The Carrie Diaries: "Pilot": AKA: So It Begins

Ok, so yesterday I was chomping at the bit for everyone to watch the series premier of The Carrie Diaries on the CW, and now today I am prepared to render my verdict of it. For those of you who have not yet watched it, you may wish to go do so before continuing on...

THE CARRIE DIARIES Pictured: AnnaSophia Robb as Carrie Bradshaw. Photo Credit: Nino Munoz/The CW. Image Number: CD1_Mondo_Carrie_163.jpg. © 2012 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

SPOILERS AHEAD

It's important to note that this is not a direct prequel to HBO's Sex & The City, as right off the bat the Sex & The City fan tuning in will notice several facts that contradict what little back story we knew on the Grown Up Carrie's home life. First off she has a very loving father who is completely present, especially since it is revealed early on that Carrie's mother has just recently passed away. We also meet her rebellious little sister Dorrit. I kid you not, the girl's name is Dorrit, can we all take a mo-mo to feel bad for her?

THE CARRIE DIARIES Pictured: Freema Agyeman as Larissa. Photo Credit: Nino Munoz/The CW. Image Number: CD1_Mondo_Larissa_029.jpg. © 2012 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

The Good...

Over all the show was pretty cute, I have to say it is nice to see a "teen soap" focused on finding oneself, as opposed to snagging the guy. This Carrie is on a quest to discover herself, she hasn't even decided that she wants to be a writer yet. Of course there is still a guy to be snagged, but Carrie has had her heart stolen by another man...Man-hattan.

Wardrobe NAILED the 80's style on Donna and the Jens.  Those three look FABULOUS. The perms, the neon, the tacky jewelery, perfection. And so far Larissa is also showing some fabulously tacky 80's fashion, can we say shoulder pads?

I know it's a small thing, but I LOVED the fact that Dorrit immediately changes into her mother's dress, after it is given to her. We see the scene where Carrie hands it to her, then in the next scene, where they are packing up her mother's things, you can see what she was wearing lying on the bed, and that she is now wearing her mother's green dress. It was a really sweet and touching detail.

THE CARRIE DIARIES Pictured: Brendan Dooling as Walt. Photo Credit: Nino Munoz/The CW. Image Number: CD1_Mondo_Walt_033.jpg. © 2012 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

 The Bad...

Wardrobe didn't do such a fabu job on the main group. Not only is Carrie lacking the crazy style which she was an icon for, which I am willing to buy on the fact that maybe she needed to grow into her style, but her style is not really eighty's esq. Sure you can argue maybe her style sense isn't as flashy yet, but something just wasn't right. Same with Maggie and Mouse.


I will admit, though I understand that her having just come back from her first adventure in "The City" was supposed to "empower" her I felt she was just a little too composed when dismissing Sebastian at that moment.  He was her first kiss, and only hours earlier she had been squealing over him with  Mouse. Big City empowerment or not that had to have stung.

The Carrie Diaries -- "Pilot" -- Pictured (L-R): AnnaSophia Robb as Carrie and Austin Butler as Sebastian -- Photo: Giovanni Rufino/The CW -- © 2012 The CW Network, LLC. All rights reserved.

The Just Was...

Um, is it just me or does Maggie hooking up with an older guy, a cop no less, seem a little skeevy? I mean do we think she's even 18 yet? You figure she's in the same grade as Carrie, who we know is 16 so she's more likely the same age or at most 17. Not only is she most likely under aged but her father is the chief of police, yeah, they threw that in during the not-actually-at-the-dance-dance-scene, so it would be fair to assume whoever this hot cop is knows exactly how old she is. Which makes the whole thing just seems a little wrong to me.  Plus in the book, please don't look at me like that I did it for research purposes I swear, she is hooking up with another guy in their grade, which to mean just makes more sense, and is slightly less creepy.

I find it hard to believe that Carrie, at 16 had no aspirations of being a writer. Ok, maybe she didn't yet know that she could be able to make a career of it, but she tells Larissa that she doesn't write, that her mother did in journals. Sorry, I'm not buying that. To have the kind of drive we know Carrie to have, Sex &The City version aside, there is no way that Carrie hasn't been writing stories all her life.

Also is it just me or did Carrie's voice overs sound like a combination of Lindsay Lohan ala Mean Girls/Emma Stone ala Easy A? Not so much what was said, but the inflections.

The show itself is nothing groundbreaking, but it is entertaining. I am excited to see how they are going to progress, without making the story too predictable. How deep into her double life will Carrie steep? Tune in next week for more Virginity & The Suburbs...

The Carrie Diaries Airs Tonight: AKA: Get Your Eighties On!

Happy Monday! Well, as happy as a Monday can be.  Tonight marks the season premier of The Carrie Diaries on the CW.  For those of you new to my musings I have been chomping at the bit for this show since the casting announcement of Brendan Dooling, silly musings can be revisited here. Throw in the addition of Freema Agyeman, hello Ms. Martha Jones, and I've been positively giddy.

I will fully admit to never having been a huge fan of Sex & The City, not because I have any dislike for it, I just don't have HBO and never really got into it. In actuality I've only seen a handful of episodes, so why then the excitement over The Carrie Diaries?

