Selfie is fun! It's fresh! It's new! It's exciting!.. It's cancelled :'-(

Henry Higgs (John Cho) and Eliza Dooley (Karen Gillan) take a selfie on Selfie.

One day while flipping through channels looking for something new and fresh, I stumbled upon the pilot of "Selfie," a half hour show debuting on Tuesday, September 30, 2014 on ABC. I managed to watch a few episodes here and there over the fall season as it grew on me. 

"Well, this is a hit!" I thought to myself, "It's the new Ugly Betty, but a little different."

We have the chattily charming, knows-all-the-good-gossip receptionist Charmonique (Da'Vine Joy Randolph); the extremely popular fashion forward Eliza (Karen Gillan); and instead of an "ugly Betty," we have an "ugly Henry" (John Cho) who Eliza is determined to crack free from his stoney socially awkward shell. Set in Los Angeles, Eliza and Henry work for KinderKare Pharmaceuticals under chairman Sam Saperstein (David Harewood). Eliza is a top salesperson and Henry is a marketing executive. 

The show encompasses all of the fun elements of a meaningless shallow self-contained sitcom, something of an endangered species these days in the sea of reality shows and soap operatic-like nighttime dramas. Actors parade about in a runway of fashions amidst sophisticated sets. There are plenty of references to the current affairs of the celebrity world, as well as heavy usage of real social media as characters take their own cell phone "selfies." Plots revolve around the ordinary everyday affairs most of us face in our own dreary less colorful lives, such as: the fear of speaking in public, getting shamed on social media, wanting to be promoted at work, being bold enough to ask a woman out on a date, and being smart enough to know when your boyfriend just wants you for your body. We haven't seen such fun television entertainment since Alicia Silverstone strolled on screen in "Clueless."

Interesting casting

The icing on the television cake is the excellent acting. The clever casting by Tim Payne and Lisa Ystrom of serious actors who can cross over from drama into comedy is what has created the magical chemistry that truly makes this show work. Though plots contains very light content, the show does not insult the viewer's intelligence.

To name a few: 

Karen Gillan, who previously starred as Amy Pond from 2010 to 2012 on Doctor Who, is entirely convincing as a beautifully shallow and ultra-critical social guru.

John Cho, who we've also seen recently as police officer Andy Brooks in FOX's Sleepy Hollow, plays the sadly serious straight man Henry Higgs who is in dire need of loosening up.

David Harewood, known for his role of David Estes in Homeland, is simply fun in his portrayal of the eccentric and open-minded company boss Sam Saperstein. 

Charmonique (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) gets dressed for her high school reunion with the help of Eliza (Karen Gillan). 

Da'Vine Joy Randolph is far too realistic (in a good way) as the tough-as-nails receptionist Charmonique. Randolph, unlike the others, has been pulled in from the live acting world of Broadway. She was nominated in 2012 for a Tony award for her role as Oda Mae Brown in Ghost the Musical. 

Actor Samm Levine from Freaks and Geeks plays Sam's son-in-law Terrance.

Brian Huskey, who's appeared as "that guy" in nearly everything from the serious House to the parody Children's Hospital, plays Larry, a smart business colleague.

Matty Cardarople, who I did not think I had ever seen in film before, but will now keep my eye on, is the awkward subdued assistant, Charlie. In real life, Matty is looking for a new job now that the show has been cancelled and has published an audition clip reel on twitter where he reveals himself to be the Skittles cloud petter. Ah ha! I have seen him before: Matty's reel

Selfie's premise was marketed as a modern day "My Fair Lady," with lead characters Eliza Dooley named for Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgs for Doolittle's teacher and mentor Henry Higgins. However, the show is less about the cultivation of a socially proper young lady and more about the sexual tensions between the two leads: Eliza and Henry. Other than the pilot episode, it's really more along the lines of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" as Henry attempts to teach Eliza how to care less about herself and more about others. Eliza sees him as her only true friend, and begins to fall in love, one sweet episode at a time. 

For some reason, the show was cancelled by ABC, though due to an organized fan protest, the rest of the first season will continue to air on the paid service Hulu. I hope it continues for another season or two. It's just the kind of fun and nearly meaningless clean fluff we need to relieve viewers from a difficult serious day at the office. 

Is there hope for a Selfie season 2? We shall see. If so, it will most likely appear on another network. If not, I wish all the fine actors and crew the best of luck. 

Taking on the Jazz challenge – Submit Jazz music TV performances you’ve seen here

Afro-Blue playfully attacks Sing-Off Judge Ben Folds

The Sing-Off a cappella singing competition TV show was unexpectedly amiss in controversy this year after Afro-Blue, the 9-member a cappella class-turned-performance-group from Howard University in Washington, D.C. was eliminated by the panel of expert judges on the brink of the semi-finals.

