5) Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
One of the most consistently rewarding experiences of all the 2015 fall premiere shows, The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is perhaps an easy claim to success for the simple fact that its title set up such a low-bar for entry. Ignore that, just like the opening credits ask you to: “That is a sexist term,” star and co-creator Rachel Bloom sings. “It’s a lot more nuanced than that.” That’s not just empty self-satire and meta-humor, it’s a genuinely honest thesis for the show, which chronicles the adventures of Rebecca Bunch when she ditches a six-figure lawyer job in Manhattan to follow her high-school beau across the country to West Covina, California (it’s two hours from the beach! Well, four with traffic).
I may have buried the lede here, but Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is also a musical. Rebecca’s fractured psyche presents most of her friends and family as members of a personalized broadway show, who sing about everything from awkward yoga classes to having that “Sexy French Depression.” Rebecca’s issues aren’t just cutesy avenues towards musical interludes but actually concern-inducing bouts of childhood-stemming trauma that manifest themselves in interesting dynamics between her and new bestie Paula and, most amusing, herself. “Josh just happens to live here,” she belts in the pilot, refusing to believe the real reason she upended her life.
[zergpaid]If all of that sounds heavy, remember that Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a particular kind of weird: the show spins jokes out of everything from paternal pedophilia to accidental ass blood as the result of a “Sexy Getting Ready Song.” Each character, song, and plot here marches to the beat of its own erratic, crazy drum, much like its deserving-of-every-award-possible star. The future is uncertain with how long Bloom and co-creator Aline Brosh McKenna will be able to prevent such a complex, self-destroying character from becoming annoying, but, for now, Rachel and all of her pals in West Covina, Ca are a welcome oasis of goofiness in a sea of self-serious TV.