After all the series is meant as a prequel to the popular HBO series. It examines the life of Darling Carrie Bradshaw BEFORE she was a successful city dwelling columnist. This Carrie, played by the adorable AnnaSophia Robb, is still in high school, lives in the suburbs with her family, and still in possession of her V-card. Also, this is the 80's! Yes that's right, neon abounds!

The show itself is one of those cute coming of age stories. After all, haven't you always wondered what made Carrie, Carrie? So tune in tonight at 8pm and enjoy the ride.

The Pilot Season Pay Off: AKA: The CW Edition

The networks have now officially released their new shows for the fall/winter of 2012. Which means its now time to talk about the ones that have me most excited. I'm starting with the CW.

-Arrow-

As you have probably figured out if you read pretty much anything else I have posted, including this entry right here, I'm a bit of a super hero geek. Basically I have been ridiculously excited, waiting with bated breath to hear if Arrow wold be picked up. For those of you who don't know, Arrow is the CW's new show based on the DC Comics super hero The Green Arrow. I can already hear a bunch of you going "Who?" and really that's part of the beauty of choosing to create a show based on a lesser known comic character. That's not to say that The Green Arrow is unknown, just that the majority of the world is less likely to know his origins as opposed to say, Superman or Batman. Anyway, the pilot gives some insight to how wealthy playboy Oliver Queen became The Green Arrow. It has plenty of ass kicking and pretty people. Also I'm going to put it out there that I am very excited that Paul Blackthorne has another job, now that ABC has crushed my dreams and cancelled The River. Arrow will be airing on CW Wednesdays at 8pm.

-The Carrie Diaries-

Next up is the other CW pilot my heart has been all a flutter for, as shown here.  The Carrie Diaries are  based on Candace Bushnell's books, of the same name is all about the one and only Carrie Bradshaw...when she was a mere 16, living in Connecticut and had just lost her mother. AnnaSophia Robb steps into the famous Manolo Blahniks as Carrie and is a fabulous fit. For fans of the original Sex & The City, the whole tone of the show is strikingly similar, voice overs abound, but now we have the added bonus of 80's fashion. Seriously, I could not be more excited for a show's wardrobe, neon GALORE. Also be sure to take note of the adorable Brendan Dooling, who's been cast as one of Carrie's best friends, Walt Reynolds.

-Beauty and the Beast-

I am all for the reinventing of fairy tales, in fact it is one of my favorite things, and at first glace the idea of a modified Beauty and the Beast television series, at least to me sounded like a pretty cool idea. Then came the promo photo...

Now I have yet to see the actual pilot, but if that J. Crew model sporting a scar qualifies as a "beast", well then I am not fit to be seen by humans. Ever.  While I will probably still at least check out the pilot, I really don't think I'm gonna be able to buy it.

-Emily Owens, M.D.-

Another Doctor show, because the world is so desperately in need of those. This one, seems to be about how hospitals are just like high school, with cliques and drama and such. This one stars Mamie Gummer and airs Tuesdays at 9pm, after Hart of Dixie.

-Cult-

 

 I'm also very excited for the mid season replacement Cult, though I'm not entirely sure how to describe it, so I'm going with Tvline.com's description, "A journalist teams with a young production assistant working on a popular TV drama about an enigmatic cult leader to investigate the show’s rabid fans, who may be re-creating crimes from the program." Seriously, this show looks awesome. Plus the TV themed cafe featured in it is kick ass. I swear if it was a real place, I'd probably live there.


So there you go, that's what you have to look forward to on the CW. More network pick ups to follow.

The Carrie Diaries: AKA: You Win CW

So I have to admit, so far I have been a little disappointed in the CW's new pilot casting. Over the years I have come to expect a certain kind of casting for them. While the ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX seem to cast "stars" are at least well know actors in their shows, I have always been able to count on the CW to cast less well known talent. I'm a sucker for new talent, so this whole trend of casting well know established actors in new tv shows, has not exactly thrilled me.

This year the CW seemed to merely be casting "kind of know" actors and recycling their own actors. A perfect example being their new pilot Arrow. Side bar, I'm in no way knocking Arrow, as I've mentioned before I am ridiculously excited for this series. The cast includes, Stephen Amell, who has guested on a few episodes of The Vampire Diaries, Katie Cassidy, who played characters on Gossip Girl, Supernatural and 7th Heaven, and Willa Holland who also appeared on Gossip Girl.

But now? All is forgiven. I know I am a little behind on this announcement, but hey give me a break I was out on vacation. On March 4th Deadline released an article announcing Brendan Dooling had been cast in the role of Walt in the CW's new pilot The Carrie Diaries. The series is based on the book of the same name which is written as a prequel to the Sex and the City series, and Walt is described as "Carrie's best guy friend who is most likely gay but doesn't know it yet as it isn't an easy thing to come to terms with in the mid-1983." For those interested the article can be found here.

Brendan Dooling is an awesomely talented up and comer, most recently heard as the voice of Chippy the Elf in the animated holiday film, An Elf's Story: The Elf  on the Shelf, and exactly the type of actor that the CW should be casting. I am beyond excited to see The Carrie Diaries now. CW you have totally redeemed yourself in my eyes...at least for now.