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  • Locked thread
cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
I watched the first few episodes, since your thread piqued my interest and really enjoyed them. Then I realised that Rachel Bloom also writes this and that I saw some of her youtube stuff ages ago. Now I believe that she deserves a lot more attention.

Does anyone know anything about the ratings of the show? I was initially put of by the title (It sounds like a mean spirited show about a psychopath who stabs the name of her ex into her chest, rather than a light hearted musical.) and I imagine that other people where as well. It would be a shame if this gets chancelled before the end of the first season.

Why does CW have so many cool shows with strong female leads and absoluely awful titles and even worse marketing? Someone should get fired for that.

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cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather

Philip Rivers posted:

The title is horrible. I still haven't checked it out but there's pretty much zero chance I would have ever watched it if I didn't know it was actually a good/feminist show.

While I hate the title, I have to admit, it is descriptive. Blooms character has a sligth mental imbalance. iZombie is in the same situation. And while I never watched "Jane the virign", that title doesn't give me any reason either. It's like CW specifically chooses names which are as terrible as possible, while still technically fitting.

But what would be a better title?
Just being completly undescriptive would probably work best. "Rebecca Bunch" sounds like nothing at all. "The Rachel Bloom show" is way to generic. "West Covina" might work, but that might lead to disputes with the actual town. (I wasn't quite sure, if that town exists, but it does and their homepage is actually quite well organized and fast.)
I'm not a marketing expert, so I can't think of a good title, but I know that the current one sucks.


I am really glad that this thread exists, since it is the only thing which made me give this a chance and I really suggest everyone on the fence to try this series out.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather

filthychimp posted:

The only reason I even noticed this show is because I'm from West Covina...

We're less than an hour from the beach, thank you very much.

Then why is "two hours from the beach, four in traffic" you official city motto? Are you implying that TV is lying to us?
According to google maps you would need pretty much exactly 2 hours if you took the bus. Maybe they ment that.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather

Golden Bee posted:

So what's the engine of the show? What happens in the typical episode besides musical numbers?

Rachel Bloom making irrational decissions and being absolutely adorable. While the cast is quite good in general, it's fair to say that she carries the show.

On a deeper level it's about the concept of happiness and the implausibility of a simple soloution for emotional distress. Blooms character is quite broken. And on some level she realises it, but at the same time she goes out of her way to lie to herself, because the alternative would be that she's not sane. It's quite sad, really.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
Man, Greg is a good person and the American health care system still sucks.

Those songs where both really good as well.
"Thanks for this this town three short hours from the beach, where all of your dreams can stay just out of reach." is a clever line and Santino Fontana has a great voice to deliver it.
Also even though the show clearly presents her as the enemy, Valencia is quite relatable and objectively right. Josh is kind of an rear end in a top hat to her.
The only character I don't like at all so far is Paula. She just doesn't do anything for me and I am pretty sure, she is not an healthy influence for poor Rebecca.

If this show keeps topping itself like this, I will be really sad once it eventually gets canceled.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather

Oh my god!
"Your home is such a beautiful comfortable space. :stare: Like my pussy, you too have wonderful taste."
"Praise the hard wood, complement their china. Give them hard wood and a drenched vagina."

The dissonance in tone really makes this great. I must have watched that 6 times now.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather

They should really change their motto to "Actually less than two hours from the beach."

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
Wow. Bloom makes the best faces. This look of pure desperation is just great.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
Maybe this will start making people watch this show.


I hope she wins it.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
In order to see how she earned it, have some Rachel Bloom faces. But to be frank, I have no idea what I'm doing here.



I noticed that this gif is way to huge, so I wanted to change to gfys. is there a way to embed them in SA?

http://gfycat.com/ThankfulAssuredElephant

http://gfycat.com/PaltrySpanishDorking
http://gfycat.com/ReasonableElatedGuineapig

http://gfycat.com/EvilGroundedIvorybilledwoodpecker

Also gfycat has weird URL names.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather


32MB OF ESRAM posted:

Haha what which episode is this from?

It's the end of the song from the episode "Josh and I are good people". that part might only happen in the explicit version.

She says exactly what you'd think she says there. gently caress youuU!

Also I love how terrified the background people are. A person runs into a bar, waves a knife around, threatens to cut them, while claiming to be a good person, until they join the dance number. How would you react to this common situation?

