Scream Queens is a televised parody of the slasher genre from the creator of Glee. For a horror show on broadcast television, it delivers some surprisingly good gore and acidic humor. However, these are offset by serious flaws in the writing.
The premise is that sisters at the Kappa Kappa Tau sorority are being stalked by a psychotic killer in a devil costume. The killings appear to be related to the death of a sister during childbirth twenty years ago. The snide leaders of the sorority try to cope as a new pledge investigates, while a suspicious dean of students hovers in the background.
Scream Queens does a lot well. It dials up the violence about as far as you can on broadcast television, with some reasonably gruesome kills. Some of the humor is also well done, with a truly acidic wit. The acting, while not Emmy caliber, is decent for this type of show. Jamie Lee Curtis in particular seems to be having fun sending up the genre that made her famous.
However, the writing has some major weaknesses that threaten to undermine the show. It telegraphs plot developments well in advance, undermining any sense of suspense. For example, when a plan is made to scare pledges by shoving someone's head into an unplugged deep fryer, it doesn't take a genius to see what the outcome will be. Similarly, viewers should be able to figure out within a minute of her introduction which sorority sister has a connection to the ill-fated birth at the beginning of the show.
More damningly, even though the show skewers the alpha sisters for their homophobic and racist attitudes, the black and gay characters are all walking stereotypes. The black women in the show are depicted as either lazy, cowardly idiots or ill tempered witches, while the main gay character is an effeminate stereotype who tries to grope other men without their consent. The overall effect is to make the writers seem hypocritical.
The premise is that sisters at the Kappa Kappa Tau sorority are being stalked by a psychotic killer in a devil costume. The killings appear to be related to the death of a sister during childbirth twenty years ago. The snide leaders of the sorority try to cope as a new pledge investigates, while a suspicious dean of students hovers in the background.
Scream Queens does a lot well. It dials up the violence about as far as you can on broadcast television, with some reasonably gruesome kills. Some of the humor is also well done, with a truly acidic wit. The acting, while not Emmy caliber, is decent for this type of show. Jamie Lee Curtis in particular seems to be having fun sending up the genre that made her famous.
However, the writing has some major weaknesses that threaten to undermine the show. It telegraphs plot developments well in advance, undermining any sense of suspense. For example, when a plan is made to scare pledges by shoving someone's head into an unplugged deep fryer, it doesn't take a genius to see what the outcome will be. Similarly, viewers should be able to figure out within a minute of her introduction which sorority sister has a connection to the ill-fated birth at the beginning of the show.
More damningly, even though the show skewers the alpha sisters for their homophobic and racist attitudes, the black and gay characters are all walking stereotypes. The black women in the show are depicted as either lazy, cowardly idiots or ill tempered witches, while the main gay character is an effeminate stereotype who tries to grope other men without their consent. The overall effect is to make the writers seem hypocritical.