Jezebel James

My blog is finally back up from a brief hiatus caused by an idenity crisis. (My blog's, not mine.) The good news is I'm back with a review of The Return of Jezebel James, aka Amy Sherman Palladino's new show, ahem, sitcom.

I haven't watched a sitcom in so long that I couldn't help but be startled by the laugh tracks and applause at the end. This, of course, is not unusual, but caught me off guard immediately. Then there was Parker Posey. I'm a fan, I like her work, but immediately I felt like I didn't like her as this character. Maybe it's because of the obvious similarities to Lorelai, (from Gilmore girls), where PP just didn't deliver where I knew LG could have. Not fair to compare the two actresses, I know, but it was the natural place my mind went. Why? The chatty-chatty dialogue of course. ASP is back in action with the snappy convos and the quick retorts. Did I think it worked? Honestly? No. Just one humble person's opinion, but it just wasn't carried the same. It seemed like ASP was trying direct Posey exactly towards a classic Lorelai performance in nearly every scene. (Including those infamous sad faces!)

First half of the show, it was cringe after cringe of Gilmore moments, (my personal favorite: when NAI-April showed up). The jokes fell short and I wanted to scream at the audience everytime they 'laughed'--"Stop telling me that was supposed to be funny and that I'm supposed to be laughing!" (First step in improving the show: lose the laugh track!)

Okay, this review is not all bad! I swear! By the end, I was satisfied. Don't know if I'm going to be running home to catch new episodes but it's definitely Tivo worthy. (Rating the pilot on a sliding scale of course.)

My mind started changing for the better midway through, with the appearance of Lauren Ambrose-who is awesome in this show. She makes the cartwheel thing (from the promo) funny! If that's not amazing, I don't know what is!!! For some reason, all the jokes started working. I laughed out loud a few times, and could even start to appreciate some of the characters, who before I had simply found annoying and useless.

But there's a big problem here. And I hate to say it, because I hate negative reviews of things, especially people, but it's clearly a problem. I went in with a clear mind, forgetting about Gilmore and all things previously ASP, but almost immediately it was clear to me that Parker Posey's character was a reincarnated Lorelai. Which, by all accounts, would be great, if only it was pulled off. But it's not. Not even close.

Long story short, Gilmore fans are going to be disappointed I fear. Like I said, the show itself rounded out pretty nicely, but, and this is a major but, somehow, ASP and PP have to get over the Lorelai hump. Everytime I would start to see Sarah, (Parker Posey's character), in her own light, they'd throw something towards me that would remind me of Lorelai. I was fighting them at every turn! This character needs something that's not there now. Something is off with her. She's too theatrical and just, well, kind of annoying. LG made the quick and witty dialogue endearing. The way it is now, Posey makes it seem like how Gilmore girls would sound if someone described it to you without actually watching it. All those people who used the, "I hate the unrealistic banter" excuse for not liking Gilmore girls are going to depise JJ.