Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (TV series)

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Genre	Romantic comedy[1] Black comedy[2][3] Satire[4] Comedy-drama[5] Musical Cringe comedy[6]
Created by	Rachel Bloom Aline Brosh McKenna
Starring	Rachel Bloom Vincent Rodriguez III Santino Fontana Donna Lynne Champlin Pete Gardner Vella Lovell Gabrielle Ruiz David Hull Scott Michael Foster
Opening theme	"Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" performed by Rachel Bloom (season 1) "I'm Just a Girl in Love" performed by Rachel Bloom (season 2)
Ending theme	"Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" (instrumental, season 1) "I'm Just a Girl in Love" (instrumental, season 2)
Composer(s)	Adam Schlesinger Jerome Kurtenbach (pilot only) Frank Ciampi
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	31 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Aline Brosh McKenna Rachel Bloom Marc Webb Erin Ehrlich
Producer(s)	Sarah Caplan Rachel Specter Audrey Wauchope
Location(s)	Los Angeles, California West Covina, California
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	40–43 minutes
Production company(s)	LeanMachine webbterfuge (season 1) Black Lamb (season 2) racheldoesstuff (season 2) Warner Bros. Television CBS Television Studios
Distributor	CBS Television Distribution
Release
Original network	The CW
Original release	October 12, 2015 (2015-10-12) – present
External links
www.cwtv.com/shows/crazy-ex-girlfriend/

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is an American romantic musical comedy-drama television series which premiered on October 12, 2015, on The CW.^[7][8] The series was created by Rachel Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna, and stars Bloom in the lead role.

On March 11, 2016, The CW renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on October 21, 2016.^[9] On January 8, 2017, The CW renewed the series for a third season, which is scheduled to premiere on October 13, 2017.^[10]

Synopsis

Rebecca Bunch is a Yale- and Harvard-educated real-estate lawyer, who works for a top New York City firm. She panics when offered a partnership and bumps into Josh Chan on the street. Josh was her first love from summer camp in 2005 and she never got over the way he dumped her at the end of camp. Josh tells her he could not make it in New York City and is moving back to 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 a plane to L.A., 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, begins an on-again-off-again relationship with Josh's friend Greg, while trying to reconnect with Josh.

Cast and characters

Main

• Rachel Bloom as Rebecca Nora Bunch, a lawyer originally from New York City. Suffering from depression and anxiety and prone to impulsive decisions and delusions, she uproots her life and relocates to the suburb of West Covina, California, in an attempt to win back her ex-boyfriend Josh. Rebecca is intelligent, but often lacks awareness as to what is appropriate in a given situation and thus she is very socially awkward, is rather selfish, needy, eccentric and tends to be very delusional.^[11]
• Vincent Rodriguez III as Joshua "Josh" Felix Chan, Rebecca's caring yet unavailable ex-boyfriend and the object of her affection. Josh possesses commitment issues.
• Santino Fontana as Greg Serrano, an "angry," underachieving, bartender and Josh's best friend, who has complicated feelings for Rebecca. He departs West Covina to attend Emory University and to try to get away from his destructive and unhealthy relationship with Rebecca despite loving her deeply. In season 2 it is revealed he is an alcoholic. (seasons 1–2)^[12]
• Donna Lynne Champlin as Paula Proctor, Rebecca's co-worker and new best friend. To distract herself from her own failing marriage, she hatches schemes and gives questionable advice in support of Rebecca's pursuit of Josh mostly due to fact that originally the love in her marriage had faded and the emptiness and resentment over her lack of fulfillment for not having pursued her dreams when she was younger. She later begins to focus instead on pursuing her Law degree.
• Pete Gardner as Darryl Whitefeather, Rebecca's often clueless boss. A middle-aged divorced dad, he discovers he is bisexual and begins dating White Josh. He is prone towards feelings of loneliness and neediness over the fact that he originally lacked strong friendships and real personal connections to others. He has since formed friendships with Maya, Nathaniel, Paula, and Rebecca along with an especially strong romantic relationship with White Josh. They are also the only consistently stable romantic relationship in the show.
• Vella Lovell as Heather Davis, Rebecca's "cool" college student neighbor who gives sage advice and discovers she has feelings for Greg. She originally lacked motivation over obtaining any form of achievement or self-sufficiency due to the fact that her entire life her parents encouraged failure and coddled her even when she wanted to give up on things from learning Spanish to playing an instrument. She later starts working as the face of the "Miss Douche" feminine product and becomes Rebecca's roommate.
• 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 to women and disliked them as she originally saw them as competition for Josh's affections. Thus making her socially inept in having friendships with women. She feels very unfulfilled having devoted 15 years of her life to her relationship with Josh. 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. (recurring, season 1; main, season 2–present).^[13]
• David Hull as Josh Wilson, Josh Chan's Caucasian friend also known by the monikers "White Josh" and "Whi-Jo", a surf-casual fitness instructor. He begins dating Darryl after the latter comes out as bisexual. White Josh tends to be judgmental. (recurring, season 1–2; main, season 3^[14])
• Scott Michael Foster as Nathaniel Plimpton III, a successful lawyer and new boss for Rebecca introduced in season 2 when he buys equity in Whitefeather & Associates. He and Rebecca have admitted to being physically attracted to each other. He possesses an inferiority complex due to the fact that he feels he has to live up to his father's expectation and is very self-loathing and defeatist when he fails to do so. (recurring, season 2; main, season 3^[14])

