The Return of Jezebel James

Having read sometime ago that Sherman was on a new project and being a big fan of Gilmore Girls, one can imagine how much I was anticipating The Return of Jezebel James...I'm not an experienced TV critic, I know nothing of camera angles and all that. What I do know is that the show just...sucked! I can't seem to figure out whether the script is rubbish or just the acting. Parker Posey where I'm concerned was downright ridiculous in Boston Legal and certainly hasn't found her tempo here...Everyone involved exudes awkwardness on an embarrassing level. It's evident that they're trying too hard to make this super-hip-tongue-in-cheek....not buying it. Definitely not Gilmore Girls unfortunately...not by a long shot

I've always loved Parker Posey, but this show makes me understand those who find her annoying. She's really, really irritating in this. Maybe she's just hoping to get this travesty canceled--she deserves so much better. I disagree with previous commentators, though--I think the laugh-track greatly adds to the humor. Without a laugh-track telling me someone said something funny, I wouldn't have even realized this was supposed to be a comedy.

This show reminds me of the worst 80's sitcoms. It's so contrived and poorly written and the characters are paper thin. I think the show has such a fast pace to keep viewers from realizing that no one is saying anything funny, insightful, or dramatic.

I really hope Sherman-Palladino pulls it together before JJ gets canceled (or she gets dragged off into the night by a torch-wielding mob that blames her for destroying Posey's career), but she can't have much time left. This show is terrible.

And just so you know, I loved Gilmore Girls.

i'm kinda surprised Posey and Sherman didn't fight the laugh track to their death. it's the main thing that confuses the tone of the show and probably contributed the most to the bad reviews. i expect theatre critics would be kinder to the show. many scenes seem more written for the stage than the screen, apparently another thing the audience has trouble accepting or comprehending. the show does have lulls, a lack of character depth, and reaches for unearned dramatic moments, but however flawed the presentation of ideas is, the ideas are at least present, there is at least some value placed on originality and creativity which is more than i can say for most shows.

I will admit that I cannot get past a laugh track, but I was willing to try for Parker Posey and Lauren Ambrose. Ambrose was great on Six Feet Under and of course Posey is lovely in all her work. This show is horrible. The few funny scenes are marred by the laugh track but if the writing held up I would be watching still. Parker's character says "Coco" (referring to her sister) as if the name "coco" is as silly to her as it is to the rest of the world. It's as if she knows it's a joke. Lauren Ambrose is left to play the stereotypical early 20s underachiever who doesn't speak to her folks and can't keep a job. This is a sad waste of two great talents and I hope it is canceled soon.

I only watched the first episode - some people claim the show improved somewhat by the time it was canceled a couple of episodes later - but wow, that first episode was pretty disastrous.

Written by Amy Sherman-Palladino, whose work on the Gilmore Girls was brilliant, and starring talented "indie queen" Parker Posey, on paper this was going to be great. But it wasn't. Posey's performance is shrill and brittle; she acts the whole episode as though she has realized she is in a bomb and hopes that if she talks loud enough and fast enough people won't notice. And while the writing isn't terrible, it's not especially funny.

Which leads us to the laugh track. There is perhaps nothing so destructive to low-key witticisms than a boisterous laugh track. Sherman-Palladino is not a sitcom writer, and trying to persuade the public that she is by dropping huge laughs on every wry remark or deprecating comment just makes the show seem to be full of unfunny jokes. I had a similar reaction of Sports Night, another show where dry wit combined with loud laughs created nothing but dissonance (although my reaction to that show wasn't nearly as negative as my reaction to Jezebel James).

So, if Posey were calmer and the laugh track were gone, would the show have been good? Maybe. I would be curious to see Jezebel James sans laugh track with Posey replaced by, say, Lauren Graham. My gut feeling is that it still wouldn't have worked - that Amy just couldn't find the rhythm of the half-hour sitcom - but I'm not sure. All I am sure of is that the network executive who insisted the show have a laugh track should have been demoted to a janitorial position.