A stepped-up version of Step Up
The best show you're not watching.
Today’s pick is just one show because I’ve been obsessed with it. (And because the other show I saw this week was a little too all-over-the-place for me to tell anyone to watch it in good conscience).
The Big Leap (2021- )
I usually don't recommend shows until there's at least one complete season but I'm making an exception because I've found a more mature version of Step Up. Now I've seen all of those movies somehow (can you believe they made five of those?) and I like some of those dance sequences but they didn't feel grounded to me. The characters' primary motivations were just dancing (and romance, if you're the lead) and I needed something more from them. I needed layers. I needed something going on that didn’t just tie into the big dance battle climax with the rival dance team. And The Big Leap gives me all that. What is it actually? A show about amateur dancers signing up to be a part of a crew on a show called The Big Leap that will perform Swan Lake together. It’s not the best pitch for entertaining tv, I know. The show knows that too. And yet, it’s somehow one of the most entertaining, heart-warming, and wholesome things I’ve seen lately.
But before I even actually got into it, the music choices in the pilot sold me on the show. They dance in a bowling alley to a song from Step Up, which you can’t tell me is a coincidence because it’s from one of the most memorable scenes with over 81 million views on YouTube. They also danced to the classical version of Lisztomania, which is the theme song of Mozart in the Jungle, another one of my favorite shows.
The best part is that it’s so fun to watch I binged all the episodes that were out. It’s a 40-minute drama but it felt more like 30. It’s one of those shows I wish got more buzz but it hasn’t and it might not be renewed. But with the show being about a season of a show, I don’t mind it being a mini-series. I haven’t seen how it ends yet but I know it wouldn’t let me down.
The finale of the first season of Big Leap airs on Monday, 6th December on FOX.
Until next time,
V