First, let me say thank you to all of my wonderful, amazing readers. The Happily Ever Alpha: Falling for the Billionaire anthology boxed set had a terrific launch. We made it to #1 on Kobo and #4 on Barnes and Noble’s romance list. We stayed in the top 500 on Amazon with over 110 reviews in the first week. I understand we did well on Google and iTunes but I have no idea how to verify that. But overall, it was a thrilling week last week. We won’t know if we met our goal—hitting the USA Today and/or the New York Times bestseller lists—until midweek this week.
It’s agonizing! I hate waiting. The die is cast. My fellow authors and I gave it our all but there’s now nothing left to do. Waiting is tough. My concentration is low. I should be writing as I still have Abby and Shortie’s story to finish but it’s a struggle. So, instead, I binge-watched Crazy Ex Girlfriend! Now I need someone to talk to about it. Lucky you, blog readers!
Have you seen it? It’s a musical sitcom or a comedic musical about attorney Rebecca Bunch (planed by Rachel Bloom) who, after running into her summer-camp boyfriend, abandons her prestigious New York job to move to West Covina, California, which just happens to be her boyfriend’s hometown. It’s totally coincidental (not!) Once in California, she finds a job and a group of friends as she single-mindedly pursues her heart’s desire, Josh.
And interspersed in there are full-on musical production numbers with insanely clever, witty, subversive lyrics. This show is funny, smart, and has heart. It’s awesome. Seriously, I binge-watched it in less than a week. You should too! It’s got like 31 episodes total. You can do it!!
So, here’s the ex-boyfriend, All-American, bland Josh Chan (I’m not a Josh fan). He’s the object of Rebecca’s devotion. I like Josh. There’s nothing not to like about Josh, except that he’s a terrible match for super-smart, super successful Rebecca.
Here’s her fling, Greg, who happens to be Josh’s bestie. Greg (who voiced Hans in Disney’s Frozen) is smart but not driven like Rebecca. He’s snarky instead. He’s not my favorite. To quote his departure song, they are a bit of a s**tshow together. (Warning: adult lyrics ahead).
And here’s her new boss, Nathaniel, who is Draco Malfoy, if he became a California lawyer. He’s awful and vile. And I adore him. He’s as smart as Rebecca but has major daddy issues too. I totally want to see these two together for season 3. Not as an OTP but just as a train wreck worth watching!
The real OTP of the show is Rebecca’s friendship with her bestie, Paula, who becomes absorbed in Rebecca’s crazy life as a way of coping with her boredom and frustration in her own stale marriage. In the second season, Rebecca falls in with her girl squad as Paula pursues her own dream and the show handles that tension really well.
Here’s the Spice Girls send up: Friendtopia. Still makes me laugh.
There are other plot lines, including one of the best explanations of bisexuality ever and a loving relationship between two men that is pitch perfect. It’s an extremely addictive show.
When I was trying to analyze what makes the show work—because, to be clear, often the characters are not all that likable and make terrible decisions—I think there are two things: 1) Rebecca may be a total train wreck in her personal life but she’s a really awesome lawyer. We tend to root for competent people. Years ago, I wrote a vampire romance with a heroine cop who was dreadful at her job. It didn’t work for many reasons but that was one of the reasons the manuscript died on my hard drive. 2) The songs are clever, witty, and truthful. Her Sexy Getting Ready song is just one example of this. Great comedy often conveys profound truths. We learn while we laugh.
And here’s my favorite all time Crazy Ex Girlfriend song, just because 🙂
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