Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is an American romantic musical comedy-drama television series which premiered on October 12, 2015, on The CW. The series was created by Rachel Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna, and stars Bloom in the lead role.
On April 2, 2018, The CW renewed the series for a fourth season.
Video Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (TV series)
Plot
Rebecca Bunch is a Yale- and Harvard-educated real-estate lawyer who works for a top New York City law firm. She panics when offered a partnership with the firm, and bumps into her first love from summer camp, Josh Chan, on the street. Josh tells her he could not make it in New York City and is moving back to his hometown of West Covina, California ("Just two hours from the beach, four hours in traffic"). While watching a butter spread commercial, Rebecca decides to follow Josh in search of happiness. She hops on a plane to Los Angeles, drives to West Covina, gets a job at Darryl Whitefeather's West Covina law firm, rents an apartment, and flushes all her depression and anxiety meds down the sink. She becomes friends with the firm's paralegal, Paula, and her neighbor Heather and begins an on-again-off-again relationship with Josh's friend Greg, while trying to reconnect with Josh.
Maps Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (TV series)
Cast and characters
Main
- Rachel Bloom as Rebecca Nora Bunch, a lawyer originally from New York City. Rebecca suffers from symptoms of depression and anxiety. She is prone to impulsive decisions and delusions. Rebecca tends to hallucinate when she's under emotional distress. Rebecca uproots her life and relocates to the suburb of West Covina, California, in an attempt to win back her childhood ex-boyfriend, Josh. Intelligent but often lacking awareness of appropriate behavior in a given situation, Rebecca comes across as socially awkward, selfish, self-centered, needy, and eccentric to those around her. In "Josh is Irrelevant," it is revealed that she was misdiagnosed and Dr. Shin and Dr. Akopian diagnosed her with borderline personality disorder (BPD).
- Vincent Rodriguez III as Joshua "Josh" Felix Chan, Rebecca's caring yet occasionally dim-witted ex-boyfriend and the object of her affection for much of the series. Josh demonstrates commitment issues in his relationship with Rebecca and is a very oblivious person. Like Rebecca, Josh has a tendency to be self-centered and comes off as such to those around him. Josh has since improved as a person and had apologized to Rebecca for the mistakes he made in their relationship. He is currently on a journey of self discovery as he tries to find his path and what he wants in life.
- Santino Fontana as Greg Serrano, a smart but underachieving bartender and Josh's best friend, who has complicated feelings for Rebecca. He departs West Covina to attend business school at Emory University, partly as a way to get away from his destructive relationship with Rebecca, despite his feelings for her. Although he struggles with alcoholism throughout season 1, he comes to terms with his addiction in season 2. In "Josh's Ex-Girlfriend Is Crazy," it is revealed that Greg has a new girlfriend and is doing well. (seasons 1-2)
- Donna Lynne Champlin as Paula Proctor, Rebecca's co-worker and new best friend. As a way to distract herself from her own failing marriage, Paula hatches schemes and gives questionable advice in support of Rebecca's pursuit of Josh, mostly to compensate for her lack of fulfillment from not pursuing her dreams when she was younger. She later begins to focus instead on pursuing her law degree. She and Scott have a tendency to be very neglectful parents which is a recurring gag in the show. A unique thing about Paula is that she has a wide array of gadgets at her disposal such as tracking devices that are obtained through various means legal or otherwise and her skills in tracking, spying, hacking, manipulation, blackmailing and coercion.
- Pete Gardner as Darryl Whitefeather, Rebecca's sentimental, emotional and often clueless boss. A middle-aged divorced dad, he discovers he is bisexual and begins dating Josh Wilson. He is prone to feelings of loneliness and neediness over the fact that he originally lacked strong friendships and real personal connections with others. He later forms friendships with Maya, Nathaniel, Rebecca, and Paula, whom he considers his best friend. Darryl and White Josh are the only consistently stable romantic relationship in the show, though they eventually break up over Darryls desire to have a baby. Despite having a good heart, Darryl is very forceful and often tries very hard to force his ideas, beliefs, and schemes onto others.
