The Big Leap: I want you back
September 26, 2021 9:38 PM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe

From IMDB: A [dramedy about a] group of diverse underdogs from all different walks of life who compete to be part of a competition reality series that is putting on a modern, hip remake of "Swan Lake."

I thought I'd put this up here in case anybody is watching it our might be interested in watching it. It's not a reality show. It's more like UnREAL, except I get the sense from the first episode that the focus will be more on the contestants than the behind-the-scenes crew.

At this point, I'm not entirely sold on it, but for now, I'll keep watching.

The bad points: it's a bit too "try-hard." It's trying very hard to be inclusive (that's good) but it's making a point of shouting about how inclusive it's being. The same can be said for how "woke" (I hate that term but it's a useful one here) it is about more issues than I can name: the treatment of sex workers, fat-shaming and being body positive, sexual fidelity and porn and relationships, etc. Some of the dialogue is not just at the level of "after school special" but very special episodes of after school special. Also, connections are happening too quickly between characters, but I can live with that, as it's a TV show.

The plus side is the cast: I really like a lot of the people in the show, and I'm willing to spend some more time watching them. I enjoyed Scott Foley in Whiskey Cavalier (no I've never seen Felicity or Dawson's Creek). I stuck with Covert Affairs from start to finish, so I have no objections to Piper Perabo. Between SHIELD and Galavant (no differences between those two shows) I'm a big fan of Mallory Jansen. Nora Dunn, who seems like she has been around forever, is also part of the cast.

Of the actors I don't know (or don't know as well), nobody has annoyed me yet, so that's always a plus.

I'm not sure how good the dancing will be because at this point, even the characters who should be pretty decent dancers look pretty awful, but I guess that's a deliberate choice by the director.
posted by sardonyx (3 comments total)
 
Maybe I should give it a second chance. I stopped watching it before most of what you mentioned started.
posted by kathrynm at 4:52 PM on September 27, 2021


It depends why you stopped watching it as to whether it would be worth your time. If the high school stuff turned you off, that doesn't last long. If it was just too cornball, that didn't improve.

I haven't had a chance to watch the second episode yet, but I hope to get to it sometime this week.
posted by sardonyx at 12:23 PM on September 28, 2021


I liked this first episode. Like many things, I'm not sure how long it will hold my attention, but it's hard to tell that from a pilot. I like some of the ensemble more than others, but the one they appear to think of as the main character, Gabby, is the one I like the most, which is rare for me. (They almost always pick an irritating white man to be main, like Jake on Brooklyn 99.)
I think it's reasonable to compare it to Unreal, but that show was going bleak with how terrible reality shows are and this seems to just want to show us the manipulation, but be funny most of the time.
posted by blueberry monster at 9:15 AM on October 3, 2021


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