“ZOEY’S EXTRAORDINARY PLAYLIST,” NBC
» Zoey Clarke ( Jane Levy) is a socially awkward computer programmer living in San Francisco who one day gains the ability to hear people’s innermost thoughts and feelings expressed in big musical numbers. This power allows — well, forces — her to connect with those around her, most poignantly with her father, who’s dying of a rare degenerative brain disease called progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). It also makes a simple walk to the corner cafe end up with a horde of strangers begging Zoey for the musical favor “Help!”
The reviews:
RogerEbert.com’s Brian Tallerico finds the premise “so ludicrous that it takes an incredibly charming ensemble to pull it off,” before noting that’s exactly what the creator and producers have done. (The starry cast includes Mary Steenburgen, Peter Gallagher and Lauren Graham.) USA Today’s Kelly Lawler says, “Beyond its music, the series needs a little ‘Help’ to become great. But all signs, musical or not, indicate it will eventually get there.”
The scoop:
Creator Austin Winsberg found inspiration from the most tragic of circumstances; his own father died of PSP several years ago.
“He was a very healthy, vibrant, dynamic man who used to run up and down San Vicente [Boulevard] every morning,” Winsberg says. “In less than a year, it robbed him of all of his abilities, until he could only blink his eyes and move part of one of his hands.” Winsberg knew that someday, somehow, he would write about that time.
Meanwhile, he started working in musicals, writing the book for the Broadway show “First Date” and adapting “The Sound of Music Live!” for NBC. Then it hit him: “What if the way my dad saw the world during that time was through musical numbers? When that idea popped into my head, it brought a smile to my face and made the horror of that time feel a little bit lighter.”
And who couldn’t use that right now?