Kromm August 31, 2014 Share August 31, 2014 My Fair Lady: Happy Romantic Ending Pygmalion (the play): Notorious for NOT having a Happy Romantic Ending Bets on which route Selfie takes (assuming it lasts long enough for that to even be an issue)? Link to comment
Whimsy August 31, 2014 Share August 31, 2014 Happy Romantic ending, after lots of misunderstandings. Link to comment
owlzilla August 31, 2014 Share August 31, 2014 Honestly, I would be bummed if I signed on for a RomCom that didn't have a Happy Romantic Ending. Any other kind of show and I would completely understand an argument for either a non-romantic ending or an unhappy ending period. I admit that I am one of those who generally like my comedic entertainment to be fun, not depressing so I'm not looking for extreme realism in my sitcoms. 2 Link to comment
Kromm August 31, 2014 Share August 31, 2014 Honestly, I would be bummed if I signed on for a RomCom that didn't have a Happy Romantic Ending. Any other kind of show and I would completely understand an argument for either a non-romantic ending or an unhappy ending period. I admit that I am one of those who generally like my comedic entertainment to be fun, not depressing so I'm not looking for extreme realism in my sitcoms. A: It shouldn't BE a RomCom. Pygmalion isn't. It's more of a social commentary. Link to comment
owlzilla August 31, 2014 Share August 31, 2014 A: It shouldn't BE a RomCom. Pygmalion isn't. It's more of a social commentary. I understand what you are saying and that the original source material was not meant to be as such. Regardless, when I watched the pilot, that was the general "feel" that I got from it. Obviously, this is simply my opinion and is based off of only one episode so I could just be reading it completely wrong. Even if that is the way the pilot felt, subsequent episodes could prove to be truer to the source material. Link to comment
Kromm August 31, 2014 Share August 31, 2014 I understand what you are saying and that the original source material was not meant to be as such. Regardless, when I watched the pilot, that was the general "feel" that I got from it. Obviously, this is simply my opinion and is based off of only one episode so I could just be reading it completely wrong. Even if that is the way the pilot felt, subsequent episodes could prove to be truer to the source material. I don't think we need to debate what the pilot felt like. Yes, it felt like a Rom Com. I'm not debating that at all... just saying it would be a mistake to leave the show that way. Why? Not only is it against the spirit of the original (although in the spirit of the far more popular "My Fair Lady"), but it also puts the show in this nice predictable box. All that "where will the show go" talk? I think is cemented around the idea that as a Rom Com it would be fairly predictable. Even so it definitely has to explore the theme that Eliza helps Henry as much as Henry helps her. True that would be part of the Rom Com formula, him "growing accustomed to her face", as My Fair Lady put it, but if they work at it you could subvert the formula this way too. Here's what I'd do fairly quickly (not possible in the original, but a good idea here). Have the two of them hook up fairly quickly. By the 7th or 8th episode. And illustrate just as quickly what a horrible idea them together is. In and done, so to speak. Milk it for tons of comedy, them being chalk and cheese, so to speak, but have it make Henry even more determined to change her. And forcing someone to change to suit yourself is never a great idea, on many levels, so run with that idea and that's your excuse to keep them apart. In fact, what I'd be tempted to do is have Eliza's "transformation" done by the end of season 1. All along she'll have been trying to get Henry to stop being such a stick in the mud, and I wouldn't have had her succeed at the same time he does, but bring that over to continue in Season 2. Another thing I'd do is have Henry deciding to leave this company they were both at to form his own image consulting company, and taking Eliza with him as his star pupil/example/saleswoman. There are tons of ways that could be milked. You could make it a disaster with her backsliding--have that role get her a media spotlight... thus ruining and spoiling her in all new ways. Or have it go to Henry's head and have a role reversal with that. Damn, All of these ideas STILL don't really take us past a Season 2 though, do they? 1 Link to comment
jbrecken October 16, 2014 Share October 16, 2014 I think they need to stuntcast the scenestealing character of Eliza's father, the charismatic lowbrow philosopher/garbageman. John Goodman, maybe? Link to comment
Kromm October 23, 2014 Share October 23, 2014 SO happy they seem to have developed this into a Workplace comedy. Does that have anything to do with Pygmalion? Nope. But it's been good for the show, and totally changed my ideas about what they should do to maintain the show. All the stuff I said upthread here? Forget it. Yes, at least twice they've dropped massive hint bombs of a Romance. It's going to happen. But if it's surrounded by the workplace stuff, and the now seemingly very well realized extended cast... I drop my objections to them doing that at whatever pace they want to (my original suggestion was "get it over with quickly, basically). And I take back my idea of Henry and Eliza striking out on their own with some kind of independent company to "make over" other people. Nope. Can't do that without losing this great extended cast they seem to have now. Find a way to keep it all in this building, with this cast, but DO try to find a level beyond how Henry and Eliza help each other, so that Season 2 and beyond can have some new hook. But don't go TOO far. 2 Link to comment
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