You Scream, I Scream, We All Scream For SCREAM QUEENS

Article originally published as SCREAM QUEENS Review on Seat42F.

FOX’s SCREAM QUEENS is the comedy version of Ryan Murphy’s other, much darker show, American Horror Story. That is the best way to sum up the two hour pilot, which airs next week. It is ridiculous, but intentionally so, satirizing the modern horror film. It isn’t scary, but it isn’t supposed to be. I enjoyed it a great deal.

The most central figure in the first episode is Chanel Oberlin (Emma Roberts, American Horror Story, We’re the Millers), a rich, spoiled brat who is head of the Kappa sorority due to the untimely death of the previous president. Supported by her minions, Chanel #2 (singer Ariana Grande), Chanel #3 (Billie Lourd), and Chanel #5 (Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine, Zombieland), whose real names she refuses to learn, Chanel is determined to not only rule the school, but become a successful television journalist.

Of course, SCREAM QUEENS isn’t going to make it easy for her. First, Dean Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis, Halloween, New Girl) decrees that the sorority must accept all pledges, no matter how pathetic (enter Glee’s Lea Michele, among others). Then, Chanel’s boyfriend, Chad Radwell (Glen Powell, The Dark Knight Rises), decides he can’t be with her if she’s no longer popular, due to the dean’s decision. Oh, and then of course there’s a serial killer starting to pick people off, mainly girls in and around the sorority. So there’s that, though that isn’t Chanel’s main concern.

Roberts is fantastic as Chanel, channeling her previous AHS Madison character, but without the depth. No matter what happens, nothing phases Chanel, nor makes her care about others. She is what she is. And what she is is a perfect match for Curtis, who is an equal in the amazing department. I could watch SCREAM QUEENS even if it were just the two of them going head to head. Every scene they are in is magic.

SCREAM QUEENS boasts a large cast (required to keep the body count going), and while Roberts and Curtis essentially own the spotlight, others manage to steal it for brief, wonderful moments, which come more and more frequently as the pilot goes on. Of particular note is Boone (singer Nick Jonas), who has an extremely memorable bedroom scene. But others, including national sorority president Gigi Caldwell (Nasim Pedrad, Saturday Night Live), security guard Denise Hemphill (Niecy Nash, Reno 911!), and “white mammy” Ms. Bean (Jan Hoag, Wild) also make good use of their chance to pop.

Honestly, where the plot drags is when the focus shifts to the ‘normal’ hero of the piece, Grace Gardner (Skyler Samuels, The Nine Lives of Chloe King), and her would-be boyfriend and wannabe journalist, Pete Martinez (Diego Boneta, Rock of Ages). I guess every horror movie has this type of character, and presumably they will be the ones to stop the killer. But I’m not sure they’re needed in a piece that subverts convention so much. If anything, they just drag the show down a bit. Hopefully, they, too, will be used in unexpected ways later in the season.

That being said, overall, I still think SCREAM QUEENS is great. If you don’t understand at first what the mission of the program is and instead take it seriously, you may be confused and disappointed. Once you embrace the utter lunacy and twist on archetype of many of the characters, though, it becomes very enjoyable. Ryan Murphy has taken his earnest cartoonishness of the best parts of Glee and mixed it with what he knows of horror from doing AHS to create something memorable and unique. In an age where horror is all over the television set, this is something original and different.

Plus, I just can’t wait to see who dies next and Chanel’s reaction to it!

SCREAM QUEENS premieres Tuesday, September 22^nd at 8 p.m. ET on FOX.

The KINGDOM Belongs to DIRECTV

Article first published as KINGDOM Review on Seat42F.

To me, the description for DIRECTV’s KINGDOM, a series about a family involved in mixed martial arts (MMA) fighting, reads like a Cinemax program description. It’s centered around gritty violence and rough characters, which, to be honest, is not something I’d get excited about watching. However, sitting down with the actual pilot, it starts to evoke strains of Rocky, a terrific film, and the family drama is a larger part of the story than anticipated, to its credit. KINGDOM is actually a really good show.

KINGDOM takes place at the Navy Street gym, which is run by Alvey Kulina (Frank Grillo, The Gates, Warrior). Alvey is a kind man, refusing to kick out patrons who don’t pay. Yet, he’s far from a pushover, having cut off one of his sons, Jay (Jonathan Tucker, Parenthood, The Ruins), who is on a destructive path. Alvey is happy, living with girlfriend and business partner, Lisa Prince (Kiele Sanchez, The Glades, The Purge: Anarchy), and training his other son, Nate (Jonas Brother Nick Jonas), a promising up-and-coming MMA fighter who may hold the key to Alvey’s financial problems.

