RISE — Page 4

I've watched a few episodes, it's entertaining enough to watch when you're bored. Most of the same tired cliches that have been in every teen anything from GREASE to HSM to Glee. Also has the same cliche acting that appears on a lot of network TV dramas. I really enjoy the SPRING AWAKENING performances however. The students are talented, and glory be they actually look under 25.

Realism, I think it's tough. On one hand, it's about as "realistic" as any given crime or medical drama with respect to law enforcement or medicine. But it also tries so hard for a realistic and a gritty tone that it makes the non-realism seem more heinous. It's a fantasy version pretending it's not, as opposed to Glee or HSM which are both more upfront fantasy/heightened/stylized versions.

I appreciate them trying to depict the plight of a depressed steel town. It's a reality a lot of us out in the hinterlands live with, though it too comes with a lot of cliches.

I agree with above posters who say writing it off for changing the lead to a straight man is kind of silly regarding the other decent representation elsewhere. Yea the romantic teen leads are still a hetero couple too, but what can ya do. The trans and gay representation is leagues above Glee, or a lot of other token representation you find in other teen media.

To be fair and to give credit where credit is due, ''Glee'' (2009) debuted nearly a decade ago. At the time, the teen gay role of Kurt was a big deal, and he actually became one of ''Glee's'' breakout characters. What's more, Kurt was played by an actual gay teen, Chris Colfer, who would get Emmy nominations and win a Golden Globe. Kurt's love story with Blaine (Darren Criss) was a pop-culture and LGBT milestone, and Colfer and Criss made the cover of Entertainment Weekly because of how ''Glee'' was 'leading the gay-teen revolution on TV.'' The gay representation that's on TV (and film) today owes a debt to ''Glee,'' just as ''Glee'' owes a debt to the gay representation that came before it. One of the disappointing aspects of ''Rise'' is that Simon and Jeremy seem to be a pale version of ''Klaine'' and appear to bring little new or interesting to the picture, let alone generate any enthusiasm.

Updated On: 5/15/18 at 02:26 PM

I found it often not very well done, slowly plotted, but still weirdly watchable... I am glad the network decided I should stop watching after tonight, though. The gay boy thing is so drawn out, I mean... if Sean Grandillo wants to make out with you, it's time to come out of the closet.

Miles2Go2 said: "Watching the series finale now. I’m wondering for those who read the book on which this is based, did the real director get pressured to make all these cuts to the show and did he initially make them? I’m thinking the licensing agreement wouldn’t even allow this. Also, did the director really change the show back to the original version an hour before showtime with no re-rehearsals?"



His story didn't include SA in the way it's presented here. They did, if I remember correctly DO a production of SA and Rent, as they were in the process of making the shows ready for HS usage.

Miles2Go2: ''All I Desire'' was a new song that Sheik and Sater specifically wrote for ''Rise.'' It is not a cutout or trunk song.

Shows, like ''Rent,'' offer a ''school edition'' with OK'd changes, but there's no high-school sanctioned version of ''Spring Awakening.''

NBC canceled ''Rise'' because its ratings were low and kept falling.

A week ago, I pondered on Talkin' Broadway: ''Am I too cynical to suspect that next week Lou will rebel and restore all the cuts in the show, to great acclaim from students and parents, and that Lou's ''vision'' is validated, even though he's been a first-class jerk?''

Updated On: 5/15/18 at 11:15 PM

TVLine: 'Rise' Finale Recap: Drama Goes Out on a Low Note

https://tvline.com/2018/05/15/rise-recap-series-finale-cancelled-ending/

Updated On: 5/16/18 at 02:02 AM

I enjoyed the sequence in episode 9 where they try out censored lyrics to Spring Awakening. I know teachers who've had to pull last minute stunts like this. I could have watched an entire episode of this. I ended up fast forwarding past all the family soap opera drama.

everythingtaboo said: "A lot of people wrote off the show because of the so-called straight-washing of the main character, but it better served the needs of the show. Also, those people missed out on missed out on plenty of other LGBT representation, the openly gay kid, the trans kid, and the closeted gay kid with his possibly also closeted dad."

