Please Renew Speechless!
Apologies for interrupting the usual schedule of blogs. I promise Rocketman (NOT Family-friendly) is nearly finished and Aladdin (Family-friendly) notes are in place to be started ASAP, but unfortunately, this review takes precedence as it concerns a program currently on All4, but is rapidly approaching removal and I want to try to get the show renewed since its cancellation.
Before I start, watch the first 30 seconds of this video.
I asked you to do that because one of the funniest moments is the shock value of the pilot's cold opening, which I cannot find anywhere else.
Unlike my Big Bang Theory Finale review, this review concerns a relatively unknown sitcom, so it will require some describing before I publish the review.
Speechless is a fairly standard family sitcom with a small main cast. There's a mother (Maya), a father (Jimmy), 2 sons (JJ and Ray), and a daughter (Dylan). They get into various hijinks, usually involving the school that the kids go to. Pretty standard family sitcom stuff.
Oh, and the oldest kid, JJ, has Cerebral Palsy, uses an electric wheelchair and is completely nonverbal. This is where the 6th main character Kenneth comes in. He is JJ's aide (American for carer). Less standard.
Shocking statistic time!
Only 2% of characters this past TV season had disabilities (including “invisible” disabilities such as depression, anxiety, cancer, epilepsy, diabetes and autism).
- Chicago Tribune, 2018 (sorry but the link doesn't work in the UK so I've only got Mason Cook (Ray)'s word for it that that's what it says.
If Speechless is canceled, that statistic will go even lower (JJ isn't even the only disabled character in Speechless, so by my calculations, it would go down by at least 3), which is frankly atrocious.
As a nonverbal character, JJ communicates via a laser pointer attached to his glasses, which he uses to point at words, phrases, and letters on a board. But the way that Speechless portrays disability, it is only part of his character (and tbh it sometimes affects Maya more than it affects JJ)
Although the show is named after JJ's disability, that features very little, especially with the format of the show. The 6 main characters all have their own distinct personalities, and the show is very unusual in another way: The C Story.
Think of a sitcom. Think of any sitcom. Chances are, every episode will contain an A story and a B story. Each story will contain 2 or 3 of the main cast, and some other extra (sometimes recurring, sometimes one-off) characters. the 2 stories sometimes overlap or interlink, but not always. Speechless takes it a step further, by introducing a 3rd story. In theory, this should make the episode seem confusing and cluttered, but the expert writers make it seem totally natural and seamless.
Admittedly, this is not a new idea, but Speechless is (as far as I know) the first show to do it consistently (Although probably the cleverest example is still The Simpsons #SimpsonsDidIt)
The main 6 characters are usually split into pairs, and I believe that over the 63 episodes, they've done every possible combination (15, if you were wondering)
In one episode, (S3E20) (Link should work until 4 July 2019), They even break their own formula by adding a D Story! In the episode, the characters go on a road trip (inc. annual Born To Be Wild Parody tradition), but they break down, leading to them splitting up and having their own adventures.
Side note: The Born To Be Wild Parody is something that Maya and Jimmy do every time they go on a road trip. They rewrite the lyrics differently every time, always starting with
#Get your wheelchair van a-running#
#Annual DiMeo Road Trip#
On this occasion, they didn't have time to rewrite in advance because reasons, so they make it up in real time.
Just vamp, I'm nearly there!
#I wrote this in 10 seconds...#
Hilarious though this is, it's still only the second best. Sorry, but you're never going to beat Season 2's
#Vans can move fa-a-aster than people!#
This review is in a weird order, but
A) I'm writing it. What did you expect?
B) I can't think of a better order.
So! Characters:
Maya (Minnie Driver): Maya is the matriarch of the family. She is a strong believer in disability not being a limitation. She is obviously heavily based on Beverly Goldberg from The Goldbergs (Not that this is a bad thing; there's no such thing as originality, plus they take Maya even more to the extreme, which I for one did not know was possible). She is also British, which they make fun of, but not in the way you might expect. She often uses 'Britishisms', which the Americans sometimes accuse her of making up (on one occasion she admits that this is indeed the case).
Jimmy (John Ross Bowie): I briefly mentioned him in my TBBT finale review. He doesn't have the lisp he had as Kripke, which feels weird at first, but you get used to it fairly quickly. Jimmy embodies laziness and is proud of it. He also works for the TSA, although his dream is to be an architect.
Before I start, watch the first 30 seconds of this video.
I asked you to do that because one of the funniest moments is the shock value of the pilot's cold opening, which I cannot find anywhere else.