The family dynamic in KINGDOM is rich and complex. All of those actors listed in the above paragraph hold their weight, Jonas having matured into a real actor, and the rest having credits enough already to prove they can do something. Some of the players get more interaction with each other than others, so the series has plenty left to explore, and I find myself drawn in to this group, enough to overcome my aversion to the source material.

If you love fighting, you’ll get plenty of that, plus a strong story to back it up. There are bloody scenes in the first episode, mainly involving Nick. By the time those come around, viewers have been given reason to invest in the outcome, and that adds tension to the proceedings. You may be nervous for Nate, wanting him to succeed, and that’s exactly what a pilot should accomplish.

Despite the tension between Alvey and Jay, it’s a relatively happy family. Jay lives with Nate, so he isn’t completely cut off from his clan, and there’s a truce struck. Jay stays away from the gym, for the most part, but supports his brother. Surely, the chemistry will change a bit as Jay gets more involved, as he must, but that’s OK. That’s what we want to see, conflict that will lead to growth.

Enter into this Ryan Wheeler (Matt Lauria, Parenthood, Friday Night Lights), Lisa’s ex-fiancé, a prize-winning fighter, who has just been released from prison. Ryan and Alvey are good friends, but Ryan made a lot of mistakes, hence why he has been behind bars. Ryan is the total wild card of KINGDOM. He says he’s cleaned himself up, and most of the initial hour backs this up, seeing him attending meetings and not forcing himself back into a situation he has been absent from. But can anyone really change, and once back in the old environment, will Ryan revert to his former ways? And will Alvey let Ryan come back to the gym, either as a fighter or a trainer?

It would be really easy for KINGDOM to get soapy here, dwelling too much on Lisa and Ryan’s former relationship and distracting from the larger arcs. Thankfully, the writers understand how the pieces are supposed to fit together, and don’t let melodrama overrun the quality kind. The story is a bit of a slow burn in that we don’t yet know what kind of implications Ryan brings, even after having been around for a full episode, but that’s a good thing, letting these story and characters take a natural course.

I see KINGDOM as sort of like Showtime’s Ray Donovan, although the characters here are more likeable and the plot is easier to get drawn into. It’s definitely a worthy television entry, and as someone who doesn’t get DIRECTV, so hasn’t been familiar with their original programming, it makes me want to see more.

KINGDOM airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m., beginning tonight, exclusively on DIRECTV’s Audience network.

Not "Voting" for Last Man Standing

After suffering through a number of episodes of season one of ABC's Last Man Standing, waiting for something to change, I finally gave up on the hope that it might get good. Still, Tim Allen has significant sitcom chops, and so I was curious enough to check back in on the premiere of season two to see if it had gotten any better.

It has not.

The problem is just a severe lack of funny. There are talented actors performing convincing roles, but that doesn't mean I want to laugh at them. Besides Allen the casts boasts Nancy Travis, Kaitlyn Dever, Hector Elizondo, and others who have proved their worth before. They are wasted here.

I will give credit to the season premiere, "Voting," that it does not just bash a political party. Patriarch Mike (Allen) fills his yard with Romney signs, but is disturbed to learn that his eldest daughter, Kristin (Amanda Fuller, Grey's Anatomy), and the father of her child, Ryan (Jordan Masterson), are Obama fans. He just doesn't see any reason for it, and is even more upset when middle daughter, Mandy (Molly Ephraim), is swayed to their side.

But in the end, Mike is proud to realize he has raised strong, independently-thinking women, and decides not to give them crap for voting for whoever they want to vote for, even driving Mandy to the polls. This is a nice message, and one hopefully a lot of Republican-leaning parents will see and remember when dealing with their Democrat-voting children, as there does seem to be a trend of a generational divide in many families.

I like that "Voting" does not single out either position as terrible. Mike and Kristin lob plenty of criticisms of the candidate they do not favor, but avoids turning it too ugly. They set a good example for their viewers by not letting it dissolve into the seriously depressing hate fest politics current are. The problem is, there aren't any good jokes to go with this plot.

I also am not a fan of the recasting. Replacing Nick Jonas with Masterson feels OK because Jonas only guest starred in a single episode, even though the character badly just forces himself into the group chemistry, pretending he's always been there, when he has not earned that right.. And hiring new children to play Kristin's son is a necessary evil that many television programs do, aging the child quickly and finding more capable performers to handle the demands. But Fuller neither looks nor acts like Alexandra Krosney, who played Kristin for the entire first season, so this is a jarring misstep. And Krosney was better.

The biggest disappointment continues to be with Vanessa. While I adore Nancy Travis, she is totally underused, and when she is present, it's for gags that fall flat. Her cheery "mysteriousness" in "Voting," where she refuses to tell anyone in the family who she supports in the election, is terrible. None of the other characters seem amused by it, and this viewer was not, either.