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather

Senerio posted:

Apparently episode 1 would've ended with her crying while giving a guy a blowjob. (Greg, maybe? I don't remember).
What? where did you get that from? I mean she totally would have done that in this version, but the recipient would be kind of an irredeemable douchebag. This would make the show darker in a way I wouldn't really like, so I'm glad they didn't go in that direction.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
I want this show back now. Why is that still another week away? I have forgotten if it's good now. Also I wonder if the ratings will improve now.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
Yeah. To be honest, I don't really care about critical acclaim at all and thought that The Wire was kinda dull, so there...

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
Something will arive soon...
https://zippy.gfycat.com/EvilGroundedIvorybilledwoodpecker.webm
It's a new episode!
A new episode is coming out today.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
Wow, that episode was so uncomfortable in so many different ways. And not just from Rebeccas perspective. Every character had several good resons to be irritated, especially Greg. I loved the part where Rebeca listed the non-Josh people she hunted.

But when Daryl came on board and it turns out that he idolizes White Josh it slayed me. I'm glad that he made a friend. :unsmith:
"I'm Greg. I read books and listen to talking radio stations." Roudrigez delivered that line well.

I still like this show.

cant cook creole bream fucked around with this message at 08:21 on Jan 26, 2016

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
Actually, the beginning was also quite nice. A low tune version of" I have friends" to kick it off.

"You didn't feel any connection to the vain yoga instructor?"
"She was fat." :geno:
Valencia is so clearly written as the person you are supposed to dislike. She's like an old timely Disney villain. But she pulls it off so well. Right now, she might be the only sane person on that show.
Heather still doesn't do anything for me. She was pretty much just a way to keep Greg busy this episode.

EDIT:
I am really excited to see what changes from now on.
Rebeccas character is really complex. The way I see it, she wasn't ever really in love with Josh. She was in love with the idea to find the concept of love to get her out of her misery. Josh was basically a convenient excuse. And saying that she left New York to get out of her misery was probably more honest, and reched deeper than claiming she did it for a guy. Admitting to throw aways your life for a person you love might be weird, but admitting to do it for a person who actually isn't all that important is even weirder. Basically there were several layers of self deception in her poor brain.
So far, Paula misinterpreted all of that and just kept pushing her in his direction. But now that he showed his kind side after everyone pretty much abbandoned her, Rebecca actually seems to have real feelings for him.

Of course all that interpretation might be wrong and it's actually just "Women can be so obsessed, amirite?" But Bloom seems like a smart and feminist person who thought things through.

cant cook creole bream fucked around with this message at 21:59 on Jan 26, 2016

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather

MrBuddyLee posted:

What'd you all think of Vaseline's song? It's rough, because it's so damned mean, but it's also pretty on the nose, and not just about her.
I wasn't really impressed by the song itself. But it gives good insight into Valencias character. She actually belives she's doing thse girls a favour by putting them down like that, because she thinks they deserve to know those "facts". That's her messed up way of showing affection and I actually think she kinda means well. I'd say It's some form of internalizing the objectivication of women.
The only two women she treated "nicely" there are Rebecca and the other girl she hates.
I know that there are some women like that, but that's really sad.

She is sort of messed up, but in a way which is socially accepted. :smith:

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
Lots of awkward kissing in this episode. Who kisses his girlfriend on the nose? That's weird.

I wasn't a big fan of this episode at first, but one line kinda slayed me.
"And according to this book it's because I'm a...
dumbass."
Perfect delivery there.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather

sbaldrick posted:

I would honestly love if the show went this way. Given that the show seems to be all about throwing character tropes on their heads him just not being interested in her romantically would be amazing.

In the episode with Father Bra, he explicitly told her that he finds her atractive. But I guess that could just be a temporary thing.
Maybe Josh figures that dating girls he knew since highschool keeps him locked in the past and prevents him from really growing up.

sbaldrick posted:

Or maybe Rebecca and Josh sleeping together and her realizing she doesn't really love him but loves the idea of what he represents

I hope that this happens. Those two getting together and just staying a happy couple just seems really off. It seems like a bad message. At this point I'd call them a bad match.

Depending on how they'd do it, it would make a depressing finale. Everything she dreams of happens and she is finally ready to feel true bliss. But then she realizes that her dreams were meaningless and happiness does not just appear once you reach your goals. The town suddenly lost a lot of it's appeal, so she contemplates moving back to New York. Meanwhile, Josh feels like she just used him after she made him break up with his (at that point) fiancé.

But I guess that doesn't really fit the mood of this show at all. Even though it can be quite sad and depressing, it's super optimistic and energetic and basically always ended on a positive note.

cant cook creole bream fucked around with this message at 13:29 on Feb 4, 2016

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
Okay, this episode was the best in a while. It was so fast paced and barely gave me time to think about it. I will rewatch it at some point.

