- Network: Disney+
- Series Premiere Date: Nov 12, 2019
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Critic Reviews
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Taking real people and bringing them back together to recreate an event they bonded over more than 10 years later is incredibly entertaining and thought-provoking.
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Engaging and uplifting docuseries. [11-24 Nov 2019, p.16]
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"Encore!" is a well-made, clever show that becomes more about how we change (and how much we don’t) as we go from high school to adulthood. Watching people slide back into insecurities they left behind or rekindle artistic sides that life forced them to repress makes for fascinating reality TV.
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Producers have massaged their cast and footage for maximum emotional effect. And yet it feels true, with moving things to say about time and maturity and roads taken and not taken; art as a refuge; and the lasting influence of a caring teacher. (I’m not crying — you’re crying.) It’s also, as one might expect, goofy fun.
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It’s an interesting premise that shows just how intense high school can be. ... While the series doesn’t give full back stories, it does let you know what happened to the students and how theater affected their lives.
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Even with flaws aplenty, this is such a good and pure concept for a show that I'll watch as much as you put in front of me.
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Without the time to properly investigate the pitch-black issues it’s tapping into, nor the focus on how the thrill of pulling off the big show affects the performers’ lives, Encore! never fully taps into that power, even with all its kooky charms.
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The series feels padded and the lack of Kristen Bell’s presence – she does introductions for all the episodes but only appears in a few – is a disappointment.
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Encore doesn’t gloss over any of the mistakes that are inevitable when such a massive undertaking comes together over the span of a workweek. Such unavoidable shagginess is Encore’s inherent charm, a literal let’s-put-on-a-show spirit that compensates for the hurried emotional beats and superficial character studies.
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Stuffing a dozen new characters with complicated relationships to each other, an additional cast of musical theater professionals and a culminating performance into each hour-long episode just creates confusion. Meanwhile, Bell fans should know that her participation is pretty minimal.
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It’s a sweet idea in theory, until it’s actually happening, and then it just seems creepy.
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The moments of emotional depth and humanity are rare — though sometimes quite touching — and the moments of cringing and overproduction are plentiful. ... It’s a forced setting in forced circumstances, and the show never shakes that sense of contrivance in the same the way that, for example, “Queer Eye” does.