Quarterlife (2007–2008) User Reviews

Okay, okay, but it's GOOD boilerplate, very McWhite though

[The_Melancholic_Alcoholic · 7/10 · 4 April 2008]

While those who have seen "Once and Again", "thirtysomething", "My so-called Life", "War of the Worlds", etc etc certainly will recognize a lot of stuff, patterns and type, it surely isn't a bad show. The writing is excellent, and there are pearls of wisdom, of life's insights splattered throughout each episode. The characters are very boilerplate: There's the 'narratoress': The Geek Girl Writer (a great role by Bitsie Tulloch, who can play fragile young looking like HOT DAMN, THAT GIRL IS SO TIGHT!!) , the Golden Couple With The Cheating Husband (where Debra never had a close up in the first 30 mins, a deadly mistake. I totally cannot identify with her now), The Sensitive Creative Geek Guy, and the One-Dimensional Side Kick Geek Guy. The Beautiful Girl, (actually a good role and good acting) and The Political Dude, who's slightly ridiculous BECAUSE he protests, and of course The Prom Queen Bitch. All these roles we've seen before in any teen movie of the last ten years, especially the twenty something crowd.

And of course, the total absence of Black, Latino or Asian Characters. But I guess Marshall and Zwick didn't grow up with those kinda people, so that makes it okay? I guess they ARE liberals, Jewish or Eastern European, so THEY are ethnic enough ... :) I haven't seen all episodes, so they might pull a "Once and Again" and bring DB Woodside in the last episode, when it's clear it's gonna be canceled anyway? When will producers, writers or studios learn that the black, Asian female demographic is good for over 30 BILLION dollar of female beauty industry spending, so that writing up a Sensitive Geek Black Guy would not only be refreshing, but would bring in solid ratings as well? "Token" or not, who cares? People like to identify, or pine. And that they have money to spend .... it shuh don't hurt none, sistah! ;)

This had canceled written all over it when it was in promo!

[MsMovie · 6/10 · 21 March 2008]

Firstly, the scripting is terrible - very clichéd, very old-fashioned, not what people are looking for in their TV anymore.

Secondly, the guy from Greek (Scott something) was OK, some of the others seemed to have just phoned it in.

Thirdly, if there hadn't been a writers strike I doubt this would have made it to air at all.

Want to watch something that is about college students figuring their lives out in their early 20's? Watch Greek on ABC Family - it is back on air on March 24 2008 at 8 pm, and it's really entertaining!!! This show, on the other hand, was just unbearably painful!

Great glimpse into the world of recent grads

[aflagel · 10/10 · 12 March 2008]

While the show surely isn't about everyone, as a glimpse into what the post college graduation period is like for a large group it is very genuine. Working with thousands of such students from the start of college through graduation, I am confident that most will identify with the characters, and in fact many have already emailed me saying just that.

More importantly, the show itself is entertaining and the characters likable and engaging. Far better than most of the network fair and by far one of the sleekest productions online, the show is well worth checking out, especially if you like the dramedy category of programming.

A light character drama about learning to live in the real world

[rurounijt · 10/10 · 12 March 2008]

So I was genuinely surprised by this show. I wasn't expecting such a high quality show. Mostly because I was TOLD to not expect such a high quality show. I'm not sure why the reviewers have such a hate on for it. Maybe they can't appreciate good character dramas.

The characters are dynamic and complex, and you really get to know them throughout the course of the show. They deal with interesting subjects, like sexual identity and creatively "selling out", but not in a standard "look at us deal with problems" sort of way that is all too common in TV. They do it with tact and grace, and all the while the characters continue to surprise you. The ones you hated at first have beautifully charming moments that turn into truly redeeming traits. The "strong" character never stays the strong character. And you get this real sense that these characters could be real people somewhere in Chicago.

Given the fact that this show is TV quality and was independently funded speaks wonders about the crew that put this together, and you can tell every step of the way that this is a project that they cared about doing. It's not just about making a show, it's about artistically putting something out there that they love. And the audience can feel that. It doesn't happen too often with shows anymore, and that's too bad.

It's not the length of the course that wearies, it's the irregularly spaced hurdles

[Tabarnouche · 6 July 2008]

There are indeed a lot of good points about quarterlife: the production values, the cast. Herskovitz & Zwick let the script pander too much to stereotypes about 20-somethings, true. But individual experimentation with hedonism and perfidy as antidotes to angst is common to all civilizations in decline, and so they are not by themselves implausible enough to repel. Not right away.

I was pretty sure, in fact, that I was going to make it all the way to the last episode. I can do small doses, 3-4 mini-episodes on the web site, once every ten days or so.

