The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: Season 3

By Spencer Coile

Look out, world! Midge Maisel is growing up! At least, season 3 of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel would like you to believe that. Balancing an impending divorce and a cross-country comedy tour, our plucky heroine (Rachel Brosnahan) is back for another season. With her manager Susie (Alex Borstein) in tow, not to mention her disapproving parents (Tony Shalhoub and Marin Hinkle) breathing down her neck, Midge definitely has something to prove. But to whom? 

Known for her rat-a-tat tight dialogue and snappy performances, Amy Sherman-Palladino has cornered the market on a very particular style of sitcom; one that is simultaneously cozy and overstuffed. Packed to the brim with supporting characters and elaborate set pieces, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is bursting at the seams with potential - for growth, for progress. But like any series that had a stellar first season and a somewhat middling second, season three has to make a choice: change with the times or remain stagnant… 

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The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Returns for Season 2!

By Spencer Coile  

It feels like an eternity has passed since The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel premiered on Amazon Prime last year. Its first season was celebrated, dissected, and rewarded by most major awards bodies – sweeping up two Golden Globes and eight Emmys. In particular, the show’s leading lady, Rachel Brosnahan was lauded for her portrayal as Miriam “Midge” Maisel, a 1950’s housewife who pursues stand-up comedy when her husband unexpectedly leaves her.

Season two, which is available to stream on Prime, picks up shortly where the first season left off...

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Blueprints: "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel"

As we approach the Emmys, Jorge is looking at the pilot episodes of Best Series contenders. 

Amy Sherman-Palladino made a name for herself with dialogue. Best known as the creator of Gilmore Girls, but also behind the one-season wonder Bunheads, her newest series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel follows a 1950s housewife who finds refuge in standup comedy after her husband leaves her. The delightfully twee vintage setting and the world of verbose comedy sets and big performer personalities is a perfect fit for her now immediately recognizable patter-chatter, all anchored by a revelatory performance from Rachel Brosnahan. 

Let’s take a look at the climax of the pilot episode: Midge’s drunken, cathartic stand-up set. How she slowly wins the audience. How it escalates on the page. How the endless sentences, tangents, and colorful adjectives create explosive tension...

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The (Truly) Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

By Spencer Coile 

The year is 1958, and Miriam "Midge" Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan) lives on the Upper West Side with her wealthy husband (Michael Zegen) and two children. Her parents (Tony Shaloub and Marin Hinkle) live in the same apartment complex to watch the kids for her. She is dressed to the nines for all occasions, supports her husband's (flailing) career in stand-up comedy, and still has time to whip up a mean brisket. Why would she ever want her life to change? 

Which is to say, of course, that it will and does.

When her husband leaves her for his secretary, Midge angrily (and drunkenly) takes to the stage of the Gaslight, a downtown bar her husband frequently played at, to rant to her audience about this sudden shift. Her improvised venting, though, has the crowd in stitches. And it soon becomes clear that not only is she performing a stand-up routine, she is also quite good at it... 

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Goodbye, Bunheads

Andrew here with a eulogy. Nathaniel just can't.

You have heard by now that ABC Family has officially pulled the plug on the comedy musical series Bunheads. It’s been five months since the show aired the final episode of its first, and only season, ironically titled “Next”. Since then the network has failed to definitively address the issue of whether or not the show was done for good. The statement the network released Monday afternoon reads, thus:

“Bunheads is a wonderful series that we are very proud to have aired," ABC Family says in a statement. "The series had amazing storytelling, the most talented cast and a passionate and loyal fan base. Recognizing all of this, we took extra time to try and find ways to bring the series back for another season, but in the end it simply wasn’t possible.  We wish the cast and crew the best in their future endeavors”

It’s difficult to speculate on the veracity of a claim like “we took extra time to try and find ways to bring the series back” but to the outside eye the line reeks of the disingenuous. [more...]

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