TURN UP CHARLIE

                                        Turn Up Charlie: Beautifully Created!!!

Charlie is a struggling DJ and eternal bachelor. He gets a final chance at finding success, plotting to rebuild his music career, at the same time that he reluctantly becomes a manny to Gabby, his famous best friend's problem-child daughter. The spoiled girl is wise beyond her years, pushing the boundaries -- and the sanity of her nannies -- to the extreme in order to try to get the attention of her negligent, career-driven parents.

Turn Up Charlie may yet become one of Netflix's top comedy tv shows. It is intriguing and character development is great. Need I mention that that the choice of cast is amazing too. Pointedly though, the choice of Idris Elba as lead may not have been the wisest creative wise, but it is the ultimate choice marketing wise. His ability to carry the audience along bellies his age.

That being said, let's look at some important negatives and positives of the show.
The concept of the show is not original. The idea is a derivative of Fox's Atlanta but we still appreciate the efforts by Netflix to once again fish in familiar waters and come up with different species of fishes. So for Originality of concept, we won't score them big, but for creative storytelling and good content development, we rate them above average.
   Plot depth is amazing too. With the systematic character development exercise, the show has not only created characters worth relating to, but have further set the ground work for continuity should the company choose to renew the show for subsequent seasons. So, as unusual as this may sound, the show actually enjoys quite a lot in the area of plot theme development and content management. If you thought the show was going to be cliché, wait till you get to the season finale!
The show's ability to keep audience hooked to it is not due only to great character performance, the show delivered quite a lot on humour. It may not really be Idris Elba's forte, but his take on the comic script was astonishing and quite enjoyable.
But the biggest positive for the show had to be its scripting. The script writers have presented a show that was averagely paced and which maintained its pacing from the premiere to the finale. There was no irregularity in pacing and the show never allowed it's viewers to be bored. The storyline quite aptly allowed for the acting to compensate for some shallow episodes, like for instance allowing Gabby a whole lot of screen time is down in part to the fact that the show needed a distraction from the otherwise threadbare hustler theme of the show, and thereby creating content diversity.

  Frankie Hervey and Idris Elba are a match made in heaven. The superior, experienced acting prowess of Elba and the Inexperienced burgeoning talent of Frankie set the tone of the series. The excitement with which the script was brought to life by these two totally represents the idea that the show creators sought to communicate in the first place. It's a feel good comedy show and it definitely made the viewers have some good hearty laughs.
That being said, let's once again look at the casting choice. Idris Elba is a huge marketing option and we admit Netflix made the right choice economically, but speaking of character fit, it was very weird or strange seeing Idris Elba portraying such an unsightly and quite disturbing character, but a role which he did admirably in.
Casting Jocelyn Jee Esien as Aunt Lydia was a poor choice. She just could not handle the difficulties of playing a Nigerian woman. Her constant drawl and "Oya" mimicry was annoying and too obvious. Perhaps Tracy Ifeachor would have done a better job portraying Aunt Lydia.

  This is a show we will recommend to our readers, for its content development and the unrivalled Potentials this show holds. It has the humour and great character performances great shows are known for, plus character relatability is top notch. The script direction is new, different and with a touch of creative ingenuity. No one would have expected Charlie to take the final path he did, neither did anyone expect Sara to take such series altering decisions.
At the risk of spoiling the show for potential viewers, we shall end the reviews there and recommend this for all and sundry.

Created by: Idris Elba, Gary Reich
Directed by: Tristram Shapeero, Matt Lipsey
Starring:
Idris Elba
Piper Perabo
JJ Feild
Frankie Hervey
Country of origin: United Kingdom
Original language(s): English Language
Executive producer(s): Idris Elba, Gary Reich, Tristram Shapeero
Producer(s): Gill Isles
Production company(s): Brown Eyed Boy Productions, Green Door Pictures

FCA's AppR: 7.5/10