SCHOOL BORED
New series doesn’t quite ‘Rise’ to the dramatic occasion
THE inspirational teacher has been a staple in movies and television for decades — winning over students (and viewers) through sheer charisma.
Think charm (Sidney Poitier in “To Sir With Love”), high-minded idealism (Maggie Smith in “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie”) and passionate commitment (Matthew Morrison in “Glee”).
Josh Radnor, who plays Lou Mazzuchelli, the intended hero of NBC’s “Rise,” lacks Poitier’s suave charm, Smith’s sardonic humor or Morrison’s bright-eyed enthusiasm. His teacher is a barnstorming agent-of-change whose agenda is to elevate the lives of not only the students at Stanton High but also their parents and his colleagues. It’s a tall order and Lou is a very busy guy. Every choice he makes rubs the complacent residents of Stanton, a dying Pennsylvania steel town, the wrong way — whether it’s shelving a production of “Grease” for “Spring Awakening,” casting the school’s star football player (Damon J. Gillespie) in the lead role or bringing home a foster child (Rarmian Newton) to live with his family.
Lou is like medicine: what he proposes doesn’t go down easy, but it’s good for you.
There’s one big problem with Lou, though. Well-intentioned as he may be in the eyes of creator Jason Katims (“Friday Night
Lights”), he pushes a woman (Rosie Perez) out of a job to take over the theater department, even though he doesn’t know stage right from stage left. In the #MeToo era, this would seem to doom his prospects as the star of a new series, but Perez, perfectly cast as the feisty underdog, sticks around as his assistant director and rides Lou’s naive ass at every turn.
In the episodes made available for review, Lou faces many uphill battles to realize his ambitions. It doesn’t help that each of the students in the “Spring Awakening” company has been saddled with a “life problem.” The jock has a sick mom, the ingenue’s mom is having motel sex with the football coach and the on-his-wayout-of-the-closet theater boy has extremely conservative Catholic parents. Uh-oh.
Wouldn’t you go into the theater if you were carrying this kind of baggage? Of course you would!
This conceit is standard practice in LA writers’ rooms. The characters are kept on an uneven keel from moment to moment and soon the fun idea of kids putting on a show just for fun, or as an expression of artistic aspiration, becomes encrusted by sudsy storylines.
“Rise” could have used a bit more of “Glee’s” unabashed sunniness to cut the persistent gloom, but at least the cast is appealing.
In addition to Gillespie, there’s Auli’1 Cravalho as Lisette — the introvert whose hot-to-trot mother (Shirley Rumierk) makes married men forget their wedding vows — and Ted Sutherland as Simon, the gifted performer facing his first stage kiss with another boy.
Their understated performances are one to reason to think this show may eventually “Rise.”