‘Rise,’ set in Western Pa., a so-so fill-in for ‘This Is Us’
PASADENA, Calif. — A cross between a more downbeat, grittier “Glee” and a lesser “Friday Night Lights,” NBC’s “Rise” (10 p.m. Tuesday following the season finale of “This Is Us,” WPXI) really wants to be the next touchy-feely broadcast hit. And while it’s not terrible, it’s not nearly as good as any of the TV shows mentioned above.
Set in the fictional Western Pennsylvania town of Stanton and filmed in Brooklyn, White Plains and Haverstraw, N.Y, “Rise” is the story of English teacher Lou Mazzuchelli (Josh Radnor, “Mercy Street”) who takes over the high school’s lackluster theater program from fellow teacher Tracey Wolf (Rosie Perez). He chucks her plans for another staging of “Grease” in favor of the more controversial “Spring Awakening.”
Lou makes his commitment to the theater program without telling his wife, Gail (Marley Shelton), and much to the embarrassment of his football player son, Gordy (Casey W. Johnson), who may be an alcoholic.
While “Rise” positions Lou as the hero, he comes off poorly with the job theft and unilateral decisions that impact his family. In a later episode he grabs a conductor’s baton from the orchestra instructor, a jerk move if ever there was one.
To the annoyance of philandering football coach Doug Strickland (Joe Tippett), Lou casts quarterback Robbie Thorne (Damon J. Gillespie) as his musical’s lead. (Although much of the story plays out in the school auditorium, as it did on “Glee,” characters in “Rise” do not spontaneously burst into song; they just sing in auditions and rehearsals.)
Much of the show’s focus is on the high school students coming of age, including a potentially closeted gay thespian from a conservative religious family, a trans singer who joins the drama club and the show’s spotlight operator, a homeless foster kid.
“Rise,” which moves to 9 p.m. Tuesdays with its second episode
March 20, was created by Jason Katims, previously showrunner on “Friday Night Lights” and “Parenthood.” “Rise” suffers by comparison to those series because the plotting is too often predictable and occasionally absurd — Lou thought there would be no fuss about a Western Pennsylvania public high school doing “Spring Awakening”? — and because the characters and performances are not in the same league. Josh Radnor and Marley Shelton are no Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton.
Ms. Perez, who enlivens every scene she’s in, gets the best, least obvious adult story as a teacher with no life outside of school.
“Rise” is likable enough, but through its first five episodes the show doesn’t rise above a pale analogue to shows in the family drama/ football/drama club genres that came before.
Making ‘Rise’
During the Television Critics Association winter 2018 press tour in January, Mr. Katims said “Rise” was inspired by the true story of a Levittown, Pa., drama teacher, who came out as gay. That won’t happen with TV’s Lou; other characters take on the mantle of LGBTQ representation in the series. The Pennsylvania setting remains, just moving several hundred miles west.
“I liked the idea of giving this town a history of it being a steel mill town and a lot of it was just me doing research and looking at what area it connected to,” Mr. Katims said of his choice for a Western Pennsylvania setting. “I liked that it was somewhat close to a major city but not too close so it felt like it stood on its own as a small town.”
As for the town name, Mr. Katims said he did not look at a map, see New Stanton and drop the “New,” rather, it “just came to me,” but he admits he may have been subconsciously influenced by the Scranton setting of “The Office.”
Episode two suggests “Rise’s” Stanton is 40 miles from Latrobe, where Lou grew up, and in episode four the family visits Gail’s sister and family in the Pittsburgh suburb of Sewickley Heights. (Mr. Katims was a writer on “My So-Called Life,” which was set in the fictional Pittsburgh suburb of Three Rivers.)
Another Pittsburgh connection in “Rise” is the presence of actor Carter Redwood (”The Long Road Home”), a Hill District native, CAPA Pittsburgh graduate and a 2014 grad of Carnegie Mellon University’s drama program. He has a small recurring role as a transphobic football player in two episodes beginningwith episode four.
Kept/canceled/rebooted
ABC renewed freshman hit “The Good Doctor” for a second season.
Netflix renewed “Black Mirror” for a fifth season.
Cable’s Pop greenlit a fifth season of “Schitt’s Creek.”
Nickelodeon ordered an updated version of “Blue Clues” from executive producer Angela Santomero (“Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood”) with a new, yet-to-beselected human host.
Channel surfing
Nat Geo and Nat Geo Wild will simulcast the documentary “Jane,” about primatologist Jane Goodall, at 8 p.m. Monday. … The latest PBS pledge special from Pinebased producer T.J. Lubinsky, “Doo Wop Generations,” debuts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday on WQED-TV. … The Pennsylvania Film Industry Association (PAFIA) will host a panel talk with Jonathan Starch (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”), a producer on the soon-to-film locally CBS All Access drama “$1,”2-4 p.m. Sunday upstairs at Revel + Roost, 242 Forbes Ave., Downtown. Cost is $50, which includes a one-year PAFIA membership. Current PAFIA members whose duesare paid up get in free.