Unlike my Big Bang Theory Finale review, this review concerns a relatively unknown sitcom, so it will require some describing before I publish the review.
Speechless is a fairly standard family sitcom with a small main cast. There's a mother (Maya), a father (Jimmy), 2 sons (JJ and Ray), and a daughter (Dylan). They get into various hijinks, usually involving the school that the kids go to. Pretty standard family sitcom stuff.
Oh, and the oldest kid, JJ, has Cerebral Palsy, uses an electric wheelchair and is completely nonverbal. This is where the 6th main character Kenneth comes in. He is JJ's aide (American for carer). Less standard.
Shocking statistic time!
Only 2% of characters this past TV season had disabilities (including “invisible” disabilities such as depression, anxiety, cancer, epilepsy, diabetes and autism).
- Chicago Tribune, 2018 (sorry but the link doesn't work in the UK so I've only got Mason Cook (Ray)'s word for it that that's what it says.
If Speechless is canceled, that statistic will go even lower (JJ isn't even the only disabled character in Speechless, so by my calculations, it would go down by at least 3), which is frankly atrocious.
As a nonverbal character, JJ communicates via a laser pointer attached to his glasses, which he uses to point at words, phrases, and letters on a board. But the way that Speechless portrays disability, it is only part of his character (and tbh it sometimes affects Maya more than it affects JJ)
Although the show is named after JJ's disability, that features very little, especially with the format of the show. The 6 main characters all have their own distinct personalities, and the show is very unusual in another way: The C Story.
Think of a sitcom. Think of any sitcom. Chances are, every episode will contain an A story and a B story. Each story will contain 2 or 3 of the main cast, and some other extra (sometimes recurring, sometimes one-off) characters. the 2 stories sometimes overlap or interlink, but not always. Speechless takes it a step further, by introducing a 3rd story. In theory, this should make the episode seem confusing and cluttered, but the expert writers make it seem totally natural and seamless.
Admittedly, this is not a new idea, but Speechless is (as far as I know) the first show to do it consistently (Although probably the cleverest example is still The Simpsons #SimpsonsDidIt)
The main 6 characters are usually split into pairs, and I believe that over the 63 episodes, they've done every possible combination (15, if you were wondering)
In one episode, (S3E20) (Link should work until 4 July 2019), They even break their own formula by adding a D Story! In the episode, the characters go on a road trip (inc. annual Born To Be Wild Parody tradition), but they break down, leading to them splitting up and having their own adventures.
- Maya and Kenneth try to rewrite the 'JJ Care Manual' for a new aide to use
- Ray has become a scout in order to boost his extracurricular activities
- Jimmy and JJ are doing Father-Son bonding
- Dylan has found 2 cents which are "burning a hole in her pocket". This is a minor subplot, but the payoff is hilarious. I won't ruin it here.
Side note: The Born To Be Wild Parody is something that Maya and Jimmy do every time they go on a road trip. They rewrite the lyrics differently every time, always starting with
#Get your wheelchair van a-running#
#Annual DiMeo Road Trip#
On this occasion, they didn't have time to rewrite in advance because reasons, so they make it up in real time.
Just vamp, I'm nearly there!
#I wrote this in 10 seconds...#
Hilarious though this is, it's still only the second best. Sorry, but you're never going to beat Season 2's
#Vans can move fa-a-aster than people!#
This review is in a weird order, but
A) I'm writing it. What did you expect?
B) I can't think of a better order.
So! Characters:
Maya (Minnie Driver): Maya is the matriarch of the family. She is a strong believer in disability not being a limitation. She is obviously heavily based on Beverly Goldberg from The Goldbergs (Not that this is a bad thing; there's no such thing as originality, plus they take Maya even more to the extreme, which I for one did not know was possible). She is also British, which they make fun of, but not in the way you might expect. She often uses 'Britishisms', which the Americans sometimes accuse her of making up (on one occasion she admits that this is indeed the case).
Jimmy (John Ross Bowie): I briefly mentioned him in my TBBT finale review. He doesn't have the lisp he had as Kripke, which feels weird at first, but you get used to it fairly quickly. Jimmy embodies laziness and is proud of it. He also works for the TSA, although his dream is to be an architect.
JJ (Micah Fowler): JJ has Cerebral Palsy (CP), meaning he cannot talk or walk. Speechless is unusual in that it casts a disabled actor in the role. Micah also has CP, although to a lesser extent than JJ. I realize I keep talking about the disability, but it's hard not to. Most of season one focuses on JJ being integrated into a 'regular' school, although the school is definitely not ready for this, no matter what they say. Most of JJ's character, therefore, has to be explored in seasons two and three, including his love of film making, his first girlfriend and his applying to college.