It was also well directed. For example they did a good job with this vertigo zoom.
https://zippy.gfycat.com/LastAridAmphibian.webm

And I love 80s hair rock. So that's probably a plus.

EDIT: Aww sorry. Does anyone know a way to make webms smaller? I don't want to break your tables.

cant cook creole bream fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Feb 9, 2016

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
Help! I am literally obsesed with this show.
I started checking Rachel Blooms twitter account more than daily. Usually, I don't even use twitter, but that woman puts so much of her heart into this show. She tweets about every episode while they air and shares some interesting stuff.
It's only wednesday and I am already looking forward to next monday. That's not healthy! I think I'd need a really sucky and tediously boring episode just to level me down.

Also, textastrophe rolls of the tounge way better than textmergency.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather

Jamesman posted:

So now there's no new episode this Monday because we're getting a loving Mortal Kombat tournament instead? Is that seriously what's happening?
Why? The guy who decided that that's going to happen is really stupid and terrible.

MrBuddyLee posted:

he's not the brightest, but he's not dumb as a rock
ROCK!

See what I did there?

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
A preview is up.
The show picks the Daryll, White Josh situation up again.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
Originally this season had 13 episodes. But at some point the network ordered 5 aditional ones, bringing it to a total of 18.
So that also means tha next weeks episode is the original season finale.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
This show might be the most diverse one on television.

I liked how White Josh explained himself to Darryl. "I am gay and you were kinda cute, so I kissed you." Nothing weird about it.
Also it is great that his friends don't define him by that. If they introduced him as "Gay Josh", the dynamic would be way different.

Also, Rebecca is really good at doubling down on digging her own grave.
That guy was probably talking to Valencia for a while. But maybe she gets ridiculously lucky and the guy has a major cursh on her since college.

crack crack crack crack
crack crack crack crack

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
I sorta like that NASA control center Paula set up. At first you'd think that it's just something in someones (probably Rebeccas) imagination but then other people show up there and you notice that all this literally happened.
Paula is a bit scary.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
Well, someone asked Bloom for that crossover on twitter once. So the idea is out there.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather

Air is lava! posted:

But maybe she gets ridiculously lucky and the guy has a major cursh on her since college.
Called it! Wow, that guy is so creepy. Trying to start a relationship by blackmail until Stockholm syndrome kicks in is not a healthy choice.

Brock Samson posted:

edit I think Trent only has that one outfit
He lives in LA and didn't plan ahead, so he didn't actually bring any spare clothes for squatting in Rebeccas house.


"He's way out of your league! Nice job."

Also, I like Audra. "This is what happy feels like." I hope she turns up again sometime.

Asiina posted:

The whole thing with Trent I could take or leave. It doesn't help at all that earlier today that I watched this documentary about college rape and they talked about coersion, so I just found it is creepy-uncomfortable rather than creepy-funny.
Trent worked well for me. In any other show he would just be creepy. But here he is basically a parody of Rebecca herself. Showing up out of nowhere after the slightest hint of affection, being irritatibly nice to her, helping her with her job, showing up in her apartment and writing the letter. He is just one degree creepier than her.
And unlike her, he didn't even lie.

cant cook creole bream fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Mar 1, 2016

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
Was Greg crushing ice with a big kitchen knife? Is that a thing people do? That seems like such a bad idea for several reasons.

Also Bloom just uploaded the explicit version of that rap battle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TQmo5TvZQY

That song really benefits from a second watch. Between the fast talk and the Yiddish the first time I understood basically nothing. Seing the lyrics really helps too.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather

Falun Bong Refugee posted:

Someone in the izombie thread said this show was good. I'm liking it. Those ratings numbers are not pretty though. :(

Usually I don't care about ratings at all. But here they really irritate me. I believe it's a great show and I truly love it a lot. But barely anyone seems to agree. A few weeks ago I was certain that those ratings would steadily increase. But that doesn't seem to happen. And so far I couldn't convince anyone to give it a chance either.

Are my opinions valid? Do I just have terrible taste? Am I deluding myself into enjoying it even though it's actually bland and terrible?
I feel like I'm being gaslighted by this show!

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather

pentyne posted:

So, how many season 1 episodes left? There's no way this can have a sweet, happy ending.

Originally this was the season finale. But a like a week before they finished production the network ordered 5 aditional episodes.

To be honest, I don't have high expectations for next week. It must be quite hard to write a direct follow up to an original season finale in a short amount of time.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather

Escobarbarian posted:

I'd say if this show dos have an SJW-y issue it would be its use of race. Between the yoga song, use of Josh's mom in the parent song, and the Jap thing in the latest episode, it can be kind of iffy. Not actively offensive, but....iffy.
On the one hand I would disagree, because they try really hard to represent a lot of different cultures while not picturing them as racist stereotypes.
In most other shows there would be 3 times as many white people to make it more relatable, even though that's not how California looks at all.

