Don’t live in the UK? Well, if you live in Australia or the Philippines, you’ve been getting Star-Crossed since February on Fox8 (Tuesdays, 7:30pm) and ETC (Fridays, 8:00pm), respectively. And Aussie viewers, you’re seeing it basically same time as the US, so no excuses!!
Get after it guys! I want this show to get renewed more than I’ve wanted any show to get renewed ever in my life.
While I have everyone’s attention, I’m going to take a moment to dispel a couple popular myths about Star-Crossed…
Star-Crossed is NOT Roswell
I’ve been reading basically every article on Star-Crossed lately and sometimes read the comments (I try to avoid comment reading because–unlike TN–most comment boards have trolls and idiots, and I have no time for that energy), and the main thing I keep seeing is the comparison to Roswell. Maybe when they introduced the show concept you could think, “Aliens? Didn’t they do this in 1999 with Roswell?” But now that the show, you know, has actually aired for 10 seconds, we know it is NOT the case.
I watched Roswell from start to finish, it was one of my FAVORITE shows growing up, and the shows are very different. I mean, the Atrians are public, so how could the show themes even be comparable when the aliens in Roswell were hidden? Sure we have human-alien hookups and some violent tensions, but we have tension and hookups in every teen drama…duh.
Roswell: Max’s big reveal in private to Liz… he doesn’t mean he’s from up north, guys.
vs.
Star-Crossed: Two species’ anatomies being taught by comparison in public high school Anatomy & Physiology Class
But you know what Roswell is WAY more comparable to? TWILIGHT. To be frank, it’s also more comparable to Vampire Diaries than to Star-Crossed. But its similarity to Twilight is fairly precise, and someone else did such a great breakdown that I don’t need to, but you can read it here if you really want. He covers it all, from short, bland brunette to weirdoG non-human who stares a lot.
It’s Not Bloody Shakespeare
Okay, so, let’s keep it real for a second, guys… Star-Crossed and the Sweet Swan of Avon are not the same. Other than the ripping off of R&J lines as episode titles, they have very little in common. The show wasn’t even originally called Star-Crossed, rather Oxygen, so the whole Shakespeare theme I think just came into play later on. I mean, I can’t think of any reasons why producers would think people are into Shakespeare more than usual in the past year or two and that referencing it might make more money, can you?
That all said, I think they want to integrate Shakespearean themes (aka life themes?) into this series more obviously, but on the whole, the story is not Romeo & Juliet. And I’m glad! R&J only care about each other and their love, and Roman and Emery care about erasing xenophobia and achieving a positive integration between their two species. R&J focuses on the power dichotomy between two wealthy families and the joint death of their two only children reconciling the tensions between their two sides. Star-Crossed may have tension between sides, but the stakes are vaster because each “side” is an entire species, not simply power-tripped families.
R&J is more like if the Hilton and Trump families were pitted against each other in a battle for political and financial control of Las Vegas. Would it affect your life if you weren’t involved in their businesses and/or family affairs? Probably not. Whereas Star-Crossed is about humans’ reaction to an extraterrestrial humanoid species 1) existing and 2) crash landing on Earth and hoping to find a new planet to call home, even if they have to share.
Do these story concepts sound related at all?!
Like I said in my first breakdown of the show, at core, Star-Crossed is not about Roman and Emery’s fated love story. I find the themes of the show much more similar to those of the U.S. desegregation of the 1960s or even to cultural reactions to the “outing” of vampires in True Blood. And if you *have* to have aliens for your comparison, then watch District 9. Furthermore, if you need to relate this show to Shakespeare, look to Othello or Merchant of Venice for your theme comparisons. At least they deal with actual xenophobia.
Sure, Star-Crossed’s plotlines are kept close to Edendale, but they could be global in scope. They could expand this show to something rather adult if they wanted to. And that’s what makes it so exciting! It has serious legs to it. I can’t even count the number of running subplots, which isn’t to say it’s confusing but rather that the writers are showing how complicated this situation actually is. If the network does end up canceling this show, I’ll view it as a major oversight on their end, and I’ll hope that the creator can pitch it again with a targeted adult audience and a broader scope.
If you need more reasons to watch, read my first post on Star-Crossed after I binge watched the first five episodes and couldn’t contain my feels. Recaps shall continue weekly, so don’t miss Episode 7’s recap 🙂
