Report Card---"The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel"

If you don't have it, this is a reason to get Amazon Prime.
"The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" is as funny as it gets.
It is a seven hour miniseries, but I knew in the first fifteen minutes that this was something to be embraced and cherished.  I can only hope that there will at least be a second season.  I binge-watched it in one sitting.
It takes place in the late 50s.  Mr. Maisel is an aspiring comedian.  Mrs. Maisel, Miriam, is his supportive and loyal wife.  He does nothing but get up onstage and flop, using Bob Newhart's material.  He's not funny, nor will he ever be funny.
He wants to leave the Mrs. for his empty-headed secretary.  She takes this opportunity to get up on
stage and in a half drunken stupor, kill the audience.  Relentlessly hilarious.
She is finding her new life.  That's all you need to know.

On to the scoring:   

Is it interesting?

Throughly..
A+.

Compelling even?

Absolutely
A+.

Is it a story worth telling?

Totally
A+.

Is it good storytelling?

Extremely
A+.

Is it well written?

Riotously well written.  Particularly the scenes between the two fathers.  Rachael's.father, played exquisitely by Tony Shalhoub, and her husband's father riotously portrayed by Kevin Pollak
A+.

Is it well cast? Well played?

Great on all counts.
Rachael Brosnahan  Alex Borstein as her manager, both sets of parents, Jane Lynch, everyone.
A+.

Well shot?

Extremely.
A+.

Did the director put such a personal stamp on it so that no one else could have made it?

Very  much so.  She is Amy Sherman-Palladino, A force to be reckoned with.
Her father was Don Sherman, a great comic, whom I wrote a pilot with in the seventies. Using Wikipedia, I found out that Don passed away a few years ago.  She's got the genes, and the goods.
A+.

How long does it take to establish the film's locale and time period?

Immediately
A+.

Is it too long? Too short?

Could have gone on forever.
A+.

Is it believable? Do you care about the characters?.

This is the big buy you have to make.  There were no successful female comics in the 60s who didn't
indulge in some form of  deprecation.  But Rachael never does.  There was no prototype for her.
Elayne Boosler was probably the pioneer of non-deprecation.  But she didn't come along until the 70s.
Unless they claim it in the next season.  I'd prefer that they ignore the buy, and treat it as fiction.
And you care tremendously.
A.

Is it predictable?

By it's very nature, it is not.
A.

Do you think about it after you've seen it?

Often. It is just wonderful.  And they use popular music of the period perfectly.
A+.

Is it funny?

Laugh out loud in my house constantly funny.
A+.

Would it have been worth the thirteen bucks it would have cost to see it in the movies?

Worth ordering Amazon Prime funny's worth.
A+.

Is it impressive?

Incredibly.
A+

Overall grade: A+

Jews will enjoy it more than anyone else.  Non-Jews might consider converting.

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My books, "Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.,
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@comcast.net
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.

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