But when I first saw it, that yoga song felt a little weird. Maybe it's because there hasn't been an Indian person on the show so far. (I'm actually surprised by that.) I know that they just wanted to mock bollywood songs, but it actually did feel iffy.
The JAP battle get's a pass from me, because both show creators are Jewish women, so it feels a bit more like speaking from experience and sharing a culture than moking it.

On the other hand, all of those examples are songs in Rebeccas imagination. Since they usually don't happen literally, there is a slightly larger abstraction. If someone would actually act like Valencia did in that yoga song it would strike me as something way worse. Maybe I have less problems with racial stuff, if it is consistent and reasonable from a characterizational point of view. Since the people in those songs are only abstractions of the real ones they can be written a little bit more one dimensionally. That's just how they come across to whoever hears that song.

I wouldn't say that Gregs constant use of degrading nicknames in "settle for me" didn't feel offensive either. But if an actual person on the show would talk like that the situation would probably be different.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather

Kaizoku posted:

Heather.

I was thinking about that, but we don't really know anything about Heather. She doesn't have an accent and her name just sounds sort of British. So I didn't want to assume that she's Indian just because her skin is sligtly dark. I guess her ethnicity is just ambigious because she doesn't really define herself by it. Which I am fine with. She wasn't introduced as the Indian neighbor, but simply as the slacker neighbor.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather

Rachel Bloom is doing a live Q&A on Facebook in an hour, if that's what you're into.

If you have any urgent questions and don't use twitter, this is your chance.

Also, the preview of todays episode looks quite good.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
I like Rebecca, but her complete disregard of money makes her somewhat unrelatable. Also pawning of that ring she wanted to have for her whole life seems odd.
Of course she wont be able to just buy it back. My prediction: Josh finally decides to propose to Valencia, but in order to afford a ring he wants to sell something at that pawn shop. There he will see that ring and take it. Around that time Rebeccas mother visits again.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
I had serious doubts that would happen. That makes me so happy!
I love this show but I am also glad that Bloom can continue doing something she likes that much.

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
So, did everyone just miss this episode?
Teenage Rebecca is adorable in a sort of depressing way.

Also, it's funny how horrible College Rebecca sings. Of course she wouldn't have learned how to do it.

cant cook creole bream fucked around with this message at 08:46 on Mar 22, 2016

cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
On a slightly deeper analysis level: I love how Rebecca is starting to shed all those levels of self denial. She aknowledges something which I kept saying.
Josh is just a symbol for her happiness and shouldn't be her sole focus. As as doctor dream ghost Accopian said, he's an illusion. She never really loved that theater douche, but that terrible relationship made her rashly quit music, something she actually did love. And incidentally didn't do since summer camp, her other only thing she ever loved. And she almost made the same mistake with regards to her friends. The only reason it was alright to leave New York was that there wasn't really anything she liked.

At some point Rachel Bloom said that Rebeccas character is basically how miserable her life would have turned out if she had never found a career in music. And that's really visible in this episode.

The reason she came to West Covina in the first place and the reason she left is Josh, but he's not the reason for her return. In a weird circular way the title song is correct now.

I am really interested how she answers that question, because both answers are in some way true, but are based on varying levels of self awareness.

That scene between the parents was acted incredibly well and sort of killed me. Imagine if that adorable girl had heard that. And of course Naomi never told her. Either she would have believed her, in which case her heart would have broken, or she had dismissed it as a lie, which would only enforce her idea that her mother keeps them seperated because she hates love. I am incredibly glad that my parents were more civil when they broke up.

All in all, I really loved this episode and it really shows that there is more in life than the "real love, like boy girl love, okay that's gender normative." I am still a bit perplexed by this show, since Rebeccas character is more interesting, multidimensional and in an indirect way relatable than any single character I've seen in a tv show before. I belive it's because they really thought it through. "In the first episode our main character makes this giant life changing decission but we still want her to be consistent and likeable. What sort of person would she have to be in order to do that? And what sort of history would develop her in that way?"

That's my unqualified opinion.

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cant cook creole bream
Aug 15, 2011
I think Fahrenheit is better for weather
Oh god, I just realised something. In the college play Rebecca explicitly sang "Ahab can't you see the whale is a metaphor." She's Ahab, Josh is the whale and the showrunners are geniuses.

We've been secretly watching a version of Moby Dick the whole time.

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