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wife and i started watching this week; wasn't really interested in it myself, but she wanted to start watching it due to the acclaim and a good friend of hers was raving about it.
we're through the first 3 episodes. i'm very half-and-half on it. the stand-up stuff is, as was mentioned in this thread, not good. it's nothing that could be ever seen in an actual club and get the reactions that Midge gets. everyone is in stitches. to me, if some well-dressed rich girl from the Upper West Side came into my seedy night club bar at 1am ranting...i'd throw peanuts or I'd leave.
Amy Sherman-Palladino has always had a tendency to be the female Aaron Sorkin. Very wordy, very snappy dialog, everyone is tuned up to 100. That can work, and it can be grating. Both have the capabilities of being great writers, and at their best, they put out excellent content.
that's what's frustrating about this show. nearly the entire 2nd episode runs like a Neil Simon play at his best. absolutely endearing, laugh-out-loud funny, and all of it rings true. it's just flat out entertaining.
Then we get the night club, Lenny Bruce, and it becomes this wet dream fantasy that would never work in any kind of reality--even a fantasy. Stand-up is hard to put on screen, but it worked in "Mr. Saturday Night", "Punchline", and even the show "Crashing" (which is about as close to what being a stand-up is really like, and what the lifestyle is really like). It worked every time "Seinfeld" showed Jerry doing his act in front of a staged audience.
for me, it doesn't work here because of a few reasons. one, there's no setup. there was an actual real-life foul-mouthed vaudeville comic named Belle Barth, and her persona was closer to Lenny Bruce than what they're trying to make Midge into. we're meant to believe she had this little Lenny Bruce inside her all this time and it was just waiting to be let out. two, it clangs with the rest of her personality. she's this neurotic, self-doubting mother who can't stand up to her parents. but then suddenly she's back-talking a judge when she was already told to keep her mouth shut and let the charges blow over. the whole series begins with her giving a speech at her own wedding. i guess that's supposed to show she "always had it in her"--but it was a measured speech. and the schtick in that speech is nothing like the wild, flailing stuff she does on stage.
i realize the criticisms are coming in quite early but they really pound you with the "midge is going to be a star!" stuff. again, i realize it's fantastical in how they portray the late 50's as very nostalgic and glowing. it's just that even within that, there should be some true humility in the main character (who, ironically, is my least favorite character).
that said, i love tony shaloub and kevin pollack as the warring dads and i even love the susie character. i really think they should've made the process more painstaking. if it came this easy to everyone, everyone would love standup. i remember acting in this thing a few years ago, and one of the co-actresses was going on about how she "loved doing standup". i said, "oh, you do open mics and stuff?" she goes, "no, just showcases with my friends at these bars that let us come and do them." well, that isn't standup. that's hanging out with your friends. go to a stage at 2am in the city where it's you and 2 other people, and tell me how fun it is.
(yes, i realize this sounds more like personal bellyaching--but i really think the writing in this show just becomes very self-indulgent at times).
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She is a good character. I liked when she gently knocked on the Weissman's bedroom door and asked if she could come in to just sit quitely and get away from the Maisel's nonsense.
