Jane by Design

     This was a slow weekend TV wise for Netflix, with not a single new TV show being added, but they've been a lot busier over the last week, so this should give me a good chance to do a little catch up.
     On Friday Netflix began offering the first half of the ABC family show "Jane by Design." The release is significant because it is being offered before even the first entire season of episodes has aired on television. It is also significant because the first episodes only finished up a month ago. The TV to Netflix turn around time was especially quick.
    The show acknowledges the amusing fact that almost all actors who play high school students look like they are in their mid 20's. The show uses a simple age mix up, because who knows their co-workers anymore, to get the main character, Jane, a job at fashion house, Donovan Decker. While the show also generates drama because Jane is socially backwards at her high school. In other words (Mach Ado About Nothing+Never Been Kissed)*The Devil Wears Prada. So the pilot felt like a paint by the numbers chick flick retread. That certainly doesn't mean it's irredeemable.
     Andy McDowell plays the head of Donovan Decker like a poor man's Meryl Streep, while Erica Dasher, who play's Jane, does so in a confused bumbling sort of way that leaves me confused as to how anyone would have mistaken her as an employee. The pilot episode also introduces us to Jane's relationship with her brother Ben, her legal guardian since her father died, and her best friend Billy. Both of which she is permitted to have long dialogues with revealing her inward thoughts and feelings.
     The bottom line is that "Jane by Design" is a TV teenage chick flick. It's not terrible, but it certainly won't get anywhere near my playlist again.

Conclusion: Off the queue