Could you, like Spout member Azguki, "probably watch Parker Posey do anything for 2 hours and not get bored?" How about 22 minutes, plus commercials? The 90s indie It girl is starring alongside Six Feet Under's Lauren Ambrose in a Fox sitcom this fall called The Return of Jezebel James. According to the Fox website, Jezebel (which is the brainchild of Gilmore Girls creator Amy Sherman-Palladino) asks the burning question, "Can two estranged sisters, polar opposites, live together when one agrees to carry the others baby?"
I learned of these developments via the blog of indieWIRE's James Israel. Based on the clip embedded above, Israel gives Jezebel the benefit of the doubt, noting that Posey and Ambrose "seem to have great chemistry." I am, uh, less enthused.
Maybe this clip is not representative of the show as a whole--as an intermittent Gilmore fan, I'm confident that Sherman-Palladino can write the hell out of a show about mismatched sisters--but I thought it was brutally unfunny. I like Posey, but I think she's out of her league when it comes to broad comedy (you probably didn't see The Oh in Ohio, and unless you like to squirm when you know you're supposed to be laughing, you really shouldn't). Here her over-the-top delivery style makes the laugh track feel like a sledgehammer. I think the show might work better as a one-hour dramedy--or any format that allows Posey to show off her talents at character-based, naturalistic comedy (ie: Best in Show). Why put actresses of this caliber in a format that basically forbids them from showing range?
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