So-called? Really? It's flat out straightwashing. Period. And quite frankly, I'm sick of LGBT characters always getting pushed to the sidelines in secondary/minor roles. Michael's storyline ended up being about this random pregnant girl, Jeremy barely had any lines or screen time, and Simon's role should have been bigger. They had a great opportunity to have the main character as gay, his spouse could have easily been a husband, and the story would still be the same. But no, the showrunners decided to cater to straight white men.


Mr. Nowack said: "I agree with above posters who say writing it off for changing the lead to a straight man is kind of silly regarding the other decent representation elsewhere. Yea the romantic teen leads are still a hetero couple too, but what can ya do. The trans and gay representation is leagues above Glee, or a lot of other token representation you find in other teen media."

It's not "silly", it's a very valid concern, and it just makes this show look bad. There's really no excuse for straightwashing the main character. What can we do, you say? Let them know that what they did was wrong, because it was, and maybe they could have tried to make up for it. But you're telling us to just let it slide just because there's a little bit of LGBT representation, which isn't even that great compared to Glee (Kurt and Blaine pretty much stole the show from Rachel and Finn, in my opinion at least).

Updated On: 5/16/18 at 12:41 PM

''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' is in its 5th season. And NBC's Robert Greenblatt points out: ''Brooklyn is a show our company produces for Fox, so it’s a show that’s very close to us. I've been saying to certain people in the press that if we knew Andy Samberg was going to be cast in that show, we never would have sold it to Fox. We’ve been watching it closely ever since. … We jumped on it really quickly and are thrilled to have it and think it fits into our brand of comedy in many ways better than it fit into Fox’s brand of comedy. It feels like it goes along shows like A.P. Bio, Will & Grace, Superstore, and The Good Place. … It’s also one of the few comedies in recent years that does a robust international number, and it has a syndication upside, which a lot of shows don't have anymore.''

''Rise,'' on the other hand, is a new show that often lost half of its lead-in audience from NBC's ''The Voice.'' And it wasn't doing that well with the desired demographic of adults 18-49.

As Kad noted earlier in this thread, it's telling that ''Rise'' didn't seem to catch on with the theater community either. ''Glee,'' which had its many ups and downs, made it to Season 6, and as divisive as ''Smash'' was, it had fervent fans and those who hate-watched it, and that would be good enough for a 2nd season.

Updated On: 5/16/18 at 02:41 PM

jpbran said: "perfectliar said: "jpbran said: "Kinda sad NBC is letting this one go while concurrently rescuing a show dropped by a competitor for low ratings. Rise isn’t a hit by any means but its ratings are double those of Brooklyn Nine Nine (which will probably drop even lower after the channel change-up). ??"

Untrue. Brooklyn 99's last episode this past Sunday got a 0.8 rating. Rise got a 0.7 for its finale last night.

Also, Brooklyn has a syndication deal. Rise does not."

B99's 5/13episode (according to Wikipedia) was viewed by 1.75m people. Rise's 5/8 number was 3.75m. And IF B99 had a spike last week, it was likely due to the Twitter meltdown re: its cancellation."

Ratings aren't the same as viewers. Advertisers pay for demographics, not total viewers. So even though more people may have watched Rise, the advertisers paid for the viewers in a certain age range, and Brooklyn 99 had more viewers in that range. Its current season average is 0.7 with an upward trend since coming back from hiatus in March (long before the news of its cancellation was announced). Rise's average is 0.8 with a downward trend since its premiere. More money is to be made from 99's continuation than Rise's, simple as that.

B.JAMES said: "I don't mind that they changed the main characters orientation. My own family is accepting and affirming. But I can see how it would turn a lot of people off to the show if the orientations were "shoved down their throats." I am okay with having minor LGBT roles and side stories for this type of thing because it means that people who may have normally tuned out to avoid this sort of thing can experienceit in small doses and just maybe begin to make a connection, when initially they would have avoided it all together."

No, we are past this. Glee already pushed the boundaries, and that was a long time ago. Rise could have had a gay main character, and their target audience would have been fine with that because it's 2018. So there's no excuse for straightwashing and pushing LGBT characters in minor roles; that's not fair to the community. That's why there was a huge backlash, and it sure didn't help the show.