Étoile on Amazon Prime

I added it to my watchlist for the weekend. Multiple ballet-based dramas have failed. For example, I liked Flesh and Bone.

I saw the story about this on CBS Sunday morning. It looked good. That’s a bummer that it isn’t very good!

So Cheyenne is so ethical that she gets arrested for scaring the crew of a Greenpeace boat with her dedication to the cause, but essentially working for an arms dealer registers barely a protest? Perhaps the later episodes will actually expose her as a hypocrite, but if not that's just awful writing.

And the scene with Gideon Glick dancing in traffic - do writers really think scenes like that elicit anything other than an eyeroll?

On the plus side, hot guys in lycra. But not enough of them to make it worth the "OMG these people are SO CRAZEEEE!!!!" type writing.

I always find Charlotte Gainsbourg as dull as dishwater.

I'm currently watching the first episode and it's a slog. There are too many extraneous scenes that don't add to the plot and even the important scenes drag on for too long. It feels like it would have been more effective if it had been edited down to about 40 minutes instead of running for a full hour. I'm not very encouraged by the fact that many of the subsequent episodes are even longer.

I've mentioned this show to two friends who are both avid TV watchers, one of whom also loves dance, and neither of them had ever even heard of it.

I was so looking forward to this that I assumed I would binge the entire season. Not so. Made it through episode one then watched episode 2 and half of 3 later than night. I turned it off because I was bored. Yes, Robbie Fairchild is quite charming and Tiler Peck plays ditzy well. As noted above, Charlotte is just a boring actress and, this time, she's playing a boring character. The character Luke Kirby plays is so inept there is no way he would be in charge of my local Target much less a ballet company. The Gideon Glick character is obnoxious but I do love Cheyenne. And, we have Simon Callow doing his usual schtick. I'll watch the rest of it (if I made it through The Brutalist then this should be a breeze) but I'm not in any rush.

[quote]The character Luke Kirby plays is so inept there is no way he would be in charge of my local Target much less a ballet company

And not just that, but apparently a contender for the mayoralty. It's so ridiculous.

R8. Not so ridiculous.

Does Charlotte speak in her usual baby-whisper?

R10. Yup

Luke Kirby is just wrong in this. His jerky, ADHD inspired, stiltedness is off putting as mentioned above. His character has no focus nor gravitas so you are left to wonder why would people respect him enough to lead a dance company?

Amazon ordered 2 seasons. It will be interesting to see if they go through with it or pull the plug.

I seriously doubt this gets a Season 2. It would appear Amazon is dropping all the episodes at once in an attempt to burn them off. They must have had little confidence viewers would return to this total misfire week after week.

My views in my original post remain although I stuck with the Tobias/Gabin story in Paris through the finale and was glad I did. Gideon Glick’s character was extremely quirky but never obnoxious and all because Glick plays him so artfully. And Gabin is a cocky little bastard but Ivan du Pontavice is extremely appealing and makes him a three dimensional character. The ballet sequence featuring him (and the French ballet company) at the end is quite wonderful and the Tobias/Gabin “resolution” makes slogging through this thing worthwhile.

[quote] but never obnoxious

Were we watching a different show?

Hah, R15, I can see why you and others think he’s obnoxious but for me Glick plays Tobias in a way which pushes against that. He underplays dialogue which could be interpreted as obnoxious. And god knows Amy Sherman-Palladino is capable of writing obnoxious dialogue.

Yeah, I do agree that Charlotte Gainsbourg is fucking dull. Camille Cottin would have been so much more entertaining playing a variation of her character in Call My Agent!

I made it through about 20 minutes before giving up.

I'm disappointed. Are there any good shows about ballet or dance in general (like modern and jazz, not tap or ballroom)? Even documentaries would be good. I've seen The Turning Point, a couple of docs on ballet companies, even tried Bunheads. I need something with a lot of dance and a story line.

Didn't Luke Kirby get his cock out once, for his art?

This one is good, R18, though the story lines is their lives.

Oh, they're great, R20. Thanks--I'll check it out!

MOZART IN THE JUNGLE, but on tiptoes.

That’s a good comparison,R22.

My god—if homosexuals don’t like this, WHO WILL?

