The Return of Jezebel James

2008

Seasons & Episodes

  • 1
5.4| NA| en| More Info
Released: 14 March 2008 Ended
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Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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The Return of Jezebel James is an American situation comedy television series, starring Parker Posey as a successful children's book editor who, unable to have children herself, asks her estranged younger sister to carry her baby. The series was created by Amy Sherman-Palladino of Gilmore Girls fame, who also directed the pilot, and executive produced the show with her husband, Daniel Palladino. The show was produced by Regency Television and Dorothy Parker Drank Here Productions. The show premiered on the Fox television network on March 14, 2008 as a mid-season replacement. After airing only three episodes, it was cancelled due to what FOX called unacceptably low ratings. The remaining four unaired episodes were released on Apple iTunes on May 6, 2008.

Genre

Drama, Comedy

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The Return of Jezebel James Audience Reviews

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant
Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Charles Herold (cherold) I only watched the first episode - some people claim the show improved somewhat by the time it was canceled a couple of episodes later - but wow, that first episode was pretty disastrous.Written by Amy Sherman-Palladino, whose work on the Gilmore Girls was brilliant, and starring talented "indie queen" Parker Posey, on paper this was going to be great. But it wasn't. Posey's performance is shrill and brittle; she acts the whole episode as though she has realized she is in a bomb and hopes that if she talks loud enough and fast enough people won't notice. And while the writing isn't terrible, it's not especially funny.Which leads us to the laugh track. There is perhaps nothing so destructive to low-key witticisms than a boisterous laugh track. Sherman-Palladino is not a sitcom writer, and trying to persuade the public that she is by dropping huge laughs on every wry remark or deprecating comment just makes the show seem to be full of unfunny jokes. I had a similar reaction of Sports Night, another show where dry wit combined with loud laughs created nothing but dissonance (although my reaction to that show wasn't nearly as negative as my reaction to Jezebel James).So, if Posey were calmer and the laugh track were gone, would the show have been good? Maybe. I would be curious to see Jezebel James sans laugh track with Posey replaced by, say, Lauren Graham. My gut feeling is that it still wouldn't have worked - that Amy just couldn't find the rhythm of the half-hour sitcom - but I'm not sure. All I am sure of is that the network executive who insisted the show have a laugh track should have been demoted to a janitorial position.
Emma Givens While Gilmore Girls can never be beat, it's great that Amy Sherman Palladino is still making good t.v. shows. Obviously nothing tops Lorelei and Rory's incredible personalities, so Amy seems to have incorporated some of their quirks into the characters of 'The Return of Jezebel James'. There are many similarities in the characters and relationships to those in Gilmore Girls, starting even in the second episode with the fact that Sarah is crazy about Hello Kitty. Parker Posey even looks like Lorelei. Coco is very much a Rory to Sarah. Many of the lines and situations in 'Jezebel' could very easily have been in Gilmore Girls as well.The on screen chemistry looks slightly just like that; ON SCREEN. You can tell that they are acting, unlike in Gilmore Girls where the chemistry between all of the characters seems real. The worst thing about Palladino's new show is the laugh track. It kills anything funny! I'm sure that 'The Return of Jezebel James' would be a much better t.v. show without the uncomfortable fake laughter. It's just not 'Two and a Half Men'. 'Jezebel' is meant to be in the same style as Gilmore Girls, with the viewer's laughter only. Maybe the laugh track is there to try and separate Jezebel from the Gimore's. In summary: lose the laugh track. Over all, if 'The Return of Jezebel James' becomes better over the episodes, it may be a show worth watching every once in a while. Let's give it a chance.
rlurda I'm a huge fan of Gilmore Girls and a huge part of my fanship (fandom? I'm not sure how to verbinate "being a fan of") is the dialogue: quicked-witted and intensely smart, it appealed to me on a fairly deep level. More than that, there was a real sense of character to back up not only Lorelai and Rory that made them more than just cardboard cut-out clichés. There was heart as much as there was humor so naturally I expected to find the same things in Amy Sherman-Palladino's newest show. But as anyone can attest, you can give the likes of Shakespeare to an ill-equipped actor and it will come off as clumsy. Whether or not it's the fault of Amy having phoned in a script that seems like it was culled from dropped scripts of GG, the show just doesn't work. Fact of the matter is that Parker Posey is a horrible stand-in for Lauren Graham's comedic talents and Posey seems to be overacting the material in front of her when the brilliance of AS-P's writing is that the jokes work best when the only laughing is from the viewer and not the "live studio audience". The laugh track *kills* the humor in the show.What's more is that the dynamic between Sarah (Posey) and her on-screen younger sister Coco feels like it was transplanted haphazardly from Gilmore Girls, with Coco acting the role of Rory. It's infuriating because it feels like AS-P got lazy and went for the cheap laugh. I rate this show poorly because I feel that Amy Sherman-Palladino had the chance to follow up the six years of Gilmore Girls she was present for with another hit and that instead she delivered a thinly veiled insult to television audiences en masse.
yossarian100 Finally, Amy Sherman returns. Not since Gilmore Girls have I enjoyed so much snappy and witty dialog. Talented actors must have a ball doing so many high speed lines, I'm sure it's a challenge, and I enjoyed every minute of the first show. I can easily overlook the laugh track. Why? Because I'm laughing so hard. Seriously laughing. I'm hooked on the characters after just one show and I can't wait for the next one. I'm not sure, though, if general audiences will respond well to this type of writing and performance. It's all rapid fire. If you blink, you'll miss something, and forget about getting a glass of water. Personally, I love the way Amy Sherman puts a show together and her machine gun writing style tickles me to death, so I'm hoping this show is a huge success. I'm also hoping there's enough people out there who also enjoy this type of writing. Gilmore Girls had a fairly long run so maybe this show will too.