I binged the first season (it has been renewed) of this series the past weekend. Full disclosure, I am a fan of musicals and have no problem with characters bursting in song to express their feelings. I can even understand that musical characters lend themselves to being exaggerated types or caricatures (as in the original GREASE). And stage productions of musicals need to GO BIG or close down (the back row must hear and feel the story). So, I’m not sure if I was being put off by bad acting or bad directing choices but I wasn’t connecting and almost didn’t make it through the past 3 episodes because the characters were getting lost in hyperbole. I needed to see heart, or some traits that would resonate or connect with me. But, I toughed it out. The vocal talents of the cast are unquestionable and the casting choices gave us beautiful harmonies. There were two stand out vocal talents for me: Ari Notartomaso (Cynthia) and Shanel Bailey (Hazel) which allowed me to get lost in their stories. Such voices! With the exception of those two characters, and a few others moments, I didn’t connect with the songs, either, and found myself fast forwarding through them, to get back to the story. I concede that it may have been my mood (I was very tired), a new disconnect with the genre, or the hunger of the moment to really connect with characters and story, but I can only give the series a 6 (fair) out of 10 (although I may revisit the songs that feature Cynthia and Hazel again). [Musical Drama] Available on Paramount+