Crisis in Six Scenes

Crisis in Six Scenes is an American television miniseries written and directed by Woody Allen for Amazon Studios.[1][2][3][4] Allen wrote and directed six episodes for the half-hour series, marking the first time he has done so for television. It is available exclusively on Amazon Video.

Crisis in Six Scenes
GenreComedy
Created byWoody Allen
Written byWoody Allen
Directed byWoody Allen
Starring
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes6
Production
Executive producer(s)Erika Aronson
Producer(s)Helen Robin
Editor(s)Alisa Lepselter
Production company(s)
Release
Original networkAmazon Video
Original releaseSeptember 30, 2016 (2016-09-30)

The series premiered on September 30, 2016,[1] to generally unfavorable reviews. Allen said in May 2016 that the series will consist of only one season.[5]

Plot

The series is set in the 1960s during turbulent times in the United States. A middle class suburban family is visited by Lennie Dale (played by Miley Cyrus), a radical beatnik who is wanted by the FBI. While Kay Munsinger (Elaine May) finds Dale charming, her husband Sid (Woody Allen) is anxious about the situation.

Cast and characters

Main

Guest

Production

Development
Promotional poster.

The deal with Allen was seen as giving Amazon a possible advantage in its competition with Netflix and television networks. The series was announced within days of Amazon winning the Golden Globe Award for the comedy-drama Transparent, another original series.[6] Allen had last written new material for television in the 1950s, when he wrote for Sid Caesar.[4]

In a May 2015 interview, Allen said that progress on the series had been "very, very difficult" and that he had "regretted every second since I said OK".[7][8] Allen has said of the series, "I don't know how I got into this. I have no ideas and I'm not sure where to begin. My guess is that Roy Price [the head of Amazon Studios] will regret this."[2][3][9]

Casting

In January 2016, it was announced that the series would star Allen, Elaine May and Miley Cyrus, and that shooting would begin in March.[10] In February 2016, it was announced that John Magaro and Rachel Brosnahan had joined the cast.[11] In March 2016, Michael Rapaport, Becky Ann Baker, Margaret Ladd, Joy Behar, Rebecca Schull, David Harbour and Christine Ebersole had joined the cast of the series.[12]

Filming

For about three weeks in early 2016, filming for the six episodes took place at 508 Scarborough Road, in Briarcliff Manor, New York.[13]

Reception

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 17%, based on 48 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Woody Allen's filmmaking skills prove a poor fit for the small screen in Crisis in Six Scenes, a talk-heavy, unfunny, and overall disengaged production buried below numerous superior offerings."[14] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the series has a score 44 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[15]

Rodrigo Perez from The Playlist gave the series a D+ on an A+ to F scale, and described it as "Hamfisted and nearly unwatchable."[16]

Allen himself had openly expressed severe misgivings about the project.[2][3][17] At the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, Allen said in reference to the show, "It was a catastrophic mistake. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm floundering. I expect this to be a cosmic embarrassment."[18]

gollark: Also, setting up a FUSE filesystem whenever I want to work on stuff would be tedious.
gollark: A visual editor? Eeeeeevil.
gollark: ```haskellmain = putStrLn "halts, I guess"```
gollark: Acausal logic processors and stuff.
gollark: <@341618941317349376> TURING MACHINE RACIST!

References
  1. Littleton, Cynthia (7 August 2016). "Amazon Sets September Comedy Push, Reveals Title for Woody Allen Series". Variety. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  2. Weinstein, Shelli (January 13, 2015). "Woody Allen to Create His First Television Series for Amazon". Variety. Archived from the original on January 13, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  3. Steel, Emily (January 13, 2015). "Amazon Signs Woody Allen to Write and Direct TV Series". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 20, 2015. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  4. Jurgensen, John (January 13, 2015). "Woody Allen to Create TV Series for Amazon Studios". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  5. Galloway, Stephen (May 4, 2016). "The Woody Allen Interview (Which He Won't Read)". Retrieved May 4, 2016.
  6. Levin, Gary (January 14, 2015). "Amazon momentum builds with Woody Allen series". USA Today. Retrieved January 14, 2015.
  7. Mike Fleming Jr. "Woody Allen Cannes Interview: 'Irrational Man' Director On His Life & Movies - Deadline". Deadline Hollywood.
  8. Goodman, Jessica (May 15, 2015). "Woody Allen Regrets Doing Amazon Series". The Huffington Post. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  9. Massa, Antonia (January 13, 2015). "Amazon Signs Woody Allen to His First TV Show". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on January 13, 2015. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  10. Mike Fleming Jr. "Woody Allen Amazon Series: Woody, Miley Cyrus & Elaine May To Star - Deadline". Deadline Hollywood.
  11. Hipes, Patrick (February 24, 2016). "John Magaro & Rachel Brosnahan Join Woody Allen's Amazon Series". Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  12. Petski, Denise (March 16, 2016). "Woody Allen Amazon Series: Michael Rapaport, Becky Ann Baker & More Join Cast". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 5, 2016.
  13. Taliaferro, Lanning (March 8, 2016). "Woody Allen Filming on Scarborough Road". Pleasantville-Briarcliff Manor Patch. Retrieved October 19, 2016.
  14. "Crisis in Six Scenes (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
  15. "Crisis in Six Scenes reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
  16. "Woody Allen's Amazon Show 'Crisis In Six Scenes' Is Nearly Unwatchable [Review]". theplaylist.net. 4 October 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2017.
  17. Massa, Annie; Soper, Spencer; Palmeri, Chris (January 13, 2015). "Amazon's Woody Allen Hiring Underscores Video Risk". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on January 13, 2015. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  18. Zeitchik, Steven (May 15, 2015). "Cannes 2015: Woody Allen Sings a Bleak Tune". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
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