Commentary

CW's 'Crazy' Idea: An Hour-Long Musical Comedy About A Stalker

Monday night will mark the premiere of one of the most unusual concepts ever attempted for a prime-time TV show: An hour-long, lighthearted comedy about stalking.

Oh, and there’s also music.

Is this idea insane or what? Well, maybe. The word “crazy” is right in the title -- “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” premiering Monday night at 8 Eastern on the CW. The premise is this: A 26-year-old woman suddenly chucks her life as a high-flying, highly paid wunderkind attorney in New York to stalk a young man she had a fling with when they were teens at summer camp.

The impetus for this sudden change of life: She happened to encounter him by happenstance on a New York street. He informed her that he was about to move out of New York that very day and back to his hometown of West Covina, Calif., located about 20 miles east of metropolitan L.A., with a population of 106,000.

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So naturally, she turns down a lucrative junior partner offer from her law firm to move to West Covina, although the ex-boyfriend never asked her to do so, nor would he have ever expected her to do such a thing.

Of course, she’s nuts -- but as stalkers go, she seems harmless enough and even likable, thanks to the actress who plays her: Rachel Bloom. In the premiere episode that the CW provided for preview, Bloom knocks it out of the park. It is the standout performance of the new fall television season.

While “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” might not appeal to anyone who has been the victim of a real stalker, for the rest of us, there is much to like, starting with the novelty of elaborate musical numbers that suddenly break out without warning, with Bloom as their centerpiece.

In Monday’s premiere, there are three of them -- all satiric and hilarious, starting with a song called “West Covina,” in which Bloom’s character, Rebecca Bunch, celebrates the joy and excitement of her newly adopted hometown as if it’s New York and she just got off the bus from Hooterville in the middle of Times Square.

The songs are reminiscent of “Flight of the Conchords,” the HBO series in which its two protagonists, clueless slackers living in downtown Manhattan, would suddenly break out in song. One of the songs in “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” is called “The Sexy Getting Ready Song,” in which flighty Rebecca prepares for a date. The song seems directly descended from such “Flight of the Conchords” greats as “The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room),” “Business Time” and “If You’re Into It” (they’re all on YouTube, by the way).

In a way, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” is the antidote to all of the other TV shows that take place in big bustling cities: New York, L.A. and, increasingly, Chicago.

Everybody in “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” -- most notably the residents of West Covina -- thinks Rebecca is off her rocker for choosing West Covina over New York. But the show’s point seems to be that happiness can be found anywhere, and it doesn’t have to be in cities that never sleep.

But whether Rebecca will ultimately find happiness in sleepy West Covina is not at all clear from just one episode of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” You find yourself rooting for her, though, which is the key to this show’s success. Sure, she may be crazy -- but her heart is in the right place.

“Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” premieres Monday night (Oct. 12) at 8 Eastern on the CW.

 

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