Skip to main content

5 Ways to Improve "The Crazy Ones"

Image
By

5 Ways to Improve "The Crazy Ones"

First of all, I love "The Crazy Ones". When the CBS sitcom premiered in September 2013, I fell in love with it. Robin Williams is a legend, Sarah Michelle Gellar is delightful, and David E. Kelley is an expert. The perfect combination of people to make a great show. Although I have to say more recent episodes haven't been the best. I think the show should makes some changes, and then it'd be fantastic.



1. Drop the Sitcom Aspect.

Yes, I know this show is a sitcom, but it really shouldn't be. It should be a one hour comedy-drama, similar to "Ally McBeal" and "Boston Legal". Williams is an Oscar-winner, Gellar is known as a dramatic actress, and Kelley can do it all, so a sitcom seems like a bit of a waste of their talents. It's holding them back, and the main reason the show's not perfect.

2. Add Some More People to the Mix

The cast is one of the greatest parts of the show. But after a few episodes, things are starting to seem a bit crowded. Adding some interesting supporting roles to shake things up would really help move stories along. Brad Garrett is a nice start, but let's get more. Also it's been less than 20 episodes and they've already tried every possible romantic combination between the main cast.

3.  More Shots of the City Set to Music

This was one of my absolute favorite parts of "Ally McBeal", overhead shots of Boston set to some song sang by the insanely talented Vonda Shepard. "The Crazy Ones" does this in their own way for maybe a couple seconds each episode. Part of the reason is that there are time constraints, which goes back to Number 1. "TCO" doesn't have a Vonda, and consequently doesn't have the same contemplative emotional feel that some of Kelley's earlier hits had.

4. Redress the Set

This is a minor thing, and the production design team does a wonderful job, but a couple of things really bug me. The gigantic portrait of Williams that on the wall next the elevators. What's the point of this? It's almost as obnoxious as the giant portrait of Gellar in "Ringer", but at least that was intentionally obnoxious. Also the random fake tree in the middle of the office, and the huge robot in William's office really make it hard to take the show seriously.

5. Have Kelley Do Most of the Writing

Usually, Kelley does most of the writing on his shows. He didn't write or co-write like three of "Ally's" 112 episodes. But he has only written 2 episodes of "TCO". And those two just happen to be the best of the series. Those are the pilot and "Dead and Improved". They had a really strong balance between humor and heart, which is something the other writers seem to miss the mark on. While this is most likely Kelley's choice, in my opinion, he should step up and do the heavy lifting. That's where his strengths lie.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Leave a comment!

Popular posts from this blog

"My Mind Turns Your Life Into Folklore": Why Taylor Swift's "Gold Rush" Is a Song About Songwriting

By
"My mind turns your life into folklore." That line, from the song "Gold Rush," is the only time the word "folklore" is spoken on either of Taylor Swift's 2020 records, Folklore and Evermore , the latter of which is where the song appears. The presence of the line indicates that "Gold Rush" is a pivotal song not only in Swift's lockdown duology, but in her maturation as a songwriter.  Swift's early albums often drew heavily from her own experiences, with fans and the media scouring her lyrics for clues as to which ex-boyfriend her numerous breakup songs referred. Her tumultuous dating life made as many headlines as her music, in part because it informed so much of the music. The discourse was often ridiculous and reductive, and thankfully, that period of her career is over (Swift has been in a relationship with the actor Joe Alwyn since 2016).  Both of her 2020 albums have their fair share of autobiographical songs, but they also see ...
2 comments
Read more

New "Beauty and the Beast" Fails to Put New Spin on the Tale as Old as Time: Review

By
Film Review: Beauty and the Beast The new live action version of Beauty and the Beast is not very good. The film's best moments come directly from the 1991 animated version, which I once named the  best animated Disney film of all time . It seems so preoccupied with recapturing what made that movie so great that it forgets to make this one unique or different in any way. At every possible chance director Bill Condon has to establish an interesting visual look for the film, he defers to the animated film and copies its look. What is the point of making a live action version of an animated movie only to make it look like its animated? Beauty and the Beast never answers that question, and the result is an uninspired retread of a classic story.
1 comment
Read more

Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen are Excellent in Timely Comedy "Ingrid Goes West": Review

By
Film Review: Ingrid Goes West I was worried based on the trailers and marketing for Ingrid Goes West that it was going to be a cautionary tale about the perils of social media. One of those condescending 'lessons' about how much better the world would be if we still used rotary phones and things like that. You know, stuff like this . Thankfully, Ingrid Goes West is not that, it's not even about social media despite being set in the Instagram Age. Written by Matt Spicer and David Branson Smith and directed by Spicer, the movie is about Ingrid (Aubrey Plaza), who has recently been released from a mental hospital and following the death of her mother decides to reinvent herself in Los Angeles, inspired by the Instagram feed of a seemingly perfect influencer named Taylor Sloane (Elizabeth Olsen). Using clues from her Instagram, Ingrid tracks Taylor down and befriends her. Yes, Instagram plays a large part in the story, but it's one that could be (and has been) told i...
Post a Comment
Read more