Starstruck is proof that TV needs more romcoms

The Ringer

"Long-running TV shows like The Mindy Project, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and Insecure were charmingly referential to the rom-com genre while not necessarily adhering to the tropes and beats themselves," says Jodi Walker. "And of course, there have been a number of more straightforward examples of rom-com television in the past decade: You’re the Worst, Love, and Catastrophe, to name a few. But the commonality in all of those is that they’re dark-comedy rom-coms. Quality-wise, that’s great, but it’s simply not the vibe right now. To quote the soundtrack of a top-10 rom-com: What the world needs now, is love, sweet love. We’re looking for unrealistic expectations of love; meets so cute they rot your teeth out; undiscovered young Darcys, and ingenues looking for their Emmys; charming high jinks that don’t require a mid-movie montage, and precisely one tonally appropriate musical number. And banter, baby—please just give us banter! Starstruck doesn’t just tap into a pair of actors’ chemistry, it intentionally plays in good old-fashioned rom-com tropes; it also features a man who actually laughs at a woman’s jokes, and emotional stakes beyond will-they-or-won’t-they and well into can-they-or-can’t-they territory by the time Season 2 rolled around this spring. Starstruck is the blueprint for the rom-com shift we need right now, and this is my official plea for TV creators to take notice and hop on this runaway bandwagon (likely being pursued at top speed by an attractive young person who’s realized just in the nick of time that they’re in love with said bandwagon)."