NASHVILLE | TV

*possible minor spoilers* 

Is it just me who's noticed this or are musical TV shows all the rage at the moment. This time ABC has jumped on the bandwagon with it's newest show Nashville, that stars Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere as a pair of country singers who find themselves pushed together by their record label.

Before the show aired it was deemed country music's version of Glee or Smash with the cast randomly bursting into song at any available moment. This however couldn't be further from what this show is about, instead it is very much drama centred giving you an insight into the industry with songs placed at appropriate times for an added entertainment factor. 

The first episode of the series focused heavily on Rayna Jaymes (Connie Britton) who is a mom, a wife and a very successful country singer who is now deemed as becoming 'irrelevant' by her record label. They feel the only way her time at the label can continue is if she joins onto the tour of Juliette Barnes (Hayden Panettiere) who is a extremely popular 20-something country pop singer. We discover that Rayna isn't happy about opening for Juliette and that she feels she sounds like 'ferel cats'; she is however the number one selling artist of the moment. 

Panettiere's character is very much the mean girl, passing out her orders and acting like a spoil brat; that is until she is around the male characters whom she seduces one after the other taken or not.  It is implied though that this behaviour stems from her childhood brought up with a drug addict for a mother. Britton's character however is that of a strong woman who knows what she wants but isn't the diva her younger rival is. We even see a scene in the episode where she puts hers and her fathers differences aside to support her husbands bid to be Mayor. She is very much certain that she is not becoming irrelevant and isn't afraid to tell the label that. 

The episode as a whole opened doors to various possible story lines - one being the inevitable love triangle involving Rayna's guitarist, Deacon (Charles Esten), who we learn could actually have been her soul mate before she chose her current husband. Another interesting storyline we see involves Deacon's niece, Scarlett (Clare Bowen), who works at the cities famous Bluebird Cafe and writes poetry in her spare time. It isn't until it is pointed out that her words could be lyrics and we see this in action during a duet between her and the cafes sound guy. This opening doors for an interesting story and one that I'm certain will be explored in great depth. 

I really enjoyed the first episode of Nashville and couldn't recommend it highly enough, even if you aren't a fan of country music, you will definitely enjoy the developing story lines and the brilliant relationships that are forming between the characters. If you do watch, or have already, let me know what you think!

Emma xo

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