- Vella Lovell as Heather Davis, Rebecca's "cool" college student neighbor who gives sage advice and discovers she has feelings for Greg. She lacks motivation for obtaining any form of achievement or self-sufficiency, due to the fact that her parents encouraged failure and coddled her. She later starts working as the face of the "Miss Douche" feminine product and becomes Rebecca's roommate. In season 3, Heather is forced by her college to graduate despite her wishes then becomes a regional manager for three Home Base bars as well as Darryl's surrograte. She also begins to date Hector after they connect while searching for Rebecca when she goes missing.
- Gabrielle Ruiz as "Valencia" Maria Perez, Josh's controlling girlfriend and Rebecca's rival for Josh's affections. She initially had a strong resistance to forming relationships with women, as she saw them as competition, making her socially inept and disliked among her female peers. She feels unfulfilled and unsatisfied with her life after having devoted 15 years of her life to her relationship with Josh. A recurring gag in the show is that Valencia is believed to suffer from insecurities over her body image. In season 2, Valencia is no longer Josh's girlfriend and is befriended by Rebecca. It has recently been developed that Valencia is bisexual and she is now dating a woman named Beth. They are in a party planning business together. (recurring, season 1; main, seasons 2--present)
- David Hull as Josh Wilson, Josh Chan's Caucasian friend, usually referred to as "White Josh" or "Whi-Jo", a laid back surf-casual fitness instructor. He begins dating Darryl after the latter comes out as bisexual. Josh Wilson tends to be judgmental yet is one of the most level-headed, rational characters in his social sphere. He and Darryl break up over Darryls desire to have a baby, but stay on friendly terms. (recurring, seasons 1-2; main, seasons 3--present)
- Scott Michael Foster as Nathaniel Plimpton III, a successful lawyer and Rebecca's new boss in season 2 after he buys equity in Whitefeather & Associates. He and Rebecca have a complicated relationship due to mutual dislike yet intense physical attraction to one other, and explore a relationship through part of season 3. He possesses an inferiority complex, feeling that he needs to live up to his father's expectations; he tends to become self-loathing and defeatist when he fails to do so. Nathaniel is somewhat sociopathic because he initially didn't have any qualms about doing things that would be deemed by most as evil such as when he almost had Josh's grandfather 'lolo" killed. (recurring, season 2; main, seasons 3--present)
- Notes
Recurring
Secondary Cast
- Erick Lopez as Hector, a randy and occasionally oblivious friend of Josh and Greg. He still lives with his mother, with whom he has an unusually close relationship. He is currently Heather's boyfriend. Hector has come to realize his co-dependent relationship with his mother was unhealthy and had moved out.
- Tovah Feldshuh as Naomi Bunch, Rebecca's divorced, controlling, and overbearing Jewish mother.
- Steve Monroe as Scott Proctor, Paula's husband. They begin to address their marital problems when he is roped into Paula's scheming. He confesses to cheating on Paula in season 2. A recurring gag in the show is that Scott and Paula are neglectful parents.
- Gina Gallego as Mrs. Hernandez, the communications director at Whitefeather. Although mute for all of season 1, she finally speaks in "Who Is Josh's Soup Fairy?". She generally dislikes Rebecca and disapproves of her life choices.
- Rene Gube as Father Joseph, also known as Father Brah, a laid-back young priest who is Josh's childhood friend and confidant. He's shown to occasionally indulge in un-priestly behavior, including smoking marijuana and gambling.
- Amy Hill as Lourdes Chan, Josh's mother who is openly critical of Valenica throughout the series, and very fond of Rebecca, even after she and Josh break up.
- Johnny Ray Meeks as Kevin, Greg's overly accommodating boss.
- Michael Hyatt as Dr. Noelle Akopian, Rebecca's straight-laced and perpetually frustrated psychiatrist. Rebecca imagines a more vibrant version of Dr. Akopian giving her advice. Her husband Dr. Davit Akopian (portrayed by Piter Marek) who also is a psychiatrist took over for her temporarily when she was away and acted as Darryl's and White Josh's relationship counselor in the season 3 premiere episode "Josh's Ex-Girlfriend Wants Revenge".
