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shantown

shantown

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A musical romantic comedy set in New York City in the waning days of 1999. Two ordinary people fall in love and discover that the single greatest obstacle to finding happiness together might just be themselves – and the treacherous worlds of memories, obsessions, fears, and fantasies that live inside their heads.

Airing TBD on Hulu. According to the Deadline article they're currently in casting with production set to begin in the summer.

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AnimeMania

AnimeMania

Mae Whitman To Star In ‘Up Here’ Hulu Musical Series

Maewhitman.jpeg?w=681&h=383&crop=1

Mae Whitman will play Lindsay, who has spent her entire life desperately trying to live up to the good-girl persona the world seems to expect of her. But she is sick and tired of being nice and is about to leave her small life in small-town Vermont behind to move to New York City to find out who she really is, and what she really wants.

‘The Flash’ Alum Carlos Valdes to Star Opposite Mae Whitman in Hulu Musical

Carlos-Valdes-Headshot-Publicity-H-2022.

Carlos Valdes will play Miguel, who is described as sensitive and thoughtful with an artistic sensibility and romantic streak. The character has always struggled with the feeling that he doesn’t quite belong but after a cataclysmic break-up, has decided to reinvent himself and ditch a promising career as a video game concept artist for the lucrative world of investment banking as he vows to never get hurt again.

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AnimeMania

AnimeMania

Hulu Musical Series ‘Up Here’ Casts Katie Finneran, John Hodgman, Brian Stokes Mitchell & More

Katie-Finneran-Brian-Stokes-Mitchell-Joh

Katie Finneran,     Brian Stokes Mitchell,     John Hodgman

8 Episode Series

Regular Characters:

Katie Finneran as Joan, the unfailingly proper, appearance-fixated mother of Lindsay

John Hodgman as Tom, Lindsay’s danger-obsessed father and chief coroner of Chittenden County, Va.

Andréa Burns as Rosie, Miguel’s mother

Sophia Hammons as Celeste, Lindsay’s rule-following, risk averse best friend from seventh grade

Emilia Suárez as Renee, the queen bee of Miguel’s high school

Recurring Characters:

George Hampe as Ned, Lindsay’s sweet, small town Vermont pediatric dentist boyfriend

Julia McDermott as Fiona, Miguel’s sharp and acerbic video game project manager girlfriend

Scott Porter as Orson, the supremely self-confident and self-important private equity manager who destroyed Miguel’s life

Ayumi Patterson as Marta, Lindsay’s sophisticated and not entirely trustworthy New York City roommate

Brian Stokes as Ted aka Mr. McGooch, a beloved author and illustrator, whose classic children’s books were a fixture of Lindsay’s youth.

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Trini

Trini

TV Guide's TCA report, with quotes from the cast and producers: https://www.tvguide.com/news/new-hulu-shows-and-movies-january-2023/

(excerpt:)

Quote

Whitman and Valdes took the stage at the TV Critics Association press tour on Saturday, January 14 to promote the new series, and both spoke about how passionate they were about the project, despite how scary it sometimes felt. "It's so funny, because…being a child actor, going on a set, being in front of a camera, it's like no big deal, it's comfortable, never even think about it, but there's something about singing that's so vulnerable and terrifying because it's like a direct window into my soul," Whitman said. "I didn't know how to think of it as a tool…But something I've always been passionate about is doing things I haven't done before."

For Valdes, the show formed the "perfect little confluence of things and influences in my life," and also just so happened to come at a time when he really wanted a job. "I was trying to pay the bills and this project came along, and it really hit on some fundamental spots for me," he said. "I think meeting this team, and especially doing a chemistry read with Mae, I think at every step along the process, there was a sort of rightness about it. It was very easy to let go of those voices of insecurity and doubt." 

 

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Trini

Trini

(edited)
On 2/28/2023 at 1:51 PM, AnimeMania said:

 

The tone of the trailer might not necessarily be the tone of the show, but this looks as good as previous musical rom-coms I've seen, so I'm in. ... Don't have Hulu, though....

Edited by Trini
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Trini

Trini

Some quotes from the actors here: https://www.kget.com/community/ricks-reviews/up-here-reveals-mind-to-be-a-very-musical-place/

Mae Whitman talks about her role and filming and singing here: https://nypost.com/2023/03/19/mae-whitman-gets-candid-about-new-show-up-here/

More quotes about making the show from the cast and producers here: https://fantasyalpha.us/2023/03/19/broadway-talents-combine-to-create-up-here-a-tv-musical-about-relationships/

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Trini

Trini

Interview:  'Up Here's Stars and Creative Team on if Their Series Is Destined to be Hulu's New Hit'

Apprently, the soundtrack will be available the same day as the premiere, March 24.

