Nashville 1.01: "Pilot"
Oct. 7th, 2012 01:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icepixieThat was surprisingly good. I didn't even have to mute most of the songs! And even if it were terrible, it would still be neat to see so much of the city on TV. (OMG, the state capitol! I used to work there!) Of course, there's some "interesting" geography, like Rayna and Deacon driving way the hell over to the Shelby Street Bridge from (presumably) Music Row to have their walk and talk, but that is a pretty place.
I liked the way they incorporated subtle local touches, like calling the record label "Edgehill Republic." (Edgehill is a neighborhood that butts up against Music Row, and technically I think it includes some of the outer reaches of Music Row.) Or Rayna's Loveless Cafe t-shirt.
It's very, very soapy, right down to Rayna's father's insinuation that one of her kids isn't her husband's (I'm going to guess Deacon's the dad?), but I can live with soapy.
Other things I liked:
- Rayna in general. Connie Britten is fabulous.
- Deacon pining after Rayna. I'm a sucker for a good pine, and part of me totally wants to see Rayna's husband get corrupted by her father/politics and her run off with Deacon. That would be kind of simplistic so I hope they don't actually do it, but I can't deny it would be satisfying. I am curious why, if Rayna obviously liked him at one point and seems to regret not staying with him, she wound up with Teddy. It sounds like he might've had money before he lost his shirt in the recession, so perhaps it was a way of cutting financial ties with her father.
- A reason for Juliette to be the way she is. "Mom's a meth addict" is maybe not the most surprising way they could've done it, but I appreciate that she wasn't just assigned "bitchy" and "slutty" as character traits and that there was actual thought put into why she acts the way she does. This bodes well for all the characters' motivations.
- Love the fact that the conflict between the two leading women is over business rather than a guy. (Well, I suppose there's Deacon, but again, it's more a business thing than a sex thing. Which is sadly unusual.) I think the way the conflict rests on the changing style of country music is going to be fascinating.
- The political story has potential. I think if, in addition to Rayna's dislike of her father supporting her husband's run for mayor, they get into real political disagreements between them (since she was originally supporting the black guy's run), that could be amazing.
- The different choices Rayna and her sister have made with their lives also has story potential.
- That last sequence with all the storylines coming together while Scarlett Whatsherface and the guy crushing on her sang was nicely done. I'm meh on Scarlett herself--she's way too bland right now, though that'll probably change--but I feel a bit sorry for her, as obviously Old Dude Who Is Somehow Involved In Rayna's Career is plotting to steal songs from her for Rayna to record. Well, maybe not steal; maybe just offer her a contract at a ridiculously low rate for each song, counting on her naivete to make her sign it.
Things that weren't great:
- Way too many characters got introduced, but I guess that's par for the course in a pilot for a show like this. I do wish they'd cast some guys who don't look all the same, though. Look, I rely on hair to tell people apart. All the guys are white with medium-length, straight, brownish hair. All of them wearing the same kinds of clothing doesn't help. Someone should come up with an app that allows you to turn on computer-generated labels, so you always know who's in a scene.
- The pacing was a little weird, like scenes seemed to end too early. I especially wanted more to the scene where Rayna barges into her producer's(?) apartment, rails against Juliette, and then we see Juliette in the bed. That ended really abruptly.
- The accents are really accurate, especially for country singers who are probably used to twanging it up for their audiences. But I can't deny I don't actually like said accents.
- This is not a dislike, just a weirdness: I listen almost entirely to singer/songwriters, and it's very odd to watch a bunch of characters who sing songs written by other people. I always forget that songwriting is the real industry here, and that even those musicians who do write songs often sell them to other artists to record and vice versa. (Tangent: Someone I was vaguely friends with all through elementary, middle, and high school makes her living as a songwriter for some label now. I wonder what she thinks of the show. Hell, I wonder if she's working on the show somehow.)
To conclude: Lots of good setup. Several good characters/relationships. Will be watching and hope it succeeds!
I liked the way they incorporated subtle local touches, like calling the record label "Edgehill Republic." (Edgehill is a neighborhood that butts up against Music Row, and technically I think it includes some of the outer reaches of Music Row.) Or Rayna's Loveless Cafe t-shirt.
It's very, very soapy, right down to Rayna's father's insinuation that one of her kids isn't her husband's (I'm going to guess Deacon's the dad?), but I can live with soapy.
Other things I liked:
- Rayna in general. Connie Britten is fabulous.
- Deacon pining after Rayna. I'm a sucker for a good pine, and part of me totally wants to see Rayna's husband get corrupted by her father/politics and her run off with Deacon. That would be kind of simplistic so I hope they don't actually do it, but I can't deny it would be satisfying. I am curious why, if Rayna obviously liked him at one point and seems to regret not staying with him, she wound up with Teddy. It sounds like he might've had money before he lost his shirt in the recession, so perhaps it was a way of cutting financial ties with her father.
- A reason for Juliette to be the way she is. "Mom's a meth addict" is maybe not the most surprising way they could've done it, but I appreciate that she wasn't just assigned "bitchy" and "slutty" as character traits and that there was actual thought put into why she acts the way she does. This bodes well for all the characters' motivations.
- Love the fact that the conflict between the two leading women is over business rather than a guy. (Well, I suppose there's Deacon, but again, it's more a business thing than a sex thing. Which is sadly unusual.) I think the way the conflict rests on the changing style of country music is going to be fascinating.
- The political story has potential. I think if, in addition to Rayna's dislike of her father supporting her husband's run for mayor, they get into real political disagreements between them (since she was originally supporting the black guy's run), that could be amazing.
- The different choices Rayna and her sister have made with their lives also has story potential.
- That last sequence with all the storylines coming together while Scarlett Whatsherface and the guy crushing on her sang was nicely done. I'm meh on Scarlett herself--she's way too bland right now, though that'll probably change--but I feel a bit sorry for her, as obviously Old Dude Who Is Somehow Involved In Rayna's Career is plotting to steal songs from her for Rayna to record. Well, maybe not steal; maybe just offer her a contract at a ridiculously low rate for each song, counting on her naivete to make her sign it.
Things that weren't great:
- Way too many characters got introduced, but I guess that's par for the course in a pilot for a show like this. I do wish they'd cast some guys who don't look all the same, though. Look, I rely on hair to tell people apart. All the guys are white with medium-length, straight, brownish hair. All of them wearing the same kinds of clothing doesn't help. Someone should come up with an app that allows you to turn on computer-generated labels, so you always know who's in a scene.
- The pacing was a little weird, like scenes seemed to end too early. I especially wanted more to the scene where Rayna barges into her producer's(?) apartment, rails against Juliette, and then we see Juliette in the bed. That ended really abruptly.
- The accents are really accurate, especially for country singers who are probably used to twanging it up for their audiences. But I can't deny I don't actually like said accents.
- This is not a dislike, just a weirdness: I listen almost entirely to singer/songwriters, and it's very odd to watch a bunch of characters who sing songs written by other people. I always forget that songwriting is the real industry here, and that even those musicians who do write songs often sell them to other artists to record and vice versa. (Tangent: Someone I was vaguely friends with all through elementary, middle, and high school makes her living as a songwriter for some label now. I wonder what she thinks of the show. Hell, I wonder if she's working on the show somehow.)
To conclude: Lots of good setup. Several good characters/relationships. Will be watching and hope it succeeds!
