PRIVILEGED
9 PM Tuesdays, CW
THE PREMISE: A would-be journalist takes a job as a live-in tutor for a couple of teenage girls. It’s based on a book called How to Teach Filthy Rich Girls, which sounds like the kind of book I would never read.
THE PERSONNEL: The various members of the creative team have mostly other CW credits on their resumes. It’s a very incestuous network, really. Joanna Garcia, formerly of Freaks and Geeks, plays the lead, Megan. She looks a little bit like Amy Adams, which means that I will like her. Most of the cast is young and thus, unknown to me, but I did recognize Zach from The O.C. as Michael. Anne Archer does her best to class up the joint as the family matriarch.
THE POOP: Hey, a show about wealthy young people on the CW! I know, try to rein in your shock.
Privileged is a sort of comedy-drama that in its best moments evokes memories of Gilmore Girls. Adorable people, rapid dialogue, eccentric rich people. Actually, this feels like it’s probably set somewhere in Richard and Emily Gilmore’s neighborhood. Anne Archer’s Laurel Limoges probably doesn’t have time for DAR functions, but she knows some of the same people, I can tell you that.
The pilot begins by introducing Megan Smith, a struggling writer who keeps taking jobs that are beneath her ability. After an apartment fire and losing her job, she is hired as a tutor for Rose and Sage Baker, teen children of a billionaire family. They’re raised by their grandmother, who’s much too involved with the family business to focus on them.
I suspect the Bakers are at least inspired by the Hilton sisters, but they’re sort of the way that people who are only vaguely aware of the Hiltons would picture the Hiltons — Spoiled rich girls, one of whom is actually kind of sweet. They seem to be sort of famous, but without paparazzi or sex tapes or drugs or that one wonky eye that’s really hard to look at.
Megan spends most of the episode trying to get the girls to read The Great Gatsby and stop dressing like tramps. Rose seems to like Megan, as well as having half a brain, but Sage is just awful. She comes off like one of those horrible people from The Hills, which is the last thing I want showing up on my TV.
The problem is, awful rich people are hard to make sympathetic. It’s hard to care too much about their problems, really. Sure, make them suddenly poor (and awesome), like the Bluths or don’t even concern yourselves with making them sympathetic, like the Darlings. Sage is going to be hard to care about.
Plot-wise, it’s nothing special. There is awkwardness with Megan trying to fit into the upper-class, bond with the girls, and flirt with the cute neighbor even though her best friend is totally into her. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before. Lessons are learned, Megan and the girls take two steps forward and one step back.
In terms of execution, sometimes it’s quite well done. Some of the comic relief characters are legitimately funny, Anne Archer is enjoyably flinty, and Joanna Garcia is winning. She’s really likeable and she can throw out a pop culture reference with the best of them. Just for getting Mighty Aphrodite and Spider-Man into the first episode, she’s earned my devotion. On the other hand, the Baker girls are passable at best, and the actress playing Megan’s sister is just wooden.
It’s enjoyable, and if it moves closer to Gilmore Girls territory, there could really be something good. Of course, this being the CW, there’s just as much chance that it’ll end up as One Tree Hill. It’s a decent start, though.
THE PROGNOSIS: Not bad, but I can’t commit full-time. If future plots are less formulaic, I’ll definitely check in again. If this came out a year ago, it would have gone to “Record All”, but Bionic Woman and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles taught me an important lesson about watching an entire season just because I think the female lead is really pretty.