To say that viewers at home were disappointed is a bit of an understatement as social media was flooded with comments. Many of my personal friends told me that Afro-Blue was their favorite group, and although Pentatonix was my favorite by a long shot, I honestly could not understand why Afro-Blue was eliminated. America should have been given the opportunity to vote for them, perhaps allowing four groups to move forward as was done last year. They may have won, or at the very least, come in second place.

As it was, Pentatonix came in first, the Dartmouth Aires won second, and Urban Method won third after the public voted on these three choices. The public could not vote for Afro-Blue -- they were knocked out at the eleventh hour by the judges, Sara Bareilles and Ben Folds. Shawn Stockman was the only judge of the three who felt they should move forward instead.

Judge Ben Folds explained his reasoning for choosing the Dartmouth Aires over Afro-Blue in his Nov. 21, 2011 blog posted on NBC’s Sing-Off Website:

“Afro-Blue stands for excellence in music education and for the great underdog American art form of jazz. Neither of these concepts often leads to lucrative ventures and both are under-represented on TV and radio.”

Essentially, Folds was saying in so many words in his blog that he feels that Afro-Blue is not as marketable as the Dartmouth Aires. Folds confessed that Afro-Blue was his own favorite group as well and that “they were actually great TV, and they could make records. They have a charm and charisma that transcends drama and competition.” However, he felt that they simply wouldn’t make as much money as the Dartmouth Aires could with a Sony Recording contract, the grand prize in the Sing-Off a cappella competition.

I think most of us at home just figured that was a bunch of hooey.

It's not hard to tell that pop, rock, hip-hop, and country are the big money makers today. However, I feel that Folds is incorrect in claiming that jazz won't make money since he feels that by appealing to a small, elite group of intelligent listeners, it won’t sell in the big mainstream market. But, does it need to sell in the mainstream market to make money?

I’m a huge Ben Folds and Ben Folds Five fan, and I have to say, he isn’t all that mainstream himself. Survey a few friends and you’ll find maybe one in ten people, depending on their ages, who have even heard of him (you may have to sing a few bars of Brick or Rockin’ the Suburbs). However, Ben Folds made Sony Records a good deal of money. Why? Because Ben Folds fans tend to be super fans. They will buy all of his CDs and tickets to shows in their area, spend money on T-shirts and other miscellaneous swag, and invest in collectible vinyl record versions of his CDs.

I think the same could be said for jazz lovers. There’s a lot of money to be made in that market, but perhaps, as Folds expains, that market is a bit untapped at the moment. Such a shame!

Folds challenged TV viewers in his latest blog on November 28, 2011, to “Survey the year's prime time network programming and get back to me with a list of live jazz performances you saw - hell, make that ten years.”

• Live Performances – When Folds says “live,” I assume that he means actual bands playing the music, since nearly all primetime (save sports) is taped these days, and since I could probably meet this challenge in one or two weeks if I were allowed to simply list all of the jazz music tracks played in the background behind serious dramatic scenes on hit TV shows.
• Network – By network, I assume Folds means the big seven: ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, NBC, PBS and TBS, as opposed to say, BET or the Jazz channel, which would also make this challenge far too easy.
• Primetime – Folds also asks that we find these performances in prime time, which is defined by Answers.com as “The evening hours, generally between 7 and 11 P.M., when the largest television audience is available,” as opposed to late night or daytime. That eliminates the obvious: Conan, Kimmel, Letterman, Leno, Fallon, and Ferguson. It also knocks out their counterparts greeting us each morning: the Today Show, Good Morning America, the Early Show, Good Day, and CBS Sunday morning, who coincidentally featured a segment on kids dancing to a jazz band playing in the subway this past Sunday. Unfortunately, it also counts out midday talk shows, such as (The show formerly known as) Live with Regis and Kelly (since Regis “moved on” this past month) and the Ellen DeGeneres show.

Since we are currently in the midst of the Christmas holiday season, I think we can probably find a few jazz performances during prime time on major networks in the next month.

Please keep your ears and eyes peeled and get back to me if you see something worth watching. If you can, please take the time to comment here or email me at TVgrrrrl@gmail.com.

I think one possible hit might be on tonight’s Sing-Off, which will feature a few holiday favorites. If I see a version of Eartha Kitt’s Santa Baby, I’m counting that as one. The show airs tonight between 8 pm and 10 pm on NBC (WESH 2 here in Orlando, on Channel 4 and 1020 on Brighthouse Cable).

So, X-Factor, the Voice, American Idol, I hope you’re listening. Serve me up some jazz, pretty please!

We’ll keep track here in this blog and post updates to Dr. Folds, who adds in his blog:

“When I say it's a miracle that we got vocal jazz on TV, I'm speaking reality. Further, I'm not commenting on the intelligence of the viewers but instead on the tolerance, systems, research, and paradigm of reality TV… You can hide under a rock and ignore it, or you can roll up your sleeves and get inside it and try to make a change. But expect to take some knocks because reality is more complicated than reality TV.”