Ray (Mason Cook): Ray is the textbook nerdy kid. He spends most of the series either doing stereotypically 'nerdy' things such as astronomy, or in pursuit of girls. Within the first episode, he meets a potential girlfriend who shares his love of astronomy, and that is one of the reasons that they stay in that house/school in the first place. Said girlfriend disappears after 4 episodes and is never seen again.
Dylan (Kyla Kenedy): Dylan is the outgoing one in the family. She is very competitive and excels in several sports, especially running, but also using trash talk to unnerve her opponents. She is also, according to her teacher, the smartest person in her class. Immediately after the teacher tells Maya and Jimmy this, this happens. Smart may be the wrong word.
Kenneth (Cedric Yarborough): Kenneth starts in the first episode as a janitor at the school. By the second episode, however, JJ has become tired of his previous aide, so Kenneth becomes JJ's full-time aide, and remains so for the rest of the show. Kenneth's role is not at all limited to that, however, and sometimes the show refers to his mysterious past, including but not limited to: his Corvette, his sisters and his 2 ex-wives. For the most part though, Kenneth serves as the foil and voice of reason to the DiMeos lifestyle (this one may require some context. Kenneth has just discovered where the DiMeos keep their WiFi router - under the sink!) At one point, he even sings a song to vent his frustration at their living situation.
There are also some side characters, each with their own interesting quirks:
Joyce: One of my favourites. Joyce is JJ's physiotherapist, but is hypersexualized and OTT in her mannerisms. "Admittedly, I'm not a licensed sex worker, but I'm not a licensed physiotherapist either."
Dr. Miller: Another favourite. Dr. Miller is the headteacher, and she is overly encourageable when it comes to accommodating JJ's needs, even though she doesn't really know what she's doing. Put simply, she is a doormat and proud of it. "Please go over my head. It's so much easier for me." The actual quote is even funnier.
Melanie Hertzal: Maya's enemy turned friend turned business partner. Maya has a list of 'Dead to Maya' items on one wall*, where Melanie's name takes pride of place. Later they come to create a business together for accessible clothing. "First of all, still not an awards ceremony, second of all, even if it was, they wouldn't be called [the palsies]"
Mr Powers: JJ's drama? Film? teacher. overzealous and is sort of like a toned down Dr. Miller.
Lee: Played by one of the show's writers, Lee serves as a sort of mentor to JJ as an independent disabled person. However, he is mainly known for one thing. Zach (the actor who plays him) also runs the Speechless podcast.
*The line on the top of the middle column is 'PIERCED ear', not 'PICKLED ear'
Warning: Unless specifically referenced above, there is no source for these quotes so they may be wrong or misworded.
Someone did a review of the pilot that makes a lot more sense than my review. Check that out, but bear in mind that my post covers all 3 seasons, but that article only covers the pilot. However, there's some more reviews here.
Speechless has been cancelled, but it might be salvageable. Please watch a couple of episodes (or at least check out the trailer) and if you like it, please sign the petition below to get it renewed. However, given what is said in this article, I can (sort of) understand ABC not picking it up again. Therefore, it is a good thing that the petition also reaches out to other networks.
Renewal:
Hulu recently tweeted asking which shows people wanted to be renewed, and people are campaigning to get Speechless back. I have read an article about why ABC cancelled it, and surprisingly I sort of agree with their decision, which is why I am glad that the two petitions are aimed at multiple other companies as well (albeit nearly all owned by The Mouse House).
On some occasions, shows are cancelled because that is the best decision creatively. Take for example the recent cancellation of The Good Place, which creator/writer/showrunner Michael Schur has made the decision to cancel after 4 series, saying:
“We don’t want to tread water just because the water is warm and pleasant,”
Because although The Good Place is another show which is much loved and definitely worth checking out (Currently on Netflix), the decision to stop was creative, rather than forced as was the case with Speechless. Therefore, there's been relatively little backlash about TGP. (Not that it's completely nonexistent)
People have asked at least one person on the creative team and he has confirmed that they would like to do more and they have more ideas. (It is also worth noting that Daniel Chun (the aforementioned tweeting writer) has writing credits for The Office AND The Simpsons, yet lists Speechless FIRST in his Twitter Bio. What does that say about his opinion of the show?
Please also check out https://twitter.com/renewspeechless and
Or, if you want official content, listen to the podcast.
