Pilot Review: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (CW)
Premiered October 12 at 8pm

This show is definitely one of the more creative new offerings on television this fall in more ways than one. The premise here is a bit of a gamble, since having a woman move across the country to be with a man who she had a fling with when she was at camp ten years earlier is a pretty far-out concept, and, on top of that, it’s a musical. I’m very pleased to report that it actually works in this pilot, and I think that this show is really going to be great. One thing this pilot did very well is prevent Rebecca from actually running into Josh in West Covina, allowing for her experience to be one of zany excess but not actually to manifest in them seeing each other. While I have no doubt that he’ll be a regular player on the show, not featuring him now was a brave and smart decision. It also introduced us to two important supporting players who got to shine without Josh there to physically distract even though that’s all Rebecca was thinking and talking about the whole time with both of them. Greg realizes just how into Josh she is but described her as his type expressly because of her ability to ignore him. Fortunately, he’s a real person who did decide to stop things from going too far when he got clued in to just how much Rebecca was using him. The best discovery was Paula, who initially seemed like she might be a poorly-written character but ended up getting so excited at the notion of uncovering Rebecca’s secret that she learned about her obsession with Josh and now wants to be her best friend and keeper of the secret, all the while helping her to win him back. The songs work well, and the incorporation of the pre-credit apologies at the end was funny too. I think this show can go far.

How will it work as a series? Letting Paula in on Rebecca’s craziness is crucial since it means that every time she wants to go over the edge she’ll have someone there sounding out her actions, which should keep her insanity in check. The music might end up being a bit much, but this pilot did a great job of balancing it and making it work. I’m optimistic.
How long will it last? Reviews for the show are good, but unfortunately the ratings aren’t. This show already got an extra five scripts ahead of time, but the numbers its pilot garnered were on par with some of the worst ratings that the CW has ever produced. I wouldn’t count on this one to survive too long but I’m hoping that it will!

Season grade: B+