(S01E01) Generally, when I watch a new show, I try to give it the benefit of the doubt before I make a decision. First episodes of new shows are often full of bad choices. Poor casting, too much exposition, bad hair styles. all of which are usually remedied by the second episode. With that in mind, i have to say that I found the first ten minutes of quarterlife incredibly irritating. First of all, the title and premise of the show is insulting to me. I assume since Zwick and Herskovitz already did thirtysomething, they were hesitant to call this show twentysomething. Unfortunately, that's all the show is, a bunch of friends in their twenties, trying to make their mark.
I like the idea of a show that is based around someone's personal blog. Everyone has a blog these days so it makes perfect sense. Furthermore, I like seeing what can happen when you cross the line in your personal blog. The internet is still a mystical thing to a lot of people. They don't understand that what you put out there can be seen by everyone who will ever exist until the end of the world. People too often, treat the internet like a receptacle where they throw things away and never think about them again.
My real problem with this show is more a problem with myself. When I watched thirtysomething one of the reasons I loved it is because it was about people who were living a life I had no knowledge of. They were married, had kids, suffering from cancer, owned their own failing businesses and they lived in Philadelphia. They might as well have been from a different planet as far as the 25-year-old me was concerned. On quarterlife, these people are living a life that I have already seen. They're idealistic, failing at relationships, taking acting classes and falling in love with each other. Personally, I've been there and the idea of reliving it doesn't grab me. That being said, there may be plenty of younger folks who find the show interesting because they can identify with it.
As for the characters, my favorite has to be Andy. I always enjoy the supporting characters who don't seem to have any problems and spend their time making funny comments. I'm sure eventually, Andy will be just as angst-ridden as the rest of the cast, but in this first episode, he was my favorite. My least favorite character would have to be Dylan. Her manufactured persona of the tortured artist trying to make it in the commercial world is only made worse by her jittery, irritating demeanor. I understand that, for the most part, the cast is made up of unknown talent, but aside from the pretty girls, there wasn't much there to engage me.
The final nail in the coffin had to be the conversation about happiness and the Karaoke finale. Since when did getting on stage and doing a bad cover version of a pop hit become the ultimate expression of artistic freedom. I love Karaoke and I do it as often as I can but I never feel like an artist afterwards. In fact, part of the reason I do it is because it's a great excuse to be stupid. Moreover any bar that filled with people that supportive of a Karaoke performance is far too pretentious for it's own good.
All in all, I didn't really enjoy the show, but I know it's not really made for me, so take that for what's worth.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-27-2008 @ 3:17PM
Argus said...
Isn't it the opposite of pretentious to be supportive of a stranger's karaoke? The pretentious people wouldn't even be there.
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2-27-2008 @ 4:26PM
Fuzzball said...
That girl in the photo was originally in the lonelygirl15 videos playing the aunt. Crazy, huh?
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2-27-2008 @ 8:08PM
Gilbert0 said...
I'm 26 so this was right up my alley. I didn't watch it when it was online. But I really liked the way the girl in the photo acts and I can relate to the show in general. I can see how many wouldn't like it, but thats okay - I did.
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2-27-2008 @ 4:37PM
dan said...
The show was a little irritating. Mostly because the blond chick that was described as the uber-hottie that all the guys drooled over, just wasn't hot. Are they completely out of hot 25ish babes in Hollywood these days?
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2-27-2008 @ 6:36PM
iamhoff said...
Amen! I was thinking exactly the same thing! The show was ok. I'll give it another couple of episodes to see if it starts to evolve. Otherwise, it hit just on the positive side of meh.
2-27-2008 @ 5:21PM
Valerie said...
What I found most irritating about it was that it felt like I was watching Reality Bites or a grown up version of My So Called Life, neither of which were particularly great. And the Dylan character...ugh. The whole storyline about her coworker stealing her idea and getting credit for it was lame.
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2-27-2008 @ 5:43PM
Oreo said...
It got horrid ratings so it won't be on much longer.
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2-27-2008 @ 5:50PM
Megan said...
I liked it. I am 25, a writer and a blogger. That was enough to pull me in. I agree there are some improvements that need to be made, but I think the show has potential. The whole point of it is to get my age group (and younger) back to primetime and I think this show would accomplish that.
I will agree that Dylan's work conflict was the worst story line. Stealing an idea? Doesn't that happen everyday? And I was mad that when she did stand up for herself, she did it so weakly. It takes balls to do that in a meeting. Own it.
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2-27-2008 @ 6:26PM
Mike said...
I'm 24 years old. I did share a single thing in common with these characters. They all act like they are in high school. The drama is absurd. I can understand Dylan venting on her blog and getting in trouble with her friends once... but TWICE!? You think she would have learned her lesson. She says something about it being a compulsion. That has got to be the lamest excuse for a plot device I have heard in a long time. She does it because she does? HA!
