ROUND 2

 

SELFIE

VS

A TO Z

 

You don’t have to squint too hard to see all of the things that Selfie and A to Z have in common, aside from being new one-camera sitcoms. Both shows feature two likeable leads (of varying degrees). Both rely on the comedic and romantic chemistry between the two. And both shows found it necessary to include a gimmicky premise that hangs over the show as much as the situations deem necessary. This is round 2, so you should probably have this information by now, but Selfie is My Fair Lady for the social media age, and A to Z dedicates each episode to a different facet of a blossoming relationship, all in alphabetical order…for some reason. The nice thing about gimmicks is that they give you an instant elevator pitch, so people, presumably standing in elevators, can say “Did you see that My Fair Lady show last night?” to the uninterested people around them. The reason that gimmicks scare me is because they make me think that the show, or the showrunners, are afraid that they don’t have a strong enough voice to carry the show without one. Sometimes a show’s voice is so strong that it’s able to bail out of its initial gimmick. Happy Endings started off as a show about how a group of friends deals with two members of the group breaking up, but David Caspe and Co. were able to bust through that by episode three or four. Two episodes in, it really seems like these two shows have already painted themselves into a corner that only a lot of awkwardness can get them out of.

 

One of the main things that separates the two is how each show goes to its gimmick well. Selfie can be a bit of a mess story-telling wise, and blindly grasps for its premise whenever its plot finds itself too far off course. Karen Gillan is great, John Cho is good, the chemistry is building, and each episode has had a scene or two of snappy dialogue that gives us an idea of what the show could become. But the premise has already become more of a hindrance than a plot-barfing gold mine. On the other hand, the beginning of each episode of A to Z brings us narrator PopFilter Hall of Famer Katey Sagal, who quickly explains the premise and the letter that the episode is brought to you by. Once or twice per episode she’ll pop in again and say “See? That’s the letter I was talking about.” Other than that, the rest of the show is left to explore its story and express its voice. It’s not perfect yet, and the show still has some cleaning to do (ANOTHER FAT, BEARDED, GINGER BEST FRIEND?!? COME ON!!!), but A to Z is able to out adorbs Selfie and move on to round 3.

– Ryan Haley

 

NEXT TIME ON THE 2014 PFNFTC:

WATCH A SUPERHERO TAKE ON AN MMA FIGHTER!!!

THE FLASH VS KINGDOM!!!