Last week and this week I'm featuring TV episodes that have been nominated for 2021 WGA awards.
You know how it seems like every other story at this point is another twist on GROUNDHOG DAY, and we recognize it every time someone tries it and yet somehow they mostly all really work, and how is that even possible, but it is, and even right now as I'm writing this I'm actually thinking about how great it would be if every show that I love had a Groundhog Day episode?
There's only on other story trope I can think of that I think is equally magically bulletproof:
The framing device of THE PRINCESS BRIDE: Kid gets sick. Grandparent shows up and insists on telling them a story. And the kid spends the story calling out its ridiculousness while slowly falling in love with it. It's a super easy idea to understand, and it seems to always land.
In the WGA-nominated "Grandma & Chill", AINFQ writer Kyle Lau brings the BRIDE framework to a K-Drama spin on how Nora's grandmother met her her grandfather. The story has so many fantastic conceits of Korean soaps--amnesiac suitors, people marrying their siblings, hot dudes going shirtless for no reason...
This guy is literally the garbage man.
And all along the way Lau folds in the BRIDE-style hilarious banter between sick-in-bed Nora and her grandmother about what the hell is this crazy story anyway.
In writing these posts, I'm always trying to think in terms of techniques or tips we can learn from watching these writers. And for me, the extra-special sauce of "Grandma & Chill" is the modern voice that Lau brings to the characters. Having the younger version of Nora's grandmother and her friend saying things like "Fuck that dude" and "More ruler D for me" in what is on the surface a period piece gets a laugh and grabs my attention every time.
Bringing a modern take to a story-genre is absolutely in keeping with what makes THE PRINCESS BRIDE great. But the AINFQ voice is distinctive, joyously anarchic in that Chaotic Good way that is Awkwafina.
Maybe the takeaway of "Grandma & Chill" is to recognize the lasting effect of building your show from a strong, personal point of view. The more specific and idiosyncratic you can allow your show or script to be, the more it will be able to elevate everything that you give it (and also anything that you give it).
When you need inspiration, check out AWKWAFINA IS NORA... It's such a fun show.
TOMORROW: TED LASSO! (Congrats on the Golden Globe, Jason Sudeikis!)
