Checking Out QUIBI

Article first published as TV Review: QUIBI on Seat42F.

In the crowded world of streaming, QUIBI, a new project from Dreamworks founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, and led by former HP CEO Meg Whitman, stands out as different. Available only for smart phones, the app boasts episodes under ten minutes in length, with new installments released daily. It’s configured for short attention spans or the busy person on the go, allowing a bit of drama, comedy, or reality in bite-size form.

I admit, in my mid-thirties, I am not the target demographic for QUIBI. I dislike having to view content on my tiny screen, and wish it was available to cast to my television set. I don’t like how the picture adjusts to both portrait and landscape mode, cutting off a portion of the image no matter which way you hold it. I also don’t like watching programs in such short chunks, although it helps that new episodes are coming daily instead of weekly, with new shows weekly.

Looking over the content in QUIBI, again, I’m not the target. Most programs are reality shows, while I prefer to stick to scripted fare. However, there are a handful of scripted series in the initial batch launched this week, so I reviewed the first six episodes of all four of them. There will be spoilers.

We’ll start with the best of the bunch, and the sole comedy in the offerings, FLIPPED. Kaitlin Olson (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and Will Forte (Last Man on Earth) star as Cricket and Jann Melfi, an eccentric, artsy couple who use a drug dealer’s cash to renovate their home. Obviously, dangerous hilarity ensues as they are forced to makeover the bad guy’s abode. From Funny or Die, it’s smart and weird and pretty darn funny, headlined by a couple of seasoned pros. It’s the least jarring when the episodes end after just a few minutes.

I also enjoyed MOST DANGEROUS GAME in which the mysterious Miles Sellers (Christoph Waltz, Spectre) hires the terminally ill and broke Dodge Maynard (Liam Hemsworth, The Hunger Games) to run and avoid five assassins for twenty-four hours. It’s a pretty familiar concept, but it succeeds in being suspenseful. Its fast pace is relentless, and even the setup is compelling. This is the one I am most likely to see through, and I really need episode seven right now.

WHEN THE STREETLIGHTS GO ON is typical young adult fare. A teacher (Mark Duplass, The Morning Show) and student (Kristine Froseth, Looking for Alaska) are romantically involved. When they’re murdered, the town reels. Young Charlie Chambers (Chosen Jacobs, It) investigates their deaths for the school newspaper, while others find love. Or probably just teenage crushes. It’s interesting enough, and fits in well with other programming in its genre, so that it will likely work for QUIBI’s core viewership.

Lastly, SURVIVE seems like it’s going to be a drama about mental health. But when protagonist Jane (Sophie Turner, Game of Thrones) crash lands in an airplane, things get a lot more intense. The fact that the man (Corey Hawkins, The Walking Dead) she talks to in the airport, and then just happens to sit next to on the plane, turns out to be the only other survivor, is preposterous. Almost as much so as Jane surviving the wreck unsecured in a bathroom. Their trek down the snowy mountain only gets more ridiculous from there.

While the quality of story telling is uneven among these offerings, there are some commonalities. All star terrific performers and have high production value. They all also feel pretty familiar, without getting too risky in originality. It’s like they’re a shortened, broken up version of shows ans movies people already watch, which may be why they were chosen. QUIBI’s platform itself is the risk, not what it puts on it.

The short format is hard to get used to. Three of these four are as good as any other short-form series I’ve watched. And despite my general distaste, I’ve watched quite a few. It always feels odd to get jarred out of the story so quickly. Web series have been around for awhile, but none have ever really taken off in the public consciousness. Some have gained decent followings, but none hit truly mainstream status. I can’t imagine any of  these will, either, but it’s an interesting experiment that I’ll keep an eye on. My prediction is this service will be a blip, over relatively quickly, and without any true competitors. But who knows? Maybe there’s finally a generation ready for such a thing. We’ll see.

QUIBI is available now on Android and iPhone devices, and offers a 90-day free trial. The trial is free with or without ads, so there’s no reason to choose the ad version at this juncture. More than a dozen shows are currently running with additional ones on the way, including new Reno 9-1-1 episodes.

LOOK No Further

Article first published as TV Review: LOOKING FOR ALASKA on Seat42F.

While John Green may be best known for The Fault in Our Stars, and Turtles All the Way Down seems to have caught on quite a lot, his debut novel, LOOKING FOR ALASKA, is good, too. More raw, less polished than the others, it is written in the familiar style of Green, creating interesting teen protagonists, but without the complexity or level of insight some of his later works feature. If anything, the book feels a bit more personal to the author than those others, and I myself found the main character of Pudge easier to identify with. It was with this perspective I took part in It’s All Been Done Presents’ Quarterly Book Club last winter to talk about the novel. (That video discussion is available on YouTube or iabdpresents.com)

Excitingly, Hulu premiered a miniseries adaptation of LOOKING FOR ALASKA last week. If you’re a John Green fan, or fan of the coming-of-age story at all, you should watch it. If you liked the book, as I did, you should definitely watch it. It is a faithful adaptation of the source material, and I daresay, in the hands of the great Josh Schwartz (Gossip Girl, Chuck), is even improved upon, adding complexity to minor characters and better building out the world.

The plot begins with Miles Halter (Charlie Plummer, Boardwalk Empire) going away to a boarding school in Alabama, Culver Creek Academy, seeking ‘the great perhaps.’ Quickly and ironically nicknamed ‘Pudge’ by his assigned roommate, Chip ‘The Colonel’ Martin (Denny Love), Miles finds kinship and perhaps his perhaps with the offbeat Alaska Young (Kristine Froseth, The Society). However, tragedy both big and small will shake all three.

I do think the television show telegraphs the climax a bit too obviously. The opening scene of the series is an unclear look at what will happen, but it seems relatively predictable. The book’s countdown, echoed in the miniseries, does something similar, but perhaps with a bit more ambiguity.

That aside, however, LOOKING FOR ALASKA is terrific. It has fine performers and tells a great tale that is both narrow and wide, relatable and specific. Some events are re-ordered or differently emphasized than in the novel, but only in the service of the larger story. Having viewed five hours in a row (unable to stop myself after the intended one or two to write this review), I haven’t found a single issue with the departures Schwartz and the writing team have made.

The characters are better formed than on the page. Yes, Alaska is still framed by and large by how Pudge thinks of her, surely a disappointment to many viewers who wish for more gender parity and anyone who can see what an awesome job Froseth does in the role. Yet, the focus is on Pudge, with all other characters shaped by how they relate to him, and some manage to stand out around him. Love does an absolutely stunning job as the complicated Colonel. Ron Cephas Jones (This Is Us) rounds out a great subplot as Dr. Hyde, an elderly teacher who understands the kids better than they think. Timothy Simons (Veep) makes a potentially one-note authority figure someone that is understandable to be sympathetic with a little distance the students don’t have. Sofia Vassilieva (Medium) is heartbreaking as Lara Buterskaya, Pudge’s more attainable love interest. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Jay Lee’s (American Vandal) performance as Takumi and the memorable guest turn by Deneen Tyler (Treme) as The Colonel’s mother, Dolores.

While now in my thirties, I am still a sucker for a well written version of adolescence, and LOOKING FOR ALASKA delivers that in spades. Many try to capture the spirit of the age, but few do it as well as John Green or Josh Schwartz, and their union delivers a near-perfect result.

I have to stop writing now because I can’t wait a minute longer to finish out this miniseries. I highly recommend it. All eight episodes are currently streaming on Hulu.