One marriage, two reviews: Girls5eva

Girls5eva. Photo / Supplied

Greg and Zanna have differing opinions about a show that's had a lot of buzz.

SCORES
Level of anticipation (Zanna's): 5
Level of fear re: post-viewing discussion (Greg's): 5
Value of numeral used in title: 5

HE SAW

By the time we received our two-episode preview screener last week, Zanna's anticipation level for Girls5eva was preposterously high and climbing. The show seemed algorithmically created to appeal to her: her favoured American entertainment-based podcasts had been harping on about it for weeks, Tina Fey is a producer, it's heavily musical, and its stars include Sara Bareilles and one of the leads from Hamilton. You could handwrite each of those words on pieces of paper and scatter them around an empty room - not even a very nice room - and Zanna would sit looking at them for hours, then give the experience an extremely positive review. Over the past few weeks, she has said, "When can we watch Girls5eva?" at least as often as she has said, "Could you please take the kids out? Just for a couple of hours? I really need some alone time."

Relative to her, I didn't have particularly strong feelings. I too have enjoyed the work of Fey, Bareilles and Hamilton's Renee Elise Goldsberry, but I can't stand Zanna's favoured entertainment-based podcasts, so had heard little of the show's buzz, except through her, who, as I've said, was already predisposed to its enjoyment.

After watching the first two episodes, I was curious to discover Zanna's feelings, while cautious about revealing my own, which were not negative but not positive enough to share. She has recently introduced the kids to the phrase "don't yuck someone else's yum" and I know her well enough to know that her advice to the kids is also/primarily advice to me.

I gently asked her thoughts about the show. She said she felt she needed a couple more episodes to get to know the characters better, at which point she would enjoy it more. She told me she found it pleasant but had been hoping to find it more than pleasant. She described it as "comfort viewing". Rather than offer my opinions, I asked her more about that. I liked listening to her astute observations and not offering any of my own. Because it was more of an interview than an exchange, it was less fraught than our usual post-viewing chats, and therefore more enjoyable. It felt good to not be trying to justify some position I'd arbitrarily constructed with a minimum of reflection.

I asked another follow-up, but rather than answering the question, she replied: "I've noticed in our reviews lately that you just ask me stuff and write about it, rather than reviewing the show. Like you're interviewing me or something."

"Really?" I said, "That's interesting. Say more about that."

SHE SAW

Based on the premise - four women in their 40s resurrect their 90s girl band and attempt a comeback, after hearing their song sampled on a hit new track, - I had a feeling that Girls5eva was targeted directly at me and other survivors of the girl power era. I had pestered Greg to organise a screener so relentlessly that the TVNZ publicist had become personally invested, to the extent that, when it arrived, she sent him a message saying "I AM ABOUT TO BECOME THE HERO OF YOUR HOUSEHOLD" - all caps - followed by a stream of updates on the download progress.

When we sat down to watch it I said to Greg: "You're not going to ruin this for me are you?" He has an impossibly high bar and knows it, but he was scared -and rightfully so.
"Of course not; I'm going to love it too," he replied. I didn't believe him, but I appreciated the effort.

We only had access to the first two episodes of the eight-episode season and unfortunately they were lacking in my primary heart's desire: cheesy, hilarious, unexpectedly catchy pop songs. Sara Bareilles who plays Dawn is a talented singer/songwriter and with the pipes of Renee Elise Goldsberry (Emmy-nominated for her performance in Hamilton) on hand, the show has loads of potential for some high-quality, feel-good bangers. I was disappointed to learn Bareilles wasn't part of the core songwriting team of creator Meredith Scardino and executive producer Jeff Richmond. Bareilles has a solo writing credit for one song on the soundtrack - 4 stars - and it's melodically miles ahead of the other songs. Which isn't to say Famous 5eva isn't an hilarious bop - it is - I just think they've missed a trick by not having Bareilles in the songwriters' room.

Saturday Night Live's Paula Pell and Busy Philipps make up the rest of the band, but Goldsberry has the standout performance as a wannabe "fempire" mogul, clinging to her former fame. She has the funniest dialogue of the show which sadly didn't make me laugh out loud as much as I'd hoped.

Despite Greg's incredible restraint throughout, I knew when it was over that I'd be adding Girls5eva to the list of shows to watch without him. There are some jokes that fall flat (he can't tolerate that) and it's fairly predictable narratively (his number one pet peeve), but there's a warmth to this world, typical of Fey comedies, and I have a feeling that once we get to know the characters more, Girls5eva is going to be exactly the kind of effortless, heartwarming viewing I crave.

Girls5eva is now streaming on TVNZ OnDemand.