'Glee' Meets 'Fleabag' in This 4-Part Comedy Series That's Officially a Streaming Hit
Erin Konrad's love for everything entertainment dates back to elementary school when she became obsessed with classic Hollywood musicals. When she's not catching up on all her favorite television shows, she's advising her friends and family on what they should binge watch next.
She has her Bachelor's degree in Journalism and a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. Creating content for Collider gives her the opportunity to combine her writing skills with her passion for television and movies. She spends her free time trying to beat her personal record of reading 137 books in a year and cuddling with her dog, Gracie.
Sign in to your Collider account
There are very few television series that have been able to effectively use songs to tell their stories. FOX's six-season musical, Glee, is perhaps the most well-known and beloved. With a wide range of musical performances featuring hit songs in each episode, the series never shied away from using music as a key element of its storytelling. During its reign from 2009 to 2015, the massively popular show was unstoppable, and it has recently been climbing streaming charts as well. If you're looking for a binge-watch that promises the same incredible utilization of music, with the dark comedy vibes found in Prime Video's brilliant Fleabag, there's one show that will definitely fit the bill.
What Is 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend' About?
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend premiered on The CW back in 2015, filling in the gap Glee was leaving behind. Throughout its four seasons, the dark comedy somehow always stayed under the radar, despite its unique and captivating story and talented cast. Created, written, and directed by Rachel Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna, the series follows Rebecca Bunch (played by Bloom), an Ivy-League-educated lawyer working in New York City. Rebecca struggles with depression and anxiety, and decides on a misguided whim to move to the quiet suburb of West Covina, California. The (real-life) location is the hometown of her childhood sweetheart, Josh Chan (Vincent Rodriguez III), and Rebecca is determined to win him back. She gets a job at a small, local law firm run by the quirky Darryl Whitefeather (Pete Gardner), which is a far cry from the high-profile job she's used to. She bonds with her supportive, bored co-worker, Paula Proctor (Donna Lynne Champlin), and her new roommate, the deadpan Heather Davis (Vella Lovell), and ends up forming a complicated bond with Josh's best friend, Greg Serrano (Santino Fontana in Seasons 1-2 and Skylar Astin in Season 4). It's clear from the start that Rebecca is no typical protagonist. She makes horrible decisions, and self-sabotages at every turn, but that makes her journey all the more addictive to watch.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Netflix Character Would Be Your Best Friend? Dustin · Emily · Wednesday · Gi-hun
Some friends drag you out of the house. Some sit with you on the worst night of your life. Netflix has written both, plus the one who tells you the truth you have been avoiding all week. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually do friendship, and find out which of them was always going to end up in your corner.
🧢Dustin(Stranger Things)
🗼Emily(Emily in Paris)
🕷️Wednesday(Wednesday)
🟢Gi-hun(Squid Game)
01
How do you usually end up making a new friend? The origin story says a lot about the friendship that follows it.
02
What is a perfect Saturday with your best friend? Friendship is mostly built out of very ordinary hours.
03
You call them at two in the morning. What happens? This is the real test of a friendship, and everybody knows it.
04
What do you want from them when you are clearly wrong? The best friendships are the ones that survive being corrected.
05
What do your friends actually value about you? The friend you attract says something about the friend you are.
06
You have a falling out. How does it go? How a friendship repairs itself matters more than how it breaks.
07
What do you actually need a best friend for? Everybody is missing something. The right friend fills that gap.
08
Ten years from now, what keeps the two of you close? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who you get.
The Group Chat Has Spoken Your Best Friend Is…
Four Netflix characters, four completely different ways of showing up for somebody. This is the one who fits how you actually do friendship, and what having them in your life would be like.
Dustin Henderson
You do not do friendship at half volume, and neither does he. What you want is somebody who says yes to the plan before you have finished describing the plan.
- Dustin is the friend the entire show runs on: loyal past the point of sense, enthusiastic about everything, and incapable of leaving anybody behind.
- You have the same instinct. Your friendships are loud, specific and slightly ridiculous, and they last for decades because of it.
- He is also the one person who would take your strangest interest completely seriously, which is far rarer than it sounds.
