PILOT REVIEW: Scream Queens

SCREAM QUEENS

Starring: Emma Roberts, Skyler Samuels, Lea Michele, Glen Powell, Diego Boneta, Abigail Breslin, Keke Palmer, Nasim Pedrad, Lucien Laviscount, Oliver Hudson, Billie Lourd, and Jamie Lee Curtis

Created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan
Written by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, & Ian Brennan, Directed by Ryan Murphy

THE PREMISE
Scream Queens has been quite accurately described as a slasher version of Mean Girls. Set at the fictional Wallace University, the show centers on a Kappa sorority. Their queen bee leader, Chanel (Emma Roberts) battles with Dean Cathy Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis) as a murder mystery from twenty years ago reignites with the return of the mysterious Red Devil and the killing of sorority members. Other sorority members include Chanel's minions, #5 (Abigail Breslin) and #3 (Billie Lourd). Grace Gardner (Skyler Samuels) is a new freshmen pledging because her mother was in the sorority. Other girls pledging include misfit Hester "Neckbrace" Ulrich (Lea Michele) and the brilliant Zayday (Keke Palmer). Gigi Caldwell (Nasim Pedrad) is a former sorority girl and now the chief of the sorority. Rounding out the main cast is Grace's love interest, Pete (Diego Boneta), her father, Wes (Oliver Hudson), and Chanel's boyfriend Chad (Glen Powell). The show is conceived as an anthology so theoretically next year would have an entirely different premise and group of characters.

THE REVIEW
Scream Queens is a Ryan Murphy show through and through. It is highly stylized and tongue in cheek. It's such an odd mix of things, but I think it's supposed to be. There's definitely a Mean Girls vibe throughout the entire show and then there's the whole horror angle. The thing is, they seem to be holding back ever so slightly and I don't really know why. You have a show that's just so crazy and different, yet I feel like they're almost a little too conservative at times. Some of the death scenes (and there are several in the first hour alone!) seem like they're playing it a little safe. I'm not even saying it needs to be scary because this is clearly a dark comedy. I'm just saying, they seem to be just a step shy of fully committing to being the show it so obviously wants to be.

As for the cast, they are quite promising but who knows how long any of them will be with us in a show that promises to kill off at least one character a week. Emma Roberts is an early standout in the queen bee role. From the way she talks to the way she walks, she definitely exudes the stuck-up rich and beautiful girl type. Jamie Lee Curtis is also a veteran of the horror genre and she has an interesting character that will continue to be quite key to the story. It was pretty obvious that one of the characters from the pilot was going to die before the end of the episode. My only question is, why did she feel the need to crawl to her computer instead of using her phone?

I'm curious to see what the general response is to this show and if the parade of hot young stars keeps people interested in this show. For me, I can't get past the fact that it's a Ryan Murphy show and it feels that way from start to finish. I haven't liked anything he's ever done and this isnt' an exception. It's not as preachy as Glee or as weird as American Horror Story, but it's still clearly a Murphy show. For some people, that's a positive. For me, it's a negative.

WILL I WATCH IT AGAIN?
Probably not. I'm not even paying that close attention to the second hour going on right now as I write this. Despite the fact that I don't like Ryan Murphy or horror that much, I hoped this might be fun enough for me to enjoy it. But it's not, so I don't. I do hope it gets itself a good title sequence for the rest of the season, it seems like the type of show to have one.