Alternatives is the tagline to discuss entertainment outside of literature. It may encompass television, movies, games, and music.
Alternatives
Television Review –
Famous In Love (2017)
Starring: Bella Thorne, Charlie DePew, Carter Jenkins, Georgie Flores, Keith Powers, Perrey Reeves, Niki Koss
A college student’s big break in a Hollywood blockbuster leaves her navigating through an undeniable chemistry, and uncovering the truth about a missing popstar
Reaction
Yes, you saw right.
I binge-and-cringed this show in its entirety.
I blame Andrew for bringing this show to my attention.
A month ago, I couldn’t tell you what Famous in Love was about nor did I know that the source material was from a book written by Rebecca Serle. I am told from friends who have read the book (and watched the show) that the show is way different, so that could be a good thing?
All I’ll say is that the antagonist on the show isn’t any one singular character, but a kerfuffle of miscommunication and lack thereof. And conflicts that resolve in the most oddest of ways that definitely suspend belief as it looks inward at the industry, cattiness, rich people problems, and how the young adult genre is treated from a social sphere.
Also: the portrayal of college and school as an experience — and a particularly important narrative thread — is a moot point altogether.
Casting
It’s like a lesser CW Network kind of acting. Does that make any sense? Nothing standout. Very cringey but better than like…Family Channel cringe.
My main concern with the delivery of acting is why does Rainer looks so high all the damn time. It’s one thing to be the smug, teen heartthrob but his smoldering look doesn’t suit him. (I don’t know if that’s a stylistic choice by the director though.)
The silver lining to all of this is the role of Adam, played by the guy who played Jake on ScreamTV. His hipster/millenial vibes are pretty great. He’s just a rando production assistant and legitimately deserves a show on his own about fetching shit for his terrible lead actors/actresses.
SOUNDS GREAT, RIGHT?
Afterthoughts
Basically: if you need a show about humanizing rich and famous people and the industry that it is all set in, you’d probably be better off watching a Korean drama with the star-crossed-lover trope. Full stop.
Cheers,
Joey
connect:
afterthoughtAn // twitter
anotherafterthought // goodreads
picturevomit // instagram
thoughts and afterthoughts. 
LOL. Following your words of wisdom, I’ll skip this one.
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I’mma just say that if you need a New Adult version with the same kind of plot line, just watch The Arrangement instead.
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I haven’t watched that. Maybe I’ll have to check it out!
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After watching the first episode I decided not to watch it the rest, but then I found out the whole season was available on demand so I binged it. It was definitely a train wreck. Awful casting, awful acting. I read the books (the first one ended up being better than I expected, but really disliked the second one) and they are VERY different from the show so that annoyed me. I also think all the characters are way less likable on the show. Rainer especially is almost completely different.
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Someone told me the “ships” were way different in the book than the show (re: …Jordan? Was that his name LOL), and while I think they would have made things more interesting (assuming they DON’T following that route in Season 2 onward), I’m okay with the best friend dynamic too haaah. But yes, the entirety of this show was pretty bad-cringe.
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