hate the laugh track with such quick dialog. It makes for weird breaks in the conversations.

In any case, the show just felt like it was trying really hard to be something it is not -- witty, clever, and quick-paced. Maybe it's the growing pains of being a brand new show, but so far I'm not impressed.

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