TV Review: ‘Scream Queens’ Pilot

Last night was the long-awaited two-hour series premiere of Scream Queens, the love child of American Horror Story and Glee.
Horror Laced Comedy
The comedy in Scream Queens is spot on. The funniest character in my opinion was Chad Radwell, played by Glen Powell. Chad is the egotistical, serial cheating, misogynist boyfriend of Chanel Oberlin, played by Emma Roberts. Chanel is quite funny as well. She plays the spoiled rich bitch white girl role like no other.
I must say that the music in this show is excellent. Between the synth tracks and songs from the 80s, what more can you ask for? Perfect.
Welcome to Hell Week
There were several great death scenes in the first episode, but we’ll cover those in a minute. We learn that the murders are occurring around the 20th anniversary of a crime that happened in the sorority house in 1995. Dean Cathy Munsch (Jamie Lee Curtis) may have helped to cover that up, but we don’t know all of the facts there just yet. On with the death scenes!
Kentucky Fried Face
Ms. Bean (Jan Hoag) could definitely smell what Chanel was cooking; her face. After discussing a prank to Ms. Bean to pretend to melt her face to scare off the new pledges, Chanel’s minions discover a shrine in Ms. Bean’s room. Several pictures of Chanel had the eyes cut out with “kill” written on them. Needless to say, Chanel was pretty pissed. She decided to carry out the prank to dunk her face in the fryer. Set on drowning her, Chanel was unaware that the fryer had been turned on. Who’s hungry?
#HelpMe
Chanel #2 (Ariana Grande) left us last night, but not before posting a status update to the world. Who needs 911 when you have Facebook and Twitter? After receiving text messages from the Red Devil, she continues to communicate by text after the Red Devil is in the room. This scene was ridiculous, over the top, and wonderful.
A Little Off the Top
Deaf Taylor Swift (Whitney Meyer) met her demise while neck deep in the ground. After the new pledges are packed into the dirt and abandoned for hazing, the Red Devil strikes again. But this time on a red riding lawnmower. Maybe if she had been in control of the situation, she wouldn’t have lost her head. It’s a shame this character doesn’t get to stick around, I really liked her. Oh well, I suppose the pledges have no choice but to shake it off.
I’m excited to see where the writers take Scream Queens. I did enjoy it a bit more than I thought I would. However, the writing will have to take some big turns to get more than one season out of this show. Here’s to a bright and bloody future!