Interview (Written): Rachel Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna

A conversation with the star and showrunner of the CW TV series ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.’

The CW TV series ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’ begins its 4th and final season this week. The New York Times visited with its creators: star Rachel Bloom and showrunner Aline Brosh McKenna.

Season 4 will have 18 episodes, as opposed to 13 for the two previous seasons. How will that work?

RACHEL BLOOM We get very episodic in the first part of the season, because she’s getting her life together. And then we go back to the rom-com tropes for the last part of the season.

ALINE BROSH McKENNA The shape of the fourth season is a redemption story, and then a romantic story. It’ll be our version of a happy ending, which is the ending that Rachel and I have had in mind since the beginning. Writing the third season was tough and there were a lot of serious conversations and weeping in the writers’ room. This season’s a lot more fun because her intentions are great. She’ll still make mistakes, but her intentions are wonderful, so there’s a lightness and a freeness.

BLOOM And I’m excited about the second half of the season because it’ll be the first time in the series where instead of her internally going crazy, it’s actually [things in her external world going] crazy and her trying to adapt to it. Which is why we’re going back to the rom-com place.

BROSH McKENNA It’s what happens when you take a female character who is fully rendered, who you know really well, who is not a compliant love projection, and put her in a situation where she has to make a romantic decision. What does that look like?

Do you ever think back to what the original vision for “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” was like?

BROSH McKENNA The vision of the show, which was based on the very first conversation we had when we first met, has always been the same. It has obviously evolved, but the first conversation was, “The crazy ex-girlfriend is an interesting stereotype to look under.” Rachel had a lot of musical theater stuff and princess narratives that she was looking to deconstruct. For me, it was more the rom-com tropes.

BLOOM It’s gotten less dirty by design.

BROSH McKENNA [Being on the CW] reins us in, in I think, in an interesting way. They’ve done things I don’t think they ever, ever thought that they would do. And it’s been hilarious, like fighting to say “clitoris” on the air. They’ve been really amenable, actually.

BLOOM But I think the thing that unites us with shows like “The Good Place” or “Parks and Recreation” over some grittier cable comedies is not the subject matter, it’s that we have empathy and love for our characters. You see some cable shows that are gritty and there’s kind of a pessimistic worldview, and we don’t have that.

BROSH McKENNA It’s written from a place of humanity and love.

Here is a teaser trailer for Season 4, Episode 1 of ‘Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’:

For the rest of the New York Times interview, go here.

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