Tell-Tale TV Series Premiere Panels: Scream Queens

We’re back with another Tell-Tale TV Series Premiere Panel, this time to discuss Scream Queens on FOX.

In the two hour premiere of Scream Queens, the Kappa Kappa Tau house opens their doors for a new rush season. The Chanels are ready to dominate another school year, but there’s this pesky red devil in the way that is going around killing people. Oh, and not to mention Dean Munsch has forced the Kappas to accept anyone who wants to pledge.

Our Panelists are:

• Allison Nichols, contributing writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Mendie Murray from Untitled TV
• Kim Rogers from Head Over Feels
• Sage Young from Head Over Feels

1. Give it to me straight, did you like the premiere?

Allison: Nope. I basically hated everyone or found them annoying. I wasn’t ever scared or amused by the devil killing people, aside from Ariana Grande aka Chanel Number 2’s murder. I went through this two hour ordeal trying to decide how I was supposed to feel about this. Was I supposed to like anyone? Was this supposed to be funny?

Kim: Nope. I will fully admit that other than the first 13 episodes of Glee that Ryan Murphy is not my jam, but I wanted to give Scream Queens a try based on the buzz.  It turns out that Ryan Murphy is still not my jam. HARD PASS.

Sage: Not at all. I admit that the trailers tricked me into thinking Scream Queens might be worth a few watches, but it turns out that Ryan Murphy is peddling the same tired jokes and toothless “subversiveness” as he always does. Can’t fool me by dressing them up differently.

Mendie: I laughed several times, but that was more because of the absurdity of it all rather than the show being funny.

2. What’s the show’s biggest problem?

Allison: No one is relatable or likable. You can’t root for anyone. I mean yes you can wish for them to die so you don’t have to see or hear from them anymore, but that’s not what draws people to TV shows. We want someone to root for or someone to believe in. There’s not really anyone. I sort of like Grace, but when she’s mainly surrounded by the insanity of the Kappa house, the Chanels and their annoyance drown her out. Then there was her romance with Pete, which just came out of nowhere. Also, there’s nothing wrong with liking pumpkin spice lattes, okay?

Kim: The biggest problem I had is that Scream Queens has ZERO heart.  Every character, save our Mary Sue (Skyler Samuels’ Grace Gardener), is a overblown cartoon.  There is no sense of reality that grounds them, nothing that makes them actual people.  Every single character in Glee was an archetype but at least there was something in each character that the audience could latch onto and identify with.  Also the actors PLAYED those characters as if they believed in them…thus the audience did too.  There is nothing like that with Scream Queens.  I felt like everyone was aware they were ridiculous and over-the-top.  Maybe that’s the point?  But why would I watch that every week?  Also there is nothing clever in how the show skewers horror movies and sororities.  If I want to watch sorority girls drawing on their pledges’ fat, I’d watch that TV movie from the 90’s with Hilary Swank and Jenna Von Oy.

Sage: Mean Girls came out more than ten years ago; pop culture has drained the well of “Queen Bees”-themed material dry. There is nothing new about the way Murphy presents the Kappa girls and their bitchiness. (Pumpkin Spice Lattes, right?? What a bitch drink. Yawn.) He did a better job skewering teen class systems in Popular, anyway. He also operates under this assumption that he can put wildly offensive words in the mouths of his characters (I’m not even going to type what Chanel Prime calls the housekeeper) and get away with it, so long as he makes it clear that those characters are bad people. Trouble is, Chanel Prime is one of the show’s villains, yes, but we spend more time with her than anyone. And through the albeit weak satire, she does become an anti-hero. So on one hand he’s glorifying the girls’ racism and homophobia by; on the other, we get a speech from the Dean saying that young women can’t complain about being objectified if they ‘objectify themselves.’ What? I have no idea what his thesis is, and even if I did, I’m sure I wouldn’t care for it.

Mendie: When your favorite character was the Red Devil, it doesn’t’ say much for the rest of the show.

3. What’s the show’s greatest strength?

Allison: Boone (Nick Jonas) sleeping with a stuffed frog. You can’t top that. I need to know if Boone named the frog or not. It’s important.

Kim: Nick Jonas is shirtless?

Sage: Mmm, yes. There were also a few standout lines that deserve homes in better scripts. And Jamie Lee Curtis is divine.

Mendie: If the idea of the show was to turn up the camp to 11 and everyone there is in on the joke, then that could end up being its greatest strength. If not, then it has none.

4. Who or what do you want to see more of?

Allison: I’d like to see more of the Kappa history to try to figure out if there was a starting point or if Chanel’s presence made things go all evil and deadly.

Kim: Even though she’s basically playing Sue Sylvester, I enjoyed Jamie Lee Curtis as Dean Munsch.  She’s the original scream queen after all.  Keke Palmer is doing the best she can playing the sassy African American woman. Because that’s still a thing in the Ryan Murphy universe.

Sage: The only emotional beat that really worked for me was the scene where Hot Dad Wes Gardner (Oliver Hudson) and his daughter Grace went through their mutually agreed upon goodbye. Grace needs grounding in a character like that; she’s grating and sanctimonious on her own. Comedy wise, it is all about Niecey Nash, who is a delight as campus security.

Mendie: I agree with Sage on the one (as I saw it anyways) emotionally grounded moment between Grace and her dad was a pretty good moment. I also enjoyed Lea Michele’s turn as Hester Ulrich. Not that I want Scream Queens to morph into The Hester Ulrich Show, but I enjoyed her nonetheless.

5. Who or what needs to go away and never come back?

Allison: The earmuffs. Listen, Chanel whatever number you are, earmuffs are not in style unless you are skiing or walking in the freezing cold. They are not a fashion piece. They make you look ridiculous. How has Chanel not burned them already?

Kim: I spent most of the premiere longing for Emma Roberts’ Chanel to die.  Sadly, she didn’t. And even though she wasn’t in it very much, I hated Lea Michele too.

Sage: So very many things, but I’m specifically calling out hazing scenes. I don’t get my jollies from watching girls be mean to each other, especially in scenes that are numbingly formulaic.

Mendie: Honestly, at this point the only character I truly liked was the Red Devil, so there you have it.

6. Favorite quote/moment from the premiere?

Allison: Aside from Boone sleeping with a frog, I enjoyed the scene where Neck Brace revealed she was like super into death and listed off a way to dispose of Chanel Number 2’s body, and then she transitioned into asking to call the Chanel’s mommy. It was one of the few scenes that actually made me laugh.

Kim: I quite enjoyed Ariana Grande’s death.  If I wasn’t so annoyed by the end of the whole episode, the end reveal would have made me want to watch more.  Sadly, I don’t care and I’ll just let Twitter spoil me as to the identity of the Devil Mask.

Sage: There were some questionable lines in it, but overall, I found the bedroom scene between Chanel’s pompous boyfriend Chad Radwell (Wes Powell) and “gay bro” Boone (Jonas) to be fairly sweet.

Mendie: The Boone reveal at the end. It was the only thing that I truly wasn’t expecting.

 

Enough about what we thought. What was your impression of the premiere? Leave us your thoughts in a comment below.

Scream Queens airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on FOX.