Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist 1.2: Moondance

Well, the best song in Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist 1.2 on Sunday was "Moondance" - though there was some fine singing and dancing in "I Got the Music In Me," the opening number.

But Peter Gallagher's performance of "Moondance" was just right.  And Zoey's attempt to understand what her father was trying to convey, from just making love with his wife, Zoey's mother, to recapturing the first time he told her he loved was just right, too.

As to the rest, I'd prefer more singing and less office complexity.   I mean, the ambience and the lingo in the office is cool enough, but the story of Zoey finding her footing as boss has been done countless times before.  I'd rather see Zoey find her footing on the office floor as dance floor, as she sings and moves with someone singing a great song.

That's the most interesting part of the narrative - Zoey trying to explain how she got her super power, and, as she increasingly understands it, using it in all kinds of creative and worthwhile ways, as she's beginning to do with her father.  Musicals always have to find the right balance between the music and the plot, and Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist has the additional challenge and opportunity to work in the science fictional aspect of this, too.

There is actually and always has been a special connection between music and science fiction, as in the music of the spheres.   And, consider the playlist below ...




See also Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist: Science Fiction Musical

Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist: Science Fiction Musical

Hey, my wife and I just saw and really enjoyed the first episode of Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist.  So why am I reviewing it?  Well, I love music.  I thought Smash (also on NBC a few years ago) was great, though I never reviewed it.  I did review and liked, even loved, a lot of Nashville.   And Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist is ... science fiction.  Zoey has a super-power - she can hear in the form of great songs what people around her are thinking - and there's even a scientific explanation for how she gets this power.  She's listening to a playlist of music while she's having an MRI and there's a little earthquake.  Not the most plausible science, but, in fact, more plausible than time travel, because it doesn't invoke any paradoxes.

And the music was outstanding in this hour, ranging from people in the street singing "Help" to a guy in her office singing "I Think I Love You."  You don't usually get everything from the Beatles to The Partridge Family on any other show on television that I've heard of or heard.

And the narrative has some excellent turns, too.  The best is Zoey's father, who is in some kind of catatonic state.  But he's able to sing his thoughts to Zoey, or, rather, Zoey is able to hear them in song.   I saw this coming, but it was still a tender, really beautiful interlude in the hour.

There's love, business, and other fun and more serious components to this story.  The acting is excellent - Peter Gallagher and Mary Steenburgen play Zoey's parents.  And Zoey herself is played by Jane Levy, who lights up the screen and every scene that she's in.  And the voices range from ok to really excellent,  my favorites being Simon's played and performed by John Clarence Stewart (who sang "Mad World")  and Max's played by Skyler Astin (who sang and danced "I Think I Love You").

The pilot was last week.  The show's due back in February.  I'm hooked.



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