Every TV season, networks bring out a new crop of shows, in hopes that they'll be the next big hit. Pilot Talk is devoted to figuring out whether these shows are worth your time based on the first episode.
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These days, there's an extreme dearth of great network dramas. With all the different options of places to make content, there's not much incentive for talented creators to bring their ideas to a major network, where they are more likely to receive interfering notes and punishing episode counts. But if there's anyone you can rely on to deliver a great network show in this day and age, it's Jason Katims. He's responsible for two of the greatest network dramas of this century in Friday Night Lights and Parenthood, and his gift of elegantly channeling relatable human emotions into his three-dimensional characters fits well with the format.
Well whatever the great savior of network drama is, Rise is not currently looking like it. Katims' latest show follows Lou Mazzuchelli (Josh Radnor), a restless English teacher who wants to revitalize his high school's theater department by having them do Spring Awakening, and when he asks the principal whether he can take over the position of theater director it's immediately given to him, much to the dismay of the woman who currently holds the position (played by Rosie Perez). This setup leads to one of the most glaring issues that plagues the pilot: it seems as if the show wants us to root for Lou and his quixotic quest, but he mostly just comes off like a jerk for steamrolling in and taking a woman's job. Not only is it bizarre that he would be given the position in the first place, we're given no context or history that would make such a thing seem reasonable.
If that were the only issue with Rise, it would be easy to overlook, but unfortunately there are many moments in the first episode that erode all of the goodwill its creative pedigree establishes. Though it may have surface similarities to Friday Night Lights -- the intimate handheld camerawork, the muted palette, people saying the phrase "QB1" -- Rise fails to capture that same sense of emotion. It's loaded with cliches and broad characters, like the star quarterback who tries out for the musical or the mean girl with a chip on her shoulder, all of which have been done much better by shows that came before it. None of the conflicts laid out so far are enough to buoy those characters either.
Another network comparison that comes to mind is obviously Glee, since both shows have a musical element and wear their hearts on their respective sleeves. But Glee was working from a different tonal framework, which allowed viewers to accept its more ridiculous moments. The hyper-realism of Rise's aesthetic makes it harder to roll with the idea that a high school would ever entertain the notion of the drama department putting on a rendition of the sexually explicit Spring Awakening. And without that sense of playfulness that Glee had in its early going, the earnestness of Rise just comes off as saccharine and preachy.
Still, there are embers of promise in the show that make it worth sticking with. Moana's Auli'i Cravalho is great as Lillette, the young ingenue who's given the lead part in the musical. She's got a great screen presence, and her level of earnestness seems properly pitched enough to work where other attempts in the pilot don't. And the high school setting at least provides an interesting ecosystem, one that could lead to some rich storytelling in the future. It's hard to make any show work immediately, not to mention a network one, where you have to appeal to the widest swath of people possible. Despite the rough start, it's easy to see Rise becoming a great show if it's given enough time to grow. Katims has earned that benefit of the doubt by now.
Grade: C+
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