Could Last Man Standing still be saved? Yes. There are elements here that could be tweaked and make the series worth watching. But after an entire year, and a completely unimproved, even worse, season two premiere, the odds are that these changes will never be made. Banishing the series to Friday means it might not be around much longer, anyway.

Last Man Standing airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

If you like my reviews, please follow me on Twitter! Check out my website, JeromeWetzel.com! First posted on TheTVKing

Les Miserables: The 25th Anniversary Concert

Last week, Universal released Les Miserables: The 25th Anniversary Concert on Blu-ray and DVD. I was lucky enough to get a screener of the Blu-ray, and I have to say, I was highly impressed! I was a little hesitant to watch it, since I have never seen the show, though I've really wanted to for years. Plus, this is a concert, not a full-blown performance of the musical. The singers mostly just stand in front of microphones. But all hesitation was wiped away within minutes of starting the disc.

The picture and sound are flawless. Cameras frequently zoom in on whomever is singing to provide crystal clear closeups of the faces. Even when viewing a wide angle shot, the details visible on this Blu-ray are amazing. The sound is mixed perfectly, allowing you to hear every note of the intricate, rich harmonies with no static or feedback. In a packed arena, I am in awe of just how well this disc looks and sounds. It couldn't have done any better in an empty studio.

The staging is simple. The background fits the piece well, with barrels and big wooden wheels and other period-appropriate things tucked in. Performers mostly enter and exit through a door in the middle, but also use stairs on either side. A row of microphones dominates the front of the stage. Behind and a level up is the orchestra, and beyond them, a choir made up of cast members from several companies. I am more than 500 performers are a part of this, and at times the wall of sound just blew me away. Not to mention the lighting, which is so well done; it is a spectacle unto itself. Whole gun battles are fought with just red and white lights.

 

As mentioned, I haven't seen the show, so I don't know if anything is cut out. The story seems to flow along in linear order, with all of the beloved songs intact, including "One Day More," "I Dreamed a Dream," and "Do You Hear the People Sing?" Alfie Boe is superb as thief-turned-hero Jean Valjean, and Norm Lewis shines as his hunter, Inspector Javert. Both are definitely the heart of the show. While almost everyone is stupendous, these two are sheer delight, and their talent fills the entire O2 space with ease.

Unfortunately, Nick Jonas (yes, that Nick Jonas), though hyped in the press info and on disc cover, is underwhelming. I'm not calling his singing voice into question, but he suffers from camera close-ups, as he really demonstrates no ability to convey emotions with his face, or act in any manner. Also highlighted is Lea Salgona, who has not only won a Tony, but is also the voice behind the singing Disney characters of Mulan and Jasmine. Salgona takes on Fantine, and fares much better than Jonas. Her "I Dreamed a Dream" inspires an immediate second.

Matt Lucas, the famous comedian behind Little Britain and Little Britain USA, among other projects, is clearly a crowd favorite, playing Thenardier, the "Master of the House." While not as strong vocally as the others, his wild turn in a comic part is more than good enough, though I can't decide if his singing style is a choice or of necessity.

The show itself runs a little less than two and a half hours, but don't turn off your player during the applause, as there are still almost thirty minutes left. Four Jean Valjeans, including original Colm Wilkinson, sing together, followed by a 1985 cast-led "One Day More." Then lots of speeches and acknowledgments that, while certainly deserved, drag on, and ending with school children flooding in to join the casts for a rendition of "Do You Hear the People Sing?" that might very well bring you to tears.

The Blu-ray edition is unique only in that there are tons of language options for subtitles. While the DVD offers merely English and Spanish, the Blu-ray adds to that French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Hungarian, Polish, Turkish, Icelandic, Mandarin, and Cantonese! A plethora of choices for people all over the world. Considering the international impact the show has had, I think that is probably a wise option.

Of course, the sound and picture quality are also far superior to the DVD, but the rest of the disc features, well feature, is the same. The lone special is a five-minute series of clips tracing Les Miserables from its inception twenty-five years ago, up through today. It is essentially a trailer for the stage show, with pictures and footage from various productions, as well as staggering statistics boasting to the amount of times and places Les Miserables has been performed, and ending with a clip of Susan Boyle's now infamous performance on British television. Honestly, I was inspired watching just this, before I even put on the film proper.

Amazon is currently selling the Blu-ray for $26.99. Or you can rent it from Amazon's Instant Video service for a mere $3.99. It is worth every penny, and begs for repeat viewings, which is why I recommend the purchase over the rental. Do yourself a favor and check it out.