TV Review - Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist

At this point, Glee (2009) has got to be the most well-known or most successful, jukebox musical that was ever on television. In most of the musical series that have come since Glee, the jukebox aspect has been pushed aside for original songs. The most successful of those has been Empire (2015). In both of those shows though, there were characters who were themselves either singers or musicians, so there were narrative reasons for people to perform songs on screen. There has rarely been a musical series within the past, two decades where that wasn't the case. The only exceptions were Galavant (2015), which was a very short-lived series, and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2015), which did last for an impressive four seasons, despite low ratings. This series seems to take the jukebox elements of Glee and some of the narrative elements of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.

Creator Austin Winsberg (Gossip Girl) seems to want his characters, some of them, to be able to burst into song, popular or hit songs that various demographics will recognize, as in Glee. He also wants it to be explained away as the result of some kind of mental disorder, as in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Why there needs to be an explanation isn't known. Traditional musicals never explained in the narrative why people were bursting into song and dance. It just occurred without commentary. Strangely, that was satisfactory for people. Given the success of Disney musicals like The Lion King and Frozen, one would think that such commentary or explanations aren't required. Instead, Winsberg feels the need to concoct some ridiculous explanation.

Jane Levy (What/If and Suburgatory) stars as Zoey Clarke, a coder or programmer who works for a company in San Francisco called SPRQ Point, which creates phone apps for smart devices. Much in the way a comic-book character has an origin story about how he or she got his or her powers, Zoey is caught in a MRI machine during an earthquake, which causes her to be able to have telepathy. The quirk is that her telepathy comes in the form of seeing people sing and dance songs that reflect their inner-most thoughts.

There have been recent shows like Good Trouble (2019) that have tried to center on women in the tech world. That show is more about the romantic lives of the women and less about the actual tech. Any hope that this series could be a more female-centered or female-driven version of HBO's Silicon Valley (2014) doesn't seem all that likely. The tech world is more or less a milieu that lulls in the background of this series. So far, the problems or issues within that world aren't so specific that the industry at hand couldn't be switched with any other and have any real substantive change to the narrative.

Skylar Astin (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Pitch Perfect) co-stars as Max, a co-worker at SPRQ Point. He's presumably a coder or programmer too. It's revealed at the end of the first episode that he has feelings for Zoey. Max sings a song to Zoey that only she perceives that indicates his love for her. The song is supposed to be reflective of his inner-most thoughts, probably something he's not consciously aware. He claims to want to be her friend, but his actions suggest more.

Because Zoey is aware of his inner-most thoughts, she tries to avoid encouraging it. She does so because she doesn't want to spoil their friendship. Plus, after she gets a promotion at work and ostensibly becomes Max's boss, she doesn't want to lead to anything that might be seen as inappropriate. Yet, the arc of this show seems destined to have her and Max in some kind of romance. It's the most obvious and predictable thing. My hope is that the show doesn't drag it out. Yet, that's a bit what Crazy Ex-Girlfriend did, which had its female protagonist in a protracted love triangle of sorts. This series does the same with Zoey in between Max and another guy at work named Simon, played by John Clarence Stewart (What/If and Luke Cage).

Alex Newell (Geography Club and Glee) also co-stars as Mo, the neighbor to Zoey who lives in the same apartment building. Mo seems to be queer in some way. Mo hasn't really identified what Mo identifies as, but Mo isn't someone that bursts into song around Zoey. Her power doesn't work on Mo. Mo says it's because Mo doesn't have inner-most thoughts that are repressed. All of Mo's thoughts are always spoken or are outer-most. It's a shame because Newell is an actual recording artist and fantastic singer, so the best vocalist on the show will never perform or ostensibly sing a song, which is a bit lame.

Instead, we get musical numbers from people like Peter Gallagher (Covert Affairs and The O.C.) who plays Mitch Clarke, the father to Zoey. Mitch has a neurological disease that prevents him from being able to speak or make much movements. He can't really communicate with his wife, Maggie, played by Mary Steenburgen (The Last Man on Earth and Joan of Arcadia). Zoey's power is particularly useful in her father's case because around her, Mitch bursts into song, which gives her clues as to what he's thinking and what he wants to say to his family, even though he can no longer physically say it. Yet, this gimmick of Zoey's power puts her parents in a box that they can only have those musical moments when Zoey is in the room. Otherwise, it will be interesting to see if Winsberg will delve into what it's like for Mitch to have the disease that he has and what it's like for Maggie to care for him day-to-day.

Rated TV-14-L.
Running Time: 1 hr.

Sundays at 9PM on NBC.