Audiences adore singing cats, Founding Fathers and wicked witches — as long as you don't build a TV series around them. Yes, there have been successful musical-comedy series. But for every "Glee" success there are seven "Cop Rock" flops.
And yet, we keep getting song-and-dance acts like "Up Here," now streaming on Hulu, and Apple TV Plus' "Schmigadoon," which kicks off its second season Wednesday.
The attempts keep coming, in large part because Broadway's best are eager to make it big in the wider, more lucrative world of television. That's likely the motive for "Dear Evan Hansen" creator Steven Levenson and Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the team behind the "Frozen" songs. Given their past work, it's no surprise that their collaboration, "Up Here," revolves around characters trying to break out of funks.
Lindsay (Mae Whitman) was bullied in school. Miguel (Carlos Valdes) got cheated on. Those "crises" cause the two lovebirds to lean on separate teams of imaginary counselors who whisper bad advice in their ears, sometimes with a full orchestra behind them.
The eight-part series wants us rooting for romance. But the writers keep finding ways to turn down the steam heat.
A sequence that nods to the lobster scene in "Annie Hall" gets icky when the couple accidentally bake a family of rats in the stove. Their steamiest encounter takes place in a public restroom. Lindsay visits a sex club with a circus theme.
There are a few musical numbers designed to get the libido going, such as Miguel's fantasy that he's starring in a "Jailhouse Rock"-like video. But Valdes doesn't have enough of Elvis' swagger.
More often than not, we're bombarded with power ballads that don't require the stars to master choreography.