- Jay Hayden as Dr. Daniel Shin, Rebecca's new doctor. (season 3)
- Michael McMillian as Tim, he and his friend Jim are staffers at Whitefeather & Associates who were initially antagonistic toward Rebecca and Paula. He unwillingly became friends with Paula after she promised not deport him to his home country of Canada because he's an illegal immigrant. He is one of Paula's favorite people to pick on whether intentional or not.
- Paul Welsh as Trent Maddock, Rebecca's old Harvard classmate who has an obsessive crush on her.
- Stephnie Weir as Karen, Rebecca's co-worker with off-putting personality quirks, including a tendency for giving away too much information. (seasons 1-2)
- Danny Jolles as George, an employee that works at Whitefeather & Associates, though none of his co-workers know his name. Beginning in season 3 he has become friends with Nathaniel.
- Esther Povitsky as Maya, the millennial administrative assistant at Whitefeather & Associates who is a close friend of Darryl's.
- Burl Moseley as Jim, he and his friend Tim are staffers at Whitefeather & Associates who were initially antagonistic toward Rebecca and Paula.
- Jacob Guenther as Chris, a young boy who is Greg's friend and who also frequents Home Base, the bar where Greg worked and, eventually, Heather works and where Josh's gang frequents, offering precocious commentary.
- Zayne Emory (season 1 and season 3) and Elijah Nelson (season 2) as Brendan Proctor, Paula's and Scott's oldest son.
- Steele Stebbins as Tommy Proctor, Paula's and Scott's youngest son.
- Olivia Edward as Madison Whitefeather, Darryl's daughter from his previous marriage. She has her own YouTube page where she showcases her pet snails that she often names after figures in popular culture. She is fond of her father's boyfriend, White Josh.
- Ava Acres as Young Rebecca, shown in flashbacks that detail the origins of Rebecca's various neuroses. (seasons 1,3)
- Emma Willmann as Beth, she is currently Valencia's girlfriend and they are in business together.
Other recurring characters
- John Allen Nelson (Jay Huguley in "I Hope Josh Comes to My Party!") as Silas Bunch, Rebecca's estranged father who left her after a heated argument with Naomi. She briefly visits his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but is brought back home by Naomi, at Silas' suggestion. He ultimately comes to West Covina for the wedding of Rebecca and Josh. (seasons 1-2)
- Robin Thomas as Marco Serrano, Greg's father.
- Rachel Grate as Audra Levine, Rebecca's longtime rival who has replaced her at her old firm.
- Eugene Cordero as Alex, Josh's boss.
- Alberto Issac as Joseph Chan, Josh's father.
- Tess Paras and Coryn Mabalot as Jayma and Jastenity Chan, Josh's sisters. (seasons 1-2)
- Benjamin Siemon as Brody, a grocery clerk with half an eyelid. (seasons 1,3)
- Hunter Stiebel as Marty, a white grocery clerk with an afro. (seasons 1,3)
- Michael Hitchcock as Bert (seasons 1,3)
- Allison Dunbar as Stacy Whitefeather, she is Darryl's ex wife and apparently isn't a very nice person. (seasons 1,3)
- David Grant Wright as Nathaniel Plimpton II, Nathaniel's father (season 2-present)
- Parvesh Cheena as Sunil Odhav, a classmate of Paula's who becomes a close friend. (season 2-present)
- Arden Belle as Lana, a member of Rebecca's outpatient BPD therapy group.
- Carrie Clifford as Clarice, a member of Rebecca's outpatient BPD therapy group.
- Craig Gellis as Rick, a member of Rebecca's outpatient BPD therapy group.