If you're looking for a good series on ballet check out Flesh and Bone. I loved it and it's on STARZ On Demand.

I watched the season. Was not impressed. The script was horrible and predictable. No gratuitous male nudity in a ballet series? BOO! Only character that was interesting was Cheyenne’s grumpy maman. Loved her. Enjoyed the scene in Pėre - Lachaise cemetery. And the finale was neither credible nor entertaining. There will be no season 2.

Quelle domage.

I watched a few episodes last night. Not impressed. All the lead actors are somewhere north of hammy! Can't stand the character Cheyenne, or do I hate the actor...not sure.

It sucked. The gay storyline was awful. They barely got any screen time.

I’m sure that okd French character lady is a very good actress but there was way too much of her in this. Didn’t ASP and hubby get notes from Amazon? Because if it was Netflix one of them definitely would have been “Too much of the old lady. Reduce her screen time.” She’s not what we turned to this show for, we turned to this for glamour, sex and boys in various stages of ballet dressage.

As R22 mentioned this is very similar in tone to Mozart in the Jungle. But it fails at every turn.

It’s AWFUL.

Journalist Geoff and his comedienne wife Sara destroy this show with glee on their latest podcast. Their review is in the last half hour.

Finally pulled the plug last night. The character/actress Cheyenne made it unwatchable.

The actress didn't write her own lines...

There was an opportunity here to do something really interesting and they blew it by creating these ridiculous characters. I don't think anyone involved in the creation of this show has even SEEN a ballet.

Amy Sherman-Palladino trained in classical ballet since the age of four.

r34 Whereas I agree the characters are ridiculous, I'm not sure how you get to the idea that the creators have never seen a ballet

The jokes about the torso grandma were REALLY awful. Also, Luke Whatshisname reminds me of a cross between Greg Kinnear and Lindsey Buckingham.

[quote] Journalist Geoff and his comedienne wife Sara destroy this show with glee on their latest podcast.

They also apparently hated Mrs. Maisel which, unlike this show, I actually really liked.

r32 100% agree about Cheyenne - what's with the yelling and over-acting? I may have to call the time of death on this one. Sad, because I really enjoyed the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

You wouldn’t know from this thread that the show is a comedy (if unevenly funny).

Saw first episode. I laughed twice. I liked the scene at end of episode 1 with the little girl.

R38, it was the wife Sara who hated Maisel, primarily because she’s a stand-up comic and she said in a previous podcast Rachel B was a lovely actress but not believable as a stand-up comic and Midge’s material was terrible.

Back to Ètoile-when I watched that introductory scene of Cheyenne on that shipping vessel I expected to hear “CUT!” and it would turn out that was a scene being shot for a film or TV show and it wasn’t. The set looked totally fake and the camerawork was so mannered and artsy-fartsy.

I dunno, guys, I watched the first three episodes and I quite like it. It’s amusing, I like the quirky tone, love the location scenes in New York (the pool room of the Four Seasons before it shuttered for good!)

Not sure what you all expected, my expectations were low so I’m pleasantly surprised. I mean it’s kind of a fantasy series about the ballet worlds in NY and Paris, meant to be light and glamorous like “Mrs Maisel” or “Emily in Paris” (though the humor is sharper and smarter than the latter). I’m quite happy with it. And it’s in the Prime Top Ten.

It still ain’t getting a Season 2. Jennifer Salke, who was its champion, has left the building.

Since they already ordered the second season, are they still on the hook financially even if it doesn't get made?

If it got a two season guarantee, might they not have shot both seasons back-to-back? Wouldn’t that have been cheaper?

Excruciatingly dull dialog, histrionic acting, implausible everything. I lasted 20 minutes.

I liked it a lot. Yes, the last episode is more than a little light on logic, but I was able to accept the premise and overall silliness of the show. I liked the setting in Lincoln Center, and Gideon Glick’s character’s annoying quirks. I thought the camera would pull back to reveal Cheyenne as a commercial spokesperson for some line of frozen fish.

I've never gotten into Sherman-Palladino’s other shows so don't know how true this is, but one of the reviews I read said it's basically become a thing with her that the last episode of the season goes against all the preceding episodes (as if she only realised she needed to set up situations for the next season with the last episode) and frustrates viewers and that was even more so with Étoile