- You would have a group chat. It would never once be quiet.
Emily Cooper
You are the friend who makes things happen, and so is she. Together you would be mildly exhausting to everyone around you and completely delighted with yourselves.
- Emily treats an ordinary Tuesday as something that could be turned into an occasion, which is either the best or the worst quality in a friend depending on your energy levels.
- You share her refusal to sit still. Neither of you has ever accepted a night in when something was happening somewhere else.
- She is far more loyal than people give her credit for. She defends her friends loudly, publicly, and occasionally before checking the facts.
- She would post the photo without asking. You would forgive her, because it is a very good photo.
Wednesday Addams
You have no patience for pleasant lies, and she has no ability to tell them. What looks like coldness from the outside is the most reliable friendship on this list.
- Wednesday never says a kind thing she does not mean, which makes the rare ones count for an enormous amount.
- You would rather be told the truth than be made comfortable. She is constitutionally incapable of offering you anything else.
- Underneath all of it she is ferociously protective. She simply refuses to make a performance out of caring.
- Do not expect a birthday message. Do expect her to ruin anyone who wrongs you.
Seong Gi-hun
You look after whoever is having the worst day. So does he. It is the least strategic way to move through the world and the best possible quality in a friend.
- Gi-hun is not the strongest player in Squid Game, or the cleverest. He is the one who keeps choosing to protect somebody else, over and over, at genuine cost to himself.
- You have the same instinct. You notice who is struggling and you stay with them, long after anybody would blame you for leaving.
- He is a flawed friend, and that is part of why it lands. He lets people down, then comes back and tries again, which is more than most manage.
- He would give you his last chance and never once mention that he had done it.
'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend's Unhinged Hilarity Will Make It Your Next Obsession
The show would be fun enough to watch for its captivating characters and plot points alone. But Crazy Ex-Girlfriend becomes a must-watch because of its creative storytelling. Each episode is filled with hilarious songs, goofy choreography, and magical interruptions from reality, which help the viewer feel like they're getting a peek inside Rebecca's mind. All of the songs were written for the show, and with sarcastic, yet insightful lyrics and catchy melodies, they're all super memorable too. You won't be able to get enough of tunes like "The Sexy Getting Ready Song," "The Math of Love Triangles," or "Let's Generalize About Men." But Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is so much more than just your average musical comedy. The show also dives into relatable and authentic concepts, like Rebecca's battles with mental illness, tough relationship problems, insecurities, and the many difficult stages of adulthood.
There is simply no way that Crazy Ex-Girlfriend would have been successful without its wildly talented cast. Bloom is a revelation as Rebecca, so much so that it's often hard to remember that she's simply an actor playing her. Her creativity is boundless, evident by the many hats she wore for this project. Fontana and Rodriguez are fantastic as the men caught in Rebecca's topsy-turvy orbit. A true standout of the series is Champlin, who allows her incredible booming voice to truly sell every song. Her layered performance, that gets developed more throughout each season, instantly makes Paula one of the most fascinating characters in the series. Scott Michael Foster is also exceptional in the role of Nathaniel Plimpton, who first pops up in Season 2, and creates even more chaos in Rebecca's life. There are also many exciting guest stars, including Tovah Feldshuh, Brittany Snow, and the legendary Patti LuPone. Thanks to these gifted actors, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend tackles everything from the effects of trauma to the complexities of parenting. These topics are all handled with care, while also infusing each subject with honesty and humor.
After 62 episodes, the series wrapped up in 2019 with a satisfying conclusion. Although it had a small yet devoted fanbase during its original run, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend still managed to snag four Emmys (and eight total nominations). What's even more impressive is its 98% Rotten Tomatoes score, which points to the fact that the comedy hasn't lost any of its potency. This inventive and unique series deserves even more fans, so if you're missing the music of Glee and the dark humor found in Fleabag, make Crazy Ex-Girlfriend your next binge-watch today.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
- Release Date
- 2015 - 2019-00-00
- Network
- The CW
- Showrunner
- Aline Brosh McKenna
- Directors
- Aline Brosh McKenna, Rachel Bloom
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.