Peachy KEENE

Article first published as TV Review: KATY KEENE on Seat42F.

Note: The review only covers the pilot of the series.

The CW’s newest drama is KATY KEENE. A spin-off of Riverdale set in the Big Apple, it’s about a group of young adults looking to fulfill their career and relationship aspirations. Less highly stylized than the mothership, though still with a healthy dose of hyper-reality and charm, and carrying over one established supporting character, this show should be really good. And it probably would be if not for awful writing.

The fault lies not in the performances. Lucy Hale (Pretty Little Liars) is spunky, cheery, and thoroughly convincing as Katy Keene. Ashleigh Murray’s Josie McCoy feels like a second lead, which makes sense, given that she’s already been developed on Riverdale and should have a prominent role in the new venture. These two are strong enough to hang a show on.

The supporting characters are also delightful. Pepper Smith (Julia Chan, Saving Hope) is the worldly, wild woman with sage advice. Jorge / Ginger Lopez (Jonny Beauchamp, Penny Dreadful) is easy to root for. Francois (Nathan Lee Graham, LA to Vegas) has the early 00s gay best friend vibe now in a boss suit. Gloria Grandbilt (Katherine LaNasa, Truth Be Told) and Amanda (Helene Yorke, Masters of Sex) are deliciously awful villains. KO (Zane Holtz, From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series) serves his role as eye candy and dutiful boyfriend, and Alexander Cabot (Lucien Laviscount, Snatch) seems like he’ll be a slightly better-developed version of that.

But those supporting characters get to the heart of the problem. Their characters revolve solely around the leads. They don’t seem to have their own lives and personalities separate from interacting with Josie and, primarily, Katy. They exist only to further her plot, and so the world feels a lot less realized than other shows on the air right now.

Similarly, KATY KEENE goes for emotional payoff over a story that makes sense. Katy rebels against a boss and immediately gets a dream job with encouragement to pursue her talents. Ginger gets to tell off a jerk casting director in a speech that, in different context, would feel arrogant and coming from spoiled brat, sure to get him blackballed before his career even begins. If Pepper is so worldly, why is she spending every evening hanging out with Katy? Amanda and Gloria are written to be self-obsessed, but we only see them doing so in ways to hurt our protagonist, and the way high school peers would, not adults.

There is plenty of room for a fairy tale on the airwaves, and you could definitely call KATY KEENE that. If it committed more fully to the hyperreality stylings of Riverdale or The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, it might even be easier to overlook how it thumbs its nose at reality because that would signal to the audience that what they’re watching is not in any way tied to the world we know. Yet, because KATY KEENE feels grounded in an actual place and time, it clashes with those sensibilities and instead feels half-finished at best, or cartoonish at worse. And the fact that so many of the characters are paper-thin is the final nail.

Might the series get better in subsequent installments? Absolutely. A bit of retooling, and this could be something worth watching. But the blatant bad-ness of the pilot turned me off in a major way to the point that I don’t even care enough to watch the second episode and see how the cliffhanger resolves. In a landscape with less quality programming, I’d give it more of a chance because it is spun off of a show I enjoy. But in the current climate, there’s just no room for a show that doesn’t know what it is, or can’t make up its mind.

KATY KEENE airs Thursdays at 8/7c on the CW.

Not Your Average Teenage Witch

Article first published as TV Review: CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA on Seat42F.

Netflix released the first season of the highly anticipated CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA last week. Based on the recent Archie comic series of the same name, the titular character is a half mortal, half witch teenager who has come of age and is asked to sign her soul over to the Dark Lord. But Sabrina has doubts, especially when she is lied to about free will and told she must give up her human friends and boyfriend. Does she really have a choice, and why is Sabrina so important to the witch world?

This is not your (parents’?) Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Although fans of the 90s sitcom will recognize character names and broad-stroke personalities from CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA, that is pretty much where the similarities end. This is a dark, creepy, macabre version of the tale. Followers of the Dark Lord call themselves a church, but they’re closer to a cult. Actual teen witches might kill mortals for fun. Blood is used in rituals. And Satan is involved. So don’t expect to sit down with your family to watch this.

CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA looks almost flawless. Its design and setting are very artistically done, visually stunning. Special effects are top-notch. This all contributes to the purposely dreary tone. There is also a sense of fun, whimsy, and magic injected in, lest you think it’s just a dark drama. Costumes, props, the Spellman house… it is all excellently done.

My complaint here is that the picture far too often goes blurry on the edges. This is a great effect when used sparingly, but SABRINA uses it constantly. It becomes distracting and confusing. The show would play much better of 95% of this was taken out.

For tone, I recommend looking to the CW’s Riverdale, which may or may not be set in the same universe. (There is no crossover in season one, although Riverdale is mentioned as a place.) Both share a sense of sexiness and danger. Though SABRINA is louder and more extreme, with the magical element kicking things up a notch.

