Candace "Sex & The City" Bushnell's latest foray into scripted programming is called The Broadroom, a branded entertainment web series sponsored by Maybelline. I have no problem with branded entertainment - the money's got to come from somewhere and sponsors are the reason television exists in the first place, so that's not my issue with this show. I was a fan of Suave and Sprint's crowd-sourced storytelling show In The Motherhood before it up-rezzed to ABC, so there's proof that if the writing and performances are good, this kind of thing can be done well.
The problem with The Broadroom is that it's boring and not funny. While Carrie et. al. spoke to something deep in the cultural subconscious of single women on SATC, these ladies - each representative of a different all-white marketing-defined demographic - are neither zeitgeisty nor aspirational-fabulous.
With a cast including Jennie Garth, Mary McCann, Talia Balsam and Jennifer Esposito, they clearly spent a pretty penny on this show and the performances are fine (the makeup looks great), but after one episode, I don't know what the show is about, really. I applaud Maybelline's marketing department for taking a risk on this project and for attempting to tell stories that appeal to women outside the coveted 18-34 demo, but from a story perspective, I'm afraid this show has nothing to say.
For whatever dumb reason, the video is not embeddable, so if you're curious, the show can be found here.
2 comments:
In addition, "The Broadroom" is totally offensive to women who have worked so hard to be treated as professional equals to men. How terrible of Maybelline to create such an offensive online presence!
I agree, Kate - it's a miss all around!
Post a Comment