Speechless is not on Netflix, and it is a paid for show on Amazon Prime, but if you are lucky enough to live in 'Murica, you can get it on abc.go.com (I assume this is free, but living in the U of K, I can't tell)
Please help to stop a little mageddon. Sign the petition and hopefully, we can get it renewed again.
Dylan (Kyla Kenedy): Dylan is the outgoing one in the family. She is very competitive and excels in several sports, especially running, but also using trash talk to unnerve her opponents. She is also, according to her teacher, the smartest person in her class. Immediately after the teacher tells Maya and Jimmy this, this happens. Smart may be the wrong word.
Kenneth (Cedric Yarborough): Kenneth starts in the first episode as a janitor at the school. By the second episode, however, JJ has become tired of his previous aide, so Kenneth becomes JJ's full-time aide, and remains so for the rest of the show. Kenneth's role is not at all limited to that, however, and sometimes the show refers to his mysterious past, including but not limited to: his Corvette, his sisters and his 2 ex-wives. For the most part though, Kenneth serves as the foil and voice of reason to the DiMeos lifestyle (this one may require some context. Kenneth has just discovered where the DiMeos keep their WiFi router - under the sink!) At one point, he even sings a song to vent his frustration at their living situation.
There are also some side characters, each with their own interesting quirks:
Joyce: One of my favourites. Joyce is JJ's physiotherapist, but is hypersexualized and OTT in her mannerisms. "Admittedly, I'm not a licensed sex worker, but I'm not a licensed physiotherapist either."
Dr. Miller: Another favourite. Dr. Miller is the headteacher, and she is overly encourageable when it comes to accommodating JJ's needs, even though she doesn't really know what she's doing. Put simply, she is a doormat and proud of it. "Please go over my head. It's so much easier for me." The actual quote is even funnier.
Melanie Hertzal: Maya's enemy turned friend turned business partner. Maya has a list of 'Dead to Maya' items on one wall*, where Melanie's name takes pride of place. Later they come to create a business together for accessible clothing. "First of all, still not an awards ceremony, second of all, even if it was, they wouldn't be called [the palsies]"
Mr Powers: JJ's drama? Film? teacher. overzealous and is sort of like a toned down Dr. Miller.
Lee: Played by one of the show's writers, Lee serves as a sort of mentor to JJ as an independent disabled person. However, he is mainly known for one thing. Zach (the actor who plays him) also runs the Speechless podcast.
*The line on the top of the middle column is 'PIERCED ear', not 'PICKLED ear'
Warning: Unless specifically referenced above, there is no source for these quotes so they may be wrong or misworded.
Someone did a review of the pilot that makes a lot more sense than my review. Check that out, but bear in mind that my post covers all 3 seasons, but that article only covers the pilot. However, there's some more reviews here.
Speechless has been cancelled, but it might be salvageable. Please watch a couple of episodes (or at least check out the trailer) and if you like it, please sign the petition below to get it renewed. However, given what is said in this article, I can (sort of) understand ABC not picking it up again. Therefore, it is a good thing that the petition also reaches out to other networks.
Renewal:
Hulu recently tweeted asking which shows people wanted to be renewed, and people are campaigning to get Speechless back. I have read an article about why ABC cancelled it, and surprisingly I sort of agree with their decision, which is why I am glad that the two petitions are aimed at multiple other companies as well (albeit nearly all owned by The Mouse House).
On some occasions, shows are cancelled because that is the best decision creatively. Take for example the recent cancellation of The Good Place, which creator/writer/showrunner Michael Schur has made the decision to cancel after 4 series, saying:
“We don’t want to tread water just because the water is warm and pleasant,”
Because although The Good Place is another show which is much loved and definitely worth checking out (Currently on Netflix), the decision to stop was creative, rather than forced as was the case with Speechless. Therefore, there's been relatively little backlash about TGP. (Not that it's completely nonexistent)
People have asked at least one person on the creative team and he has confirmed that they would like to do more and they have more ideas. (It is also worth noting that Daniel Chun (the aforementioned tweeting writer) has writing credits for The Office AND The Simpsons, yet lists Speechless FIRST in his Twitter Bio. What does that say about his opinion of the show?
Please also check out https://twitter.com/renewspeechless and
Or, if you want official content, listen to the podcast.
Speechless is not on Netflix, and it is a paid for show on Amazon Prime, but if you are lucky enough to live in 'Murica, you can get it on abc.go.com (I assume this is free, but living in the U of K, I can't tell)
Please help to stop a little mageddon. Sign the petition and hopefully, we can get it renewed again.
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