The whole thing looks and feels like it is being written by guys who haven't been in their 20s in a long time and are just widely grasping at straws for what people my age actually do. Something like "those kids sure do love blogs and youtube, let's do a show about that!" only they have no damn clue how to execute it.
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2-27-2008 @ 6:27PM
Mike said...
Drat, I meant to say I DIDN'T share a single thing in common with them. Edit function please!
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2-27-2008 @ 9:14PM
joanne said...
Was the TV version any different from the online episodes? I'd been watching it online during the strike and somehow it manges to get both better and worse as it goes on.
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2-27-2008 @ 9:17PM
Paul said...
I just find having a completely white cast for a story that happens in the middle of LA is just really boring. I can see it if it's like Everwood, but really, in this day and age of multi-ethnicity, you have 6 white guys and gals for a show that's about discovering what their lives means...didn't we see that in Dawson's creek for so many years....I mean throw in at least 1 ethnic guy or girl for heaven's sake...it's so boring and 90's. We've seen that so many freaken times. Get with the times and cast someone else besides a bunch of pretty white boys and girls...no offense, not trying to be racist, just can't phatom why they didn't even put in one something else in the mix.
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2-28-2008 @ 12:28PM
kevjohn said...
That's the same gripe I've had since forever, espcially the lilywhite versions of New York that the writers love conjuring up (Friends, Seinfeld, Gossip Girl, etc., etc.). Any show set in a major city that lacks any diversity, lacks realism IMO.
2-27-2008 @ 9:22PM
J said...
I'm 23. I know I'm not in my "quarterlife" yet, but I honestly couldn't stand this show. It's okay though, I'm living life instead of watching depressed characters on TV be whiny. I feel like being in your 20s as more of a dark comedy. Everthing is going to suck but there's a lot of laughs to be had afterwards.
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2-27-2008 @ 9:32PM
Robin Diane Goldstein said...
from the Hollywood Reporter:
NBC's 'quarterlife' shortchanges net
By James Hibberd
Feb 28, 2008
UPDATED 1:30 p.m. PST, Feb. 27, 2008
The debut of NBC's new series "quarterlife" marked the network's worst time-period performance in at least 17 years and has thrown the show's fate into imminent jeopardy.
Premiering Tuesday night at 10 p.m., "quarterlife" received a 1.3 national rating among adults 18 to 49 (3.1 million viewers and a 4 share). The show came in a distant last place in the hour despite having a relatively strong lead-in from "The Biggest Loser" (8.1 million, 3.1/8).
The show had a preliminary rating of 1.6 this morning, then dropped sharply in the afternoon nationals after Nielsen factored local station pre-emptions from the Democratic primary debate.
Though no official cancellation has been announced, sources say the series may be yanked after a single airing -- a rare event that previously occurred when Fox axed "Anchorwoman" last summer.
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2-27-2008 @ 10:09PM
Eludium-Q36 said...
Liked It
I'd hate to see it cancelled so quickly as Robin indicates. I thought the show had a lot of merit, good production values, good acting, and showed some real insight into happiness, relationships, and cut-throat employment. The show deserves more of a chance especially since it's a great alternative to all the reality flotsam out there. If it fails out, fine, we'll just pick it up where it began -- at myspace.com/quarterlife.
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2-27-2008 @ 11:43PM
caligirl said...
Too much of a white cast for my taste. That normally doesn't matter much to me, but to be set in the middle of L.A., come on now. Try harder at casting, please.
Unless all white people in their mid-twenties behave this way. Do they?
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2-28-2008 @ 3:48AM
MJ said...
Is it really hard to believe that 6 white people can be friends in LA and not have another ethnicity within their core group?
I'd say its quite common, and not deliberately so.
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2-29-2008 @ 12:00AM
Richard Lawler said...
If I wanted to listen to a twentysomething blogger whine endlessly about BS, I'd just look in the mirror. It was a cast of the most unlikeable characters ever written. That it was also a Friends-ian "everyone we know is white" was just the icing on the cake of a horrible show.
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2-29-2008 @ 8:57AM
eric f. said...
Did any of the haters of this show try to watch it with an open mind after the first 10 minutes. I knew nothing about it going in, and at first was a little annoyed by how often the camera cut to different angles. However, 30 minutes into the show I was sold and I will watch as many episodes as they give me. I personally think that Dylan is charming in her awkwardness.
What world do you people live in to think that it's unusual for white kids to have mostly white friends, or vise versa? it's pretty common... in the city too. I am actually thankful to not have the stereotypical token "black girl with attitude" thrown in just because.
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