Rockville, CA: So It Begins
Rockville, CA, the new web-series from The O.C./Gossip Girl creator Josh Schwartz premiered on-line today. Four episodes are available now, and new episodes will be put up every Tuesday. You can watch them here. Or don't. Seriously, don't. This thing is really, really rough you guys.
First of all, the videos don't load. It's kind of lame to criticize a show for minor (but seriously fucking frustrating) technical difficulties, unless that show IS A WEB SHOW. There is a lot of freedom in creating content for the internet, but one thing in which there is no freedom is making sure those videos are actually watchable in the one place they exist, the internet. Buffering problems are so 1998.
But, OK, the actual show:
As the trailer suggested, this is ham-fisted teenage melo-drama featuring brief interludes from up and coming bands. And in that sense, I am not the target audience. I'm not so old that I don't recognize that the teenage melodrama of my youth was equally ham-fisted. That's one of the main qualities of teenage melodrama. But this still feels like a bad Diablo Cody parody, or like Gilmore Babies. The sharp-witted dialog a-not a-so sharp. And it's 2009, you guys. Does the smart mousy girl who wears Lisa Loeb glasses (still?!) and trades barbs with the bouncer about Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene seriously have to get passed over by the over-talkative spastic music nerd seven times before he finally notices her? We've all learned from our mistakes. Those girls are desirable now. The world may have changed, and I may can feel it in the water, but apparently the cliches are exactly the same.
And what about these up-and-coming bands? I watched all four debut episodes and if it wasn't for a handy sidebar (web 2.0) listing them, I wouldn't have any idea who they are. They play for about 30 seconds, which would be normal and expected on a TV show that is beholden to advertiser-imposed time-constraints, but this is the fucking internet. If you want to feature bands, FEATURE BANDS. Let them have their full three minutes of basically-unwatched-by-anyone CW Online fame.
But the main thing I feel in watching this new show is not the frustration of not actually being able to watch it because they don't know how to program a working video player, or cringey aversion to the meatfist dialogue, or confusion over who the band that's being given such an amazing opportunity actually is. No, the main thing I feel is a mild sadness for the actors involved. Whether you like his work or not, Josh Schwartz has been responsible for some of the more provocative and influential non-reality TV programming of the past however many years I'm not actually going to Wikipedia Josh Schwartz. So, you can only imagine the excited conversations that everyone had with their friends and parents when they landed the job, explaining why it was going to be such a big deal and such a huge break for them. I mean, work is work, and you can't begrudge them for putting food on their families (or whatever, they're all a little young. Putting food on their iPods) but I just want to take all that hope and all that promise and invest it in something that doesn't suck and that actually works right so people can even watch it in the first place.
It just goes to show you, all Josh Schwartz projects are not created equal. But we already knew that, didn't we, Chuck?
Posted by Gabe at 1:00 PM in Music Related Content, WebJunk
Tags: Josh Schwartz | Rockville, CA
The smart girl with the glasses isn't even ugly, so he logically ignores her because he is so smar that he doesn't find intelligence atractive, looks like a fun ride!
Score = 1
Awe c'mon, Chuck is fun... And Yvonne Strahovski is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. It sort of follows in the footsteps of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That's not a bad thing.
Score = 5
no chuck hating please. i'd rather watch chuck any day than the oc. it's fun, self-aware, and all-around adorable. AND the music is great, and nowhere near as hamfisted as some other schwartz shows.
Score = 1
What, the OC is fantastic.
Score = 3
Josh Schwartz prolly wrote down 'attractive but quirky teens, drama, and music' on a napkin and some CW exec ran with the idea. Does he write any of the shows he produces?
Score = 8
Chuck is honestly one of the better shows on television right now - well written and with consistently strong performances, especially from Zach Levi and Yvonne Strahovski. It probably won't get another season, but it's definitely "major Schwartz."
Score = 3
I don't understand the Chuck hate either, it feels different from other Schwartz shows in that it seems to lack the formula of high school aged kids and their out of control, privileged lives, and what not, in addition to being entertaining.
The site works for me, I just watched all of the band performances that are up (just had to sit through more fish stick ads than any person should). At the very least, at the bands were filmed well and put on some good performances.
Score = 2
I watched all 4 episodes of Rockville and my first question is: why does the roving photographer girl constantly take pics of the club employees?
Score = 5
I must concur with the Chuck love. I was trying to think of actually good network television shows for my friend without cable and beyond Gossip Girl, Lost, and 30 Rock; Chuck was the only one to come to mind.
Score = 4
I'm also a fan of Chuck. I mean, the premise of the show is ridiculous but all the characters are funny and likable, which is more than I can say for a show like Heroes, where all the character are stupid and annoying.
Score = 2
hahahhahah what up chuck fans in this thread
Score = 15
The Broken West are pretty good. They've opened for the Walkmen, the Whigs, and are currently opening for AC Newman. Seem like pretty nice guys, too. I don't know anything about the other bands. Those songs are from the new album though, and I kinda like the first one a little better.
Score = 1
Yes! from your blog to all the eyes of the guys that I like. I am a clone for the girl with glasses and not one guy comes over to talk to me or whatnot. maybe that thinking hasn't reached Los Angeles yet even though the show is in Los Angeles, A fantasy Los Angeles, most likely.
Seeing that it's a web show, I guess it didn't cut the mustard for televsion.
Score = -2
Pix please, thanx.
Score = 3
What's w/ the hate on the bands and this show? The bands are great. I just went to www.rockvilleca.com and each band has their own performance video. The Kooks rock FTW! I can't wait for the Lykke Li stuff.
Score = -4
The show lost me in EP2 with this line from the music snob dude: "THis band fucking rocks. Anybody who doesn't like this band doesn't deserve to listen to music."
He was talking about The Kooks.
Score = 6
so relieved that other people watch 'chuck.' my dirty little secret isn't so dirty after all.
Score = 1