Then came the Las Vegas trip. Though you don't really know where they were leaving from and thus over what period the bus-ride melodrama was spread, it didn't become unviewable until just after their arrival in the city of water-wasting consumer delusion. Even brief exposure to the desert sun can make you giddy, it seems. By the time the tribe had entered their hotel suite and parted the remote-controlled curtains over the glass wall that looked out onto the nondescript expanse of twinkling lights, they'd embraced the high-roller luxury appointments that decades of refinements to mobster taste had made a reality. (It might be well to remind ourselves here that 25 is the new 15.) Kind of makes you wonder where all that self-deprecating Weltschmerz went.

Where's Eric when we need him? He'd have reminded the gang that Vegas exists to showcase the trappings of a society that gives free reign to the very corporations that our sweet, confused, self-obsessed 20-somethings so dislike working for. Hadn't they listened to any lyrics about how showing awe only encourages them? But our quarterlifers would have laughed Eric off. Their faith in the virtue of realism (a term that now subsumes temporizing) is absolute. It is this realism that, they seem to believe, will guide them beyond the drug-induced illusions about solidarity, economic justice, activism, and the consequences of irresponsible hegemony that every Boomer ever born -- now accidental millionaires all -- so pathetically fell prey to.

As quarterlife has worn on, it has become clearer and clearer that the sequel, halflife (still lower case, but subtitled in English and dubbed in Mandarin), will show our gang grappling with the sacrifices and bitter disappointments of gaining entry to the corner offices of the thriving American subsidiaries of Shanghai-based conglomerates. From there they will be inflicting corporatism on a new and larger generation of the dispossessed. (They're the ones using public transport.)

That is, if there still *are* corporations and identifiable generations after the Implosion. The American experiment in self-determination at some point morphed into a collective desire for liberty, convenience, and the pursuit of truthiness. And the new vision hasn't been faring all that well lately.

(Q)uarterlife missed a beautiful opportunity to inspire us with a new genre. Its innovation was in offering viewers a front-row iPod seat just as the tsunami is breaking.

I second the worst show ever comment

[tanczync · 1/10 · 28 February 2008]

I find this show personally offensive. Everything about this show is so wrong about people in their mid-twenties. What I mean when I say this is that it makes everyone in their twenties look like overgrown babies. No one that I hang with that's in their twenties like me lives such a self-pitying existence. Just because there is an extremely large group of immature twenty-year olds in this country does not mean that everyone in my demographic eats ramen noodles in their underwear when they aren't moping around a disparaging office job. Why can't there ever be a show about young people that highlights another aspect of our lives besides unrequited love and trite dialogue drowning in pop culture references?

Well, we liked it

[dlfagan · 8/10 · 28 February 2008]

Purely by chance, not knowing that clips had been available on the net, my wife and I watched the broadcast premier of Quarterlife. We were just about to turn in, but flipped to a show we didn't know and gave it a chance. We're certainly not the target demographic, but as we watched the characters stumble around somewhat realistically, I decided that I liked it. My wife liked it, too, probably for different reasons. But something made me wonder how long it would take TV execs to pull the show.

As far as looks, the characters had a certain realism, not the off the street look you might have seen in "Return of the Secaucus Seven," but not the polished glamor of most TV shows, either. The two long-haired brunettes, Dylan the blogger/narrator and Debra the girlfriend were really lanky, almost anorexic. The blonde actress, Lisa, was conventionally cute and has a voice. Danny was handsome in a Matt Dillon sort-of-way, Andy was a complete geek, and Jed, the 'real' film artist was somewhere in-between.

Today's news, various on Google, are calling the pilot a failure, so I'm not sure we'll get to see that many more episodes.

Update: Quarterlife seems to have disappeared from TV, but we found it on the internet, and watched the second episode. The fallout from the Carly business struck me as very believable so far. The office meeting scenes are a bit dramatized, but still very funny.

Quarterlife searches for the Meaning of Life. Fails to find it.

[Half_the_Audience · 4/10 · 7 April 2008]

"Groundbreaking" is what the network spin-meisters are calling it. Tiresome is my name for it.

I decided it was my professional duty to check out the history-making new NBC series that originated as the first internet program supported by network production values to migrate to a network prime-time spot.

This show takes the same tread-worn dirt path that so many other television series have taken where the ooh-la-la factor comes solely from who's sleeping with who, or who wants to sleep with who, or is it whom? And coming so early in a show in which one is not yet vested, the question is who-- or whom-- cares? My gag reflex kicked in twice before the 25 minute mark from corn-ball moments like when the roomie who's lusted after from afar by her boyfriend's best friend, actually approaches the pal and kisses him for no apparent reason other than she senses his "secret." Eeewww.

