Post by ItsMeBilly on Oct 13, 2018 7:07:02 GMT
PLOT
A semi-anthology comedy-horror series revolving around serial killers on a college campus and at a hospital.
CAST
JAMIE LEE CURTIS as CATHY MUNSCH
EMMA ROBERTS as CHANEL OBERLIN
BILLIE LOURD as CHANEL #3
ABIGAIL BRESLIN as CHANEL #5
KEKE PALMER as ZAYDAY WILLIAMS
LEA MICHELE as HESTER ULRICH
NIECY NASH as DENISE HEMPHILL
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Curious about everyone's thoughts on this show. For me, this has probably the most wasted potential of any TV show I've ever seen. With season 1's cast and the idea behind the show (SCREAM meets MEAN GIRLS), this should have been a slam dunk. Unfortunately, both seasons fell victim to all of the worst tendencies of a Murphy/Falchuk/Brennan production: wildly inconsistent tone, way too many subplots, completely loses the plot by the midpoint of each season, unsatisfying resolution (season 1's finale is funny but not at all what *anybody* wants from the ending of a slasher, and season 2's finale is far and away the worst episode of the series ever), goes way over the top, and can't decide what it wants to be, therefore failing at everything in the process.
Perhaps my hopes were too high considering that GLEE was good for one season and AMERICAN HORROR STORY only has two seasons I even enjoyed - those being Asylum and Murder House. I was looking for something similar tonally and content-wise to SORORITY ROW - a fun mystery, bitchy quips, amusing characters, and self-referential humor on occasion, all interspersed with creative kills and some genuinely thrilling moments. Instead, this feels more like SCARY MOVIE - an inconsequential plot that feels more like a series of parody trailers than an actual storyline, the broadest of broad humor, seemingly aimed at tweens, and with absolutely no attempts at thrills or scares to be found. So disappointing.
The worst part is that, unlike in SCARY MOVIE, there are genuine flashes of brilliance here. You do have to look pretty hard to find them, though.
I've always sort of gotten the feeling that there was some drama behind the scenes on this show. I don't have any evidence whatsoever to support this conclusion, but it's just a feeling I've always gotten. It would explain why the show has such an inconsistent tone, as well as why Skyler Samuels left after season 1 despite ostensibly being one of the main characters (even though Grace is such a snooze and every scene with her and Pete in season 1 made the show's momentum grind to a screeching halt). Officially, the reason was that Samuels wanted to get an education, and maybe that's true, but it just always seemed strange that she'd sign on to a TV show knowing that it could go several seasons if it were a hit, and then be like "lol bye, going to school now" after one season.
I really get the feeling that either FOX or Murphy/Falchuk/Brennan got cold feet about the slasher aspect, and the other side was intent on keeping it. If I had to guess, I'd say FOX wanted something a little more primetime-friendly, since a slasher series on a broadcast network could be a Standards & Practices nightmare, but again this is just me speculating. Either that or the creators fell in love with their characters and didn't want to kill them off. When the series was announced, we were told that a main character would die every episode, and yet nearly all of the main cast makes it out of seasons 1 AND 2 unscathed. It's just not satisfying to be sold a slasher series only to find that it's essentially a particularly weak sitcom with a serial killer popping up on occasion to murder an inconsequential character.
Anyway, I've basically written an essay at this point, so I'mma stop now. Thoughts?