 

And a few reviews:

'Up Here Floats By on Mae Whitman and Carlos Valdes' Musical Charms'

[mild spoilers?]'Two nerds play mind games in Hulu's musical rom-com'

'Good tunes, great actors lift Up Here'

'“Up Here” Delivers a Fun Musical Romantic-Comedy ...'

[Has spoilers>]'Voices in their heads sing, but their show ‘Up Here’ doesn’t'

[mild spoilers?]'Hulu’s Musical Series Up Here Eventually Finds Its Rhythm'

 

---

Most of the most these latest articles have a few new promo stills of the show.

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bros402

bros402

On 2/28/2023 at 2:11 PM, Trini said:

The tone of the trailer might not necessarily be the tone of the show, but this looks as good as previous musical rom-coms I've seen, so I'm in. ... Don't have Hulu, though....

It's pretty close to the tone

Also, I am probably going to be bingeing this on Friday, since I won't have time to watch it this weekend.

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Trini

Trini

Some more press:

'In Up Here, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez Were Inspired By Their Own Love Story'

Interview: 'Songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez Break Down New Music for ‘Up Here’ and Their Own ’90s Love Story'

And a few more reviews:

'Can Love Survive Hearing Voices in the Musical Rom-Com ‘Up Here’?'

'Mae Whitman and Carlos Valdes Rise Above a Middling Musical Rom-Com'

'‘Up Here’ Tells a Y2K-Era Love Story, in Song'

'Musical Series ‘Up Here’ Proves We Don’t Need a New York ‘La La Land’'

'Hulu’s Musical Rom-Com Never Lives Up to Its Pedigree'

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bros402

bros402

I just watched the first two episodes and it was fun! It doesn't fit that Zoey shaped hole in my heart, but it made me smile and I laughed a few times. The songs are okay, i'd say that so far the best song was the one at the start of episode 2 - but I think I am definitely going to have to binge this because oh my god I love the leads

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AnimeMania

AnimeMania

Up Here        March 24, 2023       Hulu     

Episodes 1-8     Titles and Descriptions    

Spoiler

S01.E01: Lindsay
When a long forgotten dream is reawakened, Lindsay decides to leave her
small life in small-town Vermont to find out who she really is and what she really wants.

S01.E02: Miguel
After an unexpected series of events leaves his plans for the future in
tatters, Miguel chases after a new dream in the high stakes world of investment banking.

S01.E03: Signs
As she takes the next steps in her creative journey, Lindsay is sent in search of answers to a vexing question, while Miguel grapples with an impossible task of his own.

S01.E04: Special
Miguel pursues a promising lead and Lindsay meets a childhood hero, as they both confront the new realities of their evolving relationship.

S01.E05: Labels
As Lindsay doubles down on her journey of self-exploration and Miguel seizes a promising opportunity, their paths unexpectedly collide at a bucolic wedding in the Hamptons.

S01.E06: Armor
Facing a potential setback at work, Miguel has to dig deep to save his job, as Lindsay struggles to find the right ending to her book.

S01.E07: Baggage
Lindsay and Miguel are forced to reckon with their pasts, and the unfinished business they thought they had left behind.

S01.E08: Y2K
With the end of the world looming, and the future of their relationship in the balance, Miguel and Lindsay find themselves facing stark choices that threaten to unravel everything they have fought for.

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SomeTameGazelle

SomeTameGazelle

(edited)

I have watched the first two episodes and my favourite characters are the leads' mothers. For the rest of it the tone is a bit too dark, earnest, and raunchy for me I think. I will probably keep watching but I don't think I can binge it.

ETA: I keep forgetting it's a period piece but even so I was utterly shocked

Spoiler

that Miguel getting around the office firewall so they could access porn didn't have any repercussions. I expected him to be fired. Maybe that could still happen? 

 

Edited by SomeTameGazelle
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bros402

bros402

I watched the first four episodes and this show is just delightful. It doesn't have the amazing music of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend or the choreography or pathos of Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, but it is just nice and comfy.

My favorite songs so far were Chapter Two and the song that started the second episode. ALso, the one at the end of the fourth episode was pretty funny.

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Guest

Guest

I’ve watched the first two episodes and I felt like it didn’t really know what it was trying to be. I get the comparisons to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist but it feels more fragmented than either of those shows. Weirdly the voices in their heads aren’t present enough many times and when they show up they can overpower the plot. It feels like three different shows that aren’t integrated well together. 

The opening number in episode 2 was the best and the first thing I loved but then it just was too big and went on for too long. 

I’m going to keep watching because I love both the leads and they were so sweet together in the end of episode 2. 

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anniebird

anniebird

Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention but in episode 7 it seems that you can go to southern Vermont, spend time in a couple of different places, and get back to NYC (by bus both ways) all in a couple of hours. Did I miss something?