Meanwhile, the girlfriend's boyfriend, one of those Ryan Reynolds look-alikes, uses quite possibly some of the cheesiest language on record in a limpid flirt-fest with the car lot salesgirl. Do guys really get laid with that approach? Gosh things have changed since I moved from the first quarter to half-time.

Wasn't that moping-slacker aspect of the Gen-Xers passé and oh so nineties? Looks like twenty-somethings are having a nostalgia-fest. Or else the show's writers are too young to have faced any actual adversity. The only real moment came when the Van Wilder-guy turned dictatorial at the commercial film shoot and the artistic guy walked off the set. (I certainly know I was ready to quit...) At least Artsy-guy wanted to create something interesting, but the guy with the money wanted an in-your-face sell job. Kinda like what this show was turning into: I was half-waiting for the Toyota spot they were shooting to be shown in its completed stage during the show in a whirl of product placement run amok.

The last 20 minutes brought only one more physical reaction, albeit a strong one. And it wasn't during the orgasm discussion. No, the wretch was caused by the cutesy puppy-dog sniffing scene in the kitchen between the Girlfriend and Artsy. I suppose the only reason for subsequent shows to continue on this sappy trajectory, is that no other show would have the nerve.

The Jobs: Out of six people, according to the information we're given in the first episode, we have a wannabe writer, a wannabe actress/singer, and three wannabe filmmakers (Girlfriend's aspirations are unknown-- but then,? she has her man). Has anyone told this gang that the real world cost money to live in? How do these kids pay the rent??? I haven't even gotten to the privacy issue. Honestly, if you lived in a group situation, would you put up with a roommate who not only videotaped you without your knowledge, but then blabbed about your personal life in a global forum? The poised and confident Bitsie Tulloch, whom I've seen on a talk show or two plugging this experiment, seems to tone down everything that's good and capable about herself, becoming the gawky, inferior mess we see on Quarterlife. Pretty Actress/singer is either angry, envious, or defensive. My sexism alert would go off if not for the equal whimpering time given to the males on the show. I'm all for the sensitive man, but two out of three guys actually cry in this-- the first broadcast-- episode!!! Eeeewwww again. This group on the whole is the whiniest bunch I've seen since Jan Brady complained, "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!" Has anyone told the director that less is more? I guess subtlety doesn't play well on an ipod.

We're treated to a music vid segment when Pretty Actress/Singer sings-- that's when I reheated my leftovers-- and the show closes with the equivalent of a group hug. That's when we're reminded that life is one big mystery and whatever our special purpose, the universe brings so many choices and now is the time to just..."be." Final eeeeewwwww.

Unfairly Maligned

[Jeff-123 · 8/10 · 10 March 2008]

This show got a lot of bad press, which seemed to be from people who either watched a few minutes of one segment, or didn't watch it at all but got their information from other reviewers.

I was ready to hate this show as being inauthentic and dull, but...well, a funny thing happened on the way to my bad review. I sort of forgot my preconceptions and got to know the characters. And I liked it.

There's quality writing here, and the show is nicely filmed and presented. It's a bit provincial, perhaps, and the angst of twentysomethings might be niche, but there's a lot here for everyone. And twists and turns and humor too. A fine way to spend your time...deserves a second season and a second look.

Overwhelmingly Brilliant.

[marquestgaines · 9/10 · 3 April 2008]

Made to contrast the average, glossy style of young American television, Quarterlife stands alone. The show is brilliant; using unknown actors, subtle, seemingly improvised dialogue, and characters that are familiar to all of us, this show gives feels like a reality show that is actually good, actually real. The subtle, yet dynamically layered performances by the amazing cast gives hope for the next generation of young actors. I find myself feeling like I'm sitting right in the living room with these kids as they ponder their futures, careers, romance, principles, and everything we think (or thought) about at 25. If you're a fan of "My So-Called Life", "Once and Again", or any other show that chooses realism over slick production, or just seems to have the right amount of heart and soul, you've come to the right place.

Good show!

[Kryssie07 · 10/10 · 14 March 2009]

I caught this on Bravo I think maybe a year ago and they showed the whole series. I was unfortunately visiting my mom at the time and had to drive 4 hrs back home. It was very hard to tear myself away but immediately I was hooked. I was a recent grad, hated my job and didn't know whether or not to go into law school. When I was able to see all the episodes on their site I was hooked. The writers and actors really got it. For the naysayers who say the show is just a bunch of immature 20-somethings, how can it be? Paying rent, utilities, car notes, having a 9-5, trying to figure out what you want in life is not immature. More like forced responsibility when everyone just wishes they could be back in undergrad. I really hope that they get a 2nd season going. Even though Jed is on the show Greek, which I hate, so hopefully he smartens up and comes back to quarterlife. Its easy to relate to their stories and understand the bullsh*t that comes also I appreciate my life a lil more. Love it