Recurring

• Tovah Feldshuh as Naomi Bunch, Rebecca's divorced and overbearing Jewish mother.
• 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.
• 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.
• Michael Hyatt as Dr. Noelle Akopian, Rebecca's straight-laced therapist. Rebecca imagines a more vibrant version of her giving advice.
• Paul Welsh as Trent Maddock, Rebecca's old Harvard classmate who has an obsessive crush on her.
• 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.
• Jacob Guenther as Chris, a young boy who frequents Home Base, the bar where Greg and, eventually, Heather work and where Josh frequents, offering precocious commentary.
• Parvesh Cheena as Sunil Odhav, a classmate of Paula's who becomes a close friend. (season 2–present)
• Danny Jolles as George, an ex-employee at Whitefeather and Associates, but everyone keeps calling him the wrong name. (Season 2-present)
• Esther Povitsky as Maya, the millennial administrative assistant at Whitefeather. (season 2–present)
• Michael McMillian and Burl Moseley as Tim and Jim, staffers at Whitefeather who are initially antagonistic toward Rebecca.
• Stephnie Weir as Weird Karen, Rebecca's co-worker with off-putting personality quirks, including giving away too much information.
• 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.
• Cedric Yarbrough as Calvin Young, a potential client for Rebecca's law firm. He almost has an affair with Paula. (season 1)
• Ava Acres as Young Rebecca, shown in flashbacks that detail the origins of Rebecca's various neuroses.
• Johnny Ray Meeks as Kevin, Greg's overly accommodating boss.
• John Yuan and Matthew Yuan as Ben and David, twin boba stand attendants.
• Rachel Grate as Audra Levine, Rebecca's longtime rival who has replaced her at her old firm. (season 2–present)
• Hunter Stiebel as Marty, a white grocery clerk with an afro. (season 2)
• Benjamin Siemon as Brody, a grocery clerk with half an eyelid.
• 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.
• Amy Hill as Lourdes Chan, Josh's mother.
• Alberto Issac as Joseph Chan, Josh's father.
• Tess Paras and Coryn Mabalot as Jayma and Jastenity Chan, Josh's sisters.
• Steele Stebbins as Tommy Proctor, Paula's son.
• Robin Thomas as Marco Serrano, Greg's father.
• Brittany Snow as Anna Hicks, a new love interest for Josh. (season 2)

Guest stars

• Roshon Fegan as Nguyen
• 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.

Episodes

Production

The series was originally developed for Showtime, and a pilot was produced, but Showtime opted not to proceed with it on February 9, 2015.^[16] The CW picked up the series on May 7, 2015, for the Fall 2015–2016 season.^[17] 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.^[18] On October 5, 2015, shortly before the series premiere, The CW placed an order of five additional scripts.^[19] On November 23, 2015, the CW ordered another five episodes,^[20] raising the total for season 1 to 18.^[21] On March 11, 2016, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was renewed for a second season, along with eleven other CW series.^[22] 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.

Casting

On September 30, 2014, Santino Fontana, Donna Lynne Champlin, Vincent Rodriguez III and Michael McDonald joined Rachel Bloom in the series regular cast.^[23] With the move to The CW, the series went through casting changes and McDonald departed the cast.^[18] 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.^[24]

On May 23, 2016, it was announced that Gabrielle Ruiz, who portrays Valencia, was promoted to series regular for season two.^[13] 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.^[12]

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.^[14]

Music

Each episode contains two to three 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.^[25]

The first volume of the soundtrack of season one was released on February 19, 2016. 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".^[26]

Reception

Critical reception

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 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".^[27] 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."^[28]

The second season continued to receive acclaim, with Bloom 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."^[29] On Metacritic, it has a score of 86 out of 100 based on 8 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".^[30]

A critic from the New York Times chose Crazy Ex-Girlfriend as one of her picks for the best TV shows of 2017.^[31]

Ratings

Accolades

References

External links

• Official website
• Crazy Ex-Girlfriend on IMDb