 

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SomeTameGazelle

SomeTameGazelle

11 hours ago, Dani said:

I’ve watched the first two episodes and I felt like it didn’t really know what it was trying to be. I get the comparisons to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist but it feels more fragmented than either of those shows. Weirdly the voices in their heads aren’t present enough many times and when they show up they can overpower the plot. It feels like three different shows that aren’t integrated well together. 

I just finished episode 4 and it had a couple of things I did not see coming that I really enjoyed. Lindsay's writing career doesn't hold up to much scrutiny and there were no mothers, but Brian Stokes Mitchell was fun.

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SomeTameGazelle

SomeTameGazelle

(edited)
On 3/26/2023 at 9:56 AM, anniebird said:

Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention but in episode 7 it seems that you can go to southern Vermont, spend time in a couple of different places, and get back to NYC (by bus both ways) all in a couple of hours. Did I miss something?

 

There were some points where I thought perhaps they were telling the story non-chronologically in order to fill in gaps for things Lindsay had hidden from us but I think you're right and she somehow travelled from Vermont after the party had started to get there before it ended. Maybe the party started at 7pm and was continuing until the following dawn? Miguel and Lindsay seemed to be living surprisingly wild lives all things considered so why not?

I have finished the series. It had a lot of moments I really enjoyed, liked the cast very much, but I have some quibbles about the structure. I wonder how the original stage production compares. Obviously an 8 episode series must have been elongated.

ETA: I looked up some reviews of the stage show and apparently only the male lead had voices in his head, which I found interesting because this version starts with Lindsay's journey but around episode 3 or so I recall thinking that Miguel's story (aside the Finance Bros whom I still loathed at that stage) was more developed and interesting. 

 

Edited by SomeTameGazelle
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shelley1234

shelley1234

I am sucker for musical comedies. I really like Mae Whitman. So, I'm in.   

I see the comparisons to Zoey and Crazy Ex Girlfriend...cause singing and zany antics.  I love both those shows so just the inference means it has large shoes to fill.  

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bros402

bros402

10 hours ago, shelley1234 said:

I am sucker for musical comedies. I really like Mae Whitman. So, I'm in.   

I see the comparisons to Zoey and Crazy Ex Girlfriend...cause singing and zany antics.  I love both those shows so just the inference means it has large shoes to fill.  

It doesn't fill those shoes, but i love the actors.

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bros402

bros402

Okay - I just finished the season and oh my god was the finale so good. It had the best songs bar none (I laughed at one). The season (well.. probably series, if views on youtube videos with the songs are any indicator) finale was so good and it would be the perfect bow to an uneven miniseries if they didn't add a little cliffhanger.

I hope we see a season two because I think the songs would be higher quality if they write ones the quality of the one in the finale.

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MisterGlass

MisterGlass

I agree this was generally pleasant but unevenly paced, and some gratuitous bits didn't mesh with the tone.  The leads were good but I enjoyed a lot of the chorus members' moments.  This would be a decent place to end it but I will probably try out a second season if there is one.

I looked up the actor playing the wizard during the video game hallucination because he had such a striking voice, and it turns out that he has played the Phantom of the Opera and Javert in Les Mis on Broadway.

On 3/29/2023 at 6:39 PM, SomeTameGazelle said:

ETA: I looked up some reviews of the stage show and apparently only the male lead had voices in his head, which I found interesting

Interesting.  It's much better balanced this way.  I can't imagine liking Lindsay without seeing inside her thought processes.

I feel the need to mention the fun but short lived Galavant whenever discussing musical comedy series.

 

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bros402

bros402

(edited)

Honestly, it had an ending that wrapped things up. If people asked me if it ended on a cliffhanger, i'd say no - it was just a cute plot thread dangling.

Edited by bros402
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possibilities

possibilities

Watched this over the weekend, on rec from bro402. I liked it! 

I wish it was as easy to meet someone well-matched, get a job and an apartment and a publisher, in real life, but alas! If only ones inner bullshit was the sole obstacle! Her very first day in NYC and... magic! It makes sense for storytelling efficiency. I'm not complaining about the story., I'm complaining about life.

I found most of the misunderstandings and backtracks credible, except I really did think that ditching Miguel to go to VT was a bridge too far. She could have gone to VT the next day, why stand him up like that? I didn't blame him for his conclusion that she was lying (she was) and unreliable (she was) and not serious (she was serious but he wasn't irrational doubt it in that moment). And the kiss she caught him in was not anywhere near as bad as she made it out to be, after her own behavior as a lying no-show.

Setting it in 1999 seemed unnecessary. It didn't bother me, but it didn't seem to have much relevance.

I honestly thought Miguel was much less of a fuck up in the relationship than Lindsay, and I would have liked to see it be more equal, or for the show to justify her damage as much as they explained his. I think they did a good job of showing his origins and development, but only kind of glossed over how she got to be the way she was. I can infer it, but it would have been better for the show to flesh it out to the same extent they did with him.