Most of the characters are equally good. Miranda Otto (24: Legancy) and Lucy Davis (the original The Office) are fantastic as aunties Zelda and Hilda, respectively, updating the stern and goofy bases into complex and surprising characters. Ross Lynch (Austin & Ally) plays perfect puppy dog Harvey Kinkle. Chance Perdomo (Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators) is very interesting as Sabrina’s ‘cousin’ Ambrose, confined to house arrest. Tati Gabrielle (The 100) is perfect as Prudence, leader of the Weird Sisters. Michelle Gomez, memorable in her run on Doctor Who, brings a similar performance to the teacher who inadvertently gets involved. Richard Coyle (Coupling) is awesome as high priest Father Faustus Blackwood.

Less satisfying is Kiernan Shipka (Mad Men) as Sabrina. Shipka is a talented young actress, as proven by past work, but I’m not certain her performance matches the rest of the show. At times, she feels like the strong young woman she is, standing up to authority, even her aunts, protecting her friends, and making her own way. This put-together sixteen-year-old is where Shikpa shines. But she seems less comfortable with the strange and weird. And this may be mainly a writing issue, but it’s completely strange that Sabrina doesn’t notice massive changes in her favorite teacher. I do think Shipka can grow into this role, or some adjusted direction may help. But at least initially, she’s unfortunately not as good as the show itself, not something you want from the lead.

Which is not to say that I don’t recommend CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA. It’s a compelling, creative story that is mostly well executed. I had planned to watch just one episode for this review, but felt like I had to go straight into the second. Once I submit this article, I do plan to watch the rest. There are just a few things to work on for season two for the program to make full use of its potential.

The CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA is available now on Netflix.

A Different RIVERDALE

Article first published as RIVERDALE Review on Seat42F.

The Archie comics, in print since the 1940s, are a fairly wholesome series. We have all-American Archie Andrews, the classic love triangle of Betty and Veronica, goofy Jughead, the music of Josie & The Pussycats, and so much more, which have become household names.

The CW asks you to see them in a whole new light in their series RIVERDALE, premiering tonight.

RIVERDALE begins with a death and dark secrets. One of the Blossom twins, Jason (Trevor Stines, A Tragic Love Story), disappears while in a boat with his twin sister, mean girl Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch, The Curse of Sleeping Beauty). This throws the sleepy town into disarray, especially when some of its citizens might know something and aren’t speaking up about it because of the type of activity they were engaged in as it went down.

Into this chaos, enter new girl, Veronica (newcomer Camila Mendes), who quickly gets between best friends Betty (Lili Reinhart, The Kings of Summer) and Archie (K.J. Apa, Shortland Street), the latter of whom doesn’t seem to be talking to loner writer Jughead (Cole Sprouse, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Grace Under Fire) at present. There’s also gay pal Kevin (fresh face Casey Cott), who is fending off advances from a closeted jock. So, even just among the kids, there’s quite a bit of drama and strife. And we haven’t even gotten to the adults, who have their own histories and plot, though mostly not as front-and-center as that of the kids.

To be fair, the Archie comic hasn’t always shied away from sexuality. There is plenty relationship drama, and the Jughead on the page even came out as asexual. But the level of sex on the CW is, on average, quite a bit higher, the network being known for somewhat-steamy YA shows (in addition to the superhero variety), and RIVERDALE fits right into the network’s brand alongside peers like The Vampire Diaries and the still-missed Gossip Girl.

In fact, a lot about RIVERDALE will feel very familiar to fans of the network. It’s a group of attractive young people who are involved in ever-changing love triangles, squares, and more-sided shapes, besieged by danger, betrayal, and mystery, and they sometimes make stupid decisions. It has a little bit of Dawson’s Creek season one tossed in concerning a certain teacher, and even if it’s not quite true to the comics, it is true to the spirit of the CW.

That being said, it’s not my favorite show on the network. I like the built-in set of characters, but it was quickly realized that even Archie, who should probably be the exception to the intrigue, would be too boring without it, so they’ve veered his character sharply. I feel like if you’re going to get away from the meaning of the source material, unless there’s a compelling reason to stick to it, you should just make a new show. Giving it known-franchise cred it not enough of an excuse. So, while without the familiar characters RIVERDALE might have trouble gaining purchase, it shouldn’t have used them.

And that is what it comes down to for me. RIVERDALE doesn’t stand on its own without the interest built from the comics (even if you haven’t read them, you know about them), and so isn’t worth watching. There’s an inauthenticity to it, a bit-too-formulaic quality that just keeps it from hooking you in. Even Josie & The Pussycats, though we’re told sing mostly original songs, are mainly doing covers in the first couple of hours. I love most of the shows on the CW, but this feels like CW-light, with little new to contribute, just re-using what’s worked in the past, so I’ll pass.

RIVERDALE premieres tonight at 9/8c on the CW.