- Brittany Snow as Anna Hicks, a new love interest for Josh. (season 2)
- Cedric Yarbrough as Calvin Young, a potential client for Rebecca's law firm. He almost has an affair with Paula. (season 1)
- John Yuan and Matthew Yuan as Ben and David, twin boba stand attendants. (season 1)
Notable guest stars
- Roshon Fegan as Nguyen
- Phil McGraw as himself (seasons 1, 3)
- Amber Riley and Ricki Lake as the Dream Ghosts
- BJ Novak as himself
- Lea Salonga as Aunt Myrna, Josh's Aunt
- Patton Oswalt as Castleman, a graveyard security guard
- Patti LuPone as Rabbi Shari, Rebecca's rabbi from Scarsdale
- Seth Green as Patrick, a delivery guy
- Adam Kaufman as Robert Donnelly, Rebecca's former professor at Harvard, with whom she had an affair
- Josh Groban as himself
- Bayne Gibby as Cornelia, Rebecca's replacement at Whitefeather
Episodes
Production
Development
The series was originally developed for Showtime, and a pilot was produced, but Showtime opted not to proceed with it on February 9, 2015. The CW picked up the series on May 7, 2015, for the Fall 2015-2016 season. The series has been extensively reworked for The CW, expanding the show format from a half-hour to a full hour and adjusting the content for broadcast television, as the original pilot was produced for premium cable. This included omitting that Rebecca had obtained an abortion before the show. On October 5, 2015, shortly before the series premiere, The CW placed an order of five additional scripts. On November 23, 2015, the CW ordered another five episodes, raising the total for season 1 to 18. On March 11, 2016, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was renewed for a second season, along with eleven other CW series. The second season commenced on October 21, 2016. The second season is shown in the UK on Netflix with episodes available the Saturday after the U.S. airdate. On January 8, 2017, The CW renewed the series for a third season, which premiered on October 13, 2017.
Casting
On September 30, 2014, Santino Fontana, Donna Lynne Champlin, Vincent Rodriguez III and Michael McDonald joined Rachel Bloom in the series regular cast. With the move to The CW, the series went through casting changes and McDonald departed the cast. Shortly afterwards, Vella Lovell and Pete Gardner were added as regulars; with Lovell in the role of Heather, Rebecca's underachieving neighbor; and Gardner replacing McDonald in the role of Darryl, Rebecca's new boss.
On May 23, 2016, it was announced that Gabrielle Ruiz, who portrays Valencia, was promoted to series regular for season two. In November 2016, it was announced that Santino Fontana would be departing the series, with episode four of the second season resulting as his last as a series regular.
On April 5, 2017, it was announced that David Hull and Scott Michael Foster, who portray White Josh and Nathaniel respectively, were promoted to series regulars for season three.
Music
Each episode contains two to four original songs. These are usually sung by Rebecca or a character with whom she is having a direct interaction, parodying the musical theater conceit of characters bursting into song at significant moments in the plot. In "Josh Has No Idea Where I Am", it is revealed that Rebecca has these musical fantasies out of passion for her love of musical theater. In later episodes, several other characters sing while Rebecca is not present.
A few of the songs on the show are shot twice, one clean version and an explicit version. The explicit versions are posted on Bloom's YouTube channel.
"Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Original Television Soundtrack (Season 1 - Volume 1)" was released on February 19, 2016 in both explicit and clean versions. It includes all the songs from the first eight episodes of season one, alongside Bloom's a cappella rough demos of "Feeling Kinda Naughty", "I Have Friends", "Settle for Me," and "Sex with a Stranger" as well as Adam Schlesinger's demo version of "What'll It Be".
"Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Original Television Soundtrack (Season 1 - Vol. 2)" was released on May 20, 2016. It includes all the songs from the last 10 episodes of season one, as well as demos of "JAP Battle", "I Could If I Wanted To", "Women Gotta Stick Together", "Group Hang", and "You Stupid Bitch".
For season two, the songs were released as singles the day of their original airing. The full season two soundtrack came out on March 3, 2017. It featured every major song from season 2, as well as two deleted songs: "It's Not Difficult to Define Miss Deuche" and "Sex Toys," a solo for the recurring character Karen. It also included demos for "Santa Ana Winds", the theme song "I'm Just a Girl in Love", and "Rebecca's Reprise".