I guess if the source material also gave him the only inner voices, it was a problem that the adaptation tried to, but didn't fully, fix.

I agree that the ending was adequate, though if they had given it another season I'd have watched. I also really appreciated that they were explicit about condoms only working 98% of the time, instead of leaving it open to interpretation that maybe they weren't using any kind of protection, or just expecting people to assume mysterious failure. The state of sex ed in the USA is such that I think most people really need to have it spelled out.

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bros402

bros402

On 2/26/2024 at 12:26 PM, possibilities said:

Watched this over the weekend, on rec from bro402. I liked it! 

I wish it was as easy to meet someone well-matched, get a job and an apartment and a publisher, in real life, but alas! If only ones inner bullshit was the sole obstacle! Her very first day in NYC and... magic! It makes sense for storytelling efficiency. I'm not complaining about the story., I'm complaining about life.

I found most of the misunderstandings and backtracks credible, except I really did think that ditching Miguel to go to VT was a bridge too far. She could have gone to VT the next day, why stand him up like that? I didn't blame him for his conclusion that she was lying (she was) and unreliable (she was) and not serious (she was serious but he wasn't irrational doubt it in that moment). And the kiss she caught him in was not anywhere near as bad as she made it out to be, after her own behavior as a lying no-show.

Setting it in 1999 seemed unnecessary. It didn't bother me, but it didn't seem to have much relevance.

I honestly thought Miguel was much less of a fuck up in the relationship than Lindsay, and I would have liked to see it be more equal, or for the show to justify her damage as much as they explained his. I think they did a good job of showing his origins and development, but only kind of glossed over how she got to be the way she was. I can infer it, but it would have been better for the show to flesh it out to the same extent they did with him.

I guess if the source material also gave him the only inner voices, it was a problem that the adaptation tried to, but didn't fully, fix.

I agree that the ending was adequate, though if they had given it another season I'd have watched. I also really appreciated that they were explicit about condoms only working 98% of the time, instead of leaving it open to interpretation that maybe they weren't using any kind of protection, or just expecting people to assume mysterious failure. The state of sex ed in the USA is such that I think most people really need to have it spelled out.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Now, what were your favorite songs?

(I would've noticed your post sooner, but I didn't notice it on the 26th, 27th, or 28th - then I was out of town for a presentation 29th-3rd!)

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possibilities

possibilities

(edited)

I don't know which songs were my favorites! I was kind of going with the flow and along for the ride with regard to that part of the show.

What I liked the most was how they showed the two of them each trying and then backing off out of insecurity. It's like one of them made a bid for closeness and the other would panic. And then vice versa. It was like the most sad and frustrating dance. But instead of it just being shown on the surface (which a lot of shows do), you saw the reasoning and the internal motives more, and what they really felt and meant. It made it less that they were toying with each other and playing power games and more that they were really trying, even when they failed.

I did get fed up near the end. Some of the messes were beyond what I could consider a mere misunderstanding or plausible goof. I was relieved when I saw either of them make a decision to not put up with those, and to require real amends. There are some times when you really shouldn't give people a pass, even if they have excuses, reasons, intentions, or other mitigating factors. 

I think in real life there are a lot of situations where people are missing each other's cues, and that's something I would like us all collectively to work on. But I also think some of us put up with way too much crap, trying way too hard to make things work that are not working. So I kind of liked that the show gave both viewpoints some air.

Edited by possibilities
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bros402

bros402

10 hours ago, possibilities said:

I don't know which songs were my favorites! I was kind of going with the flow and along for the ride with regard to that part of the show.

What I liked the most was how they showed the two of them each trying and then backing off out of insecurity. It's like one of them made a bid for closeness and the other would panic. And then vice versa. It was like the most sad and frustrating dance. But instead of it just being shown on the surface (which a lot of shows do), you saw the reasoning and the internal motives more, and what they really felt and meant. It made it less that they were toying with each other and playing power games and more that they were really trying, even when they failed.

I did get fed up near the end. Some of the messes were beyond what I could consider a mere misunderstanding or plausible goof. I was relieved when I saw either of them make a decision to not put up with those, and to require real amends. There are some times when you really shouldn't give people a pass, even if they have excuses, reasons, intentions, or other mitigating factors. 

I think in real life there are a lot of situations where people are missing each other's cues, and that's something I would like us all collectively to work on. But I also think some of us put up with way too much crap, trying way too hard to make things work that are not working. So I kind of liked that the show gave both viewpoints some air.

I did lie how we saw both of their anxieties.

One of my favorite songs had to be Chapter Two - I just liked the whole sequence (and the song was stuck in my head for a few weeks afterwards!). I also liked Can I Ever Know You? (Finale)

Maye the next musical TV show that comes out will be popular and get multiple seasons?

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