All songs in season 3 were released as singles following their airing. The full album has yet to be released.
Themes
Mental illness
Arguably the most important recurring theme of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is the show's portrayal of mental illness and treatment. This aspect of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has garnered wide praise both throughout the film and television industry and within the show's own fandom. Psychology Today has also acknowledged and praised this aspect of the show as well.
In addition to the psychological evaluation and development of Rebecca, other major characters are similarly depicted as suffering from psychological traumas that influence their personalities and relationships. Such characters include Valencia, Paula, Darryl, Greg, Nathaniel, Scott, and Heather.
This has also inspired the show's fandom to engage in discussions of mental illness, specifically regarding social stigmas and treatment of said illnesses.
Female sexuality and the reproductive system
Another defining feature of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is its frank portrayal of female sexuality and the reproductive system, both of which serve as sources of the show's cringe humor. In Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, both topics are largely normalized in conversation. In particular, female characters are portrayed as being sexually liberated and unashamed of their sexuality. In the episode "To Josh, with Love", characters have frank and honest discussions regarding female sexuality and clitoral stimulation.
The reproductive system is given the same treatment in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Menstruation and diseases associated with female anatomy are often discussed without judgment, evidenced best by when Paula had an abortion in the second season and her friends and family focused on the emotional impact of her decision, rather than questioning or shaming it.
Parenting
Parenting is a major theme depicted in the show, as many the personalities of several major characters are shaped by their parents' inattentive or cold, distant demeanors. In particular, Rebecca, Paula, Nathaniel, Darryl, and Greg are all affected by parents who exhibit these behaviors. Rebecca's overly critical and overbearing mother and negligent father has greatly impacted her sense of self and self esteem. In contrast, both Paula's and Nathaniel's fathers were revealed to have been emotionally abusive, resulting in both Nathaniel's inferiority complex and Paula's lack of self confidence. Greg's absentee mother after his parents' divorce resulted in him resenting her and helped Greg develop his cynical personality.
On the opposite end of this spectrum is the way Heather's parents raised her. Heather's parents were very attentive, loving and supportive to the point they coddled her and never encouraged her to make anything of herself. This ultimately resulted in Heather developing a lazy, aimless, unenthusiastic and somewhat apathetic personality, demonstrating the complexity of parenting.
Reception
Critical reception
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend has received critical acclaim, with critics praising the show's writing, musical numbers and Bloom's performance. At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the first season received an average score of 78 based on 23 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the first season a 96% positive rating, with an average rating of 7.7 out of 10 based on reviews from 49 critics, with the site's consensus stating: "Lively musical numbers and a refreshing, energetic lead, Rachel Bloom, make Crazy Ex-Girlfriend a charming, eccentric commentary on human relationships."
The second season continued to receive acclaim, with Bloom, Fontana and Champlin earning particular praise. The season holds a rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 9 out of 10 based on 13 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend remains delightfully weird, engaging, and even more courageous and confident in its sophomore outing." On Metacritic, it has a score of 86 out of 100 based on 8 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
The third season continued to receive acclaim, this season in particular was widely praised for its portrayal of mental illness. The performances of Bloom, Champlin and Foster were particularly praised. The chemistry between Gardner and Hull's characters was widely praised as well. The season holds a rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 8.6 out of 10 based on 15 reviews.
Margaret Lyons from the New York Times chose Crazy Ex-Girlfriend as one of her picks for the best TV shows of 2017. The show was also listed as one of the top shows of 2017 by numerous critics from Variety, USA Today, The A.V. Club, The Guardian, The Independent, Business Insider, Paste, The Daily Beast, NPR, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Vulture, among others. Some of the notable critics include James Poniewozik and Maureen Ryan.
Critics' year-end lists
Ratings
Accolades
References
External links
- Official website
- Crazy Ex-Girlfriend on IMDb
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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