Why does TV allow for greater freedom than film?

I realize I’m a broken record by now (get it?) but this show would be so much better if they let Scarlett be a real person instead of a swirly twirly wunderkind. It’s getting old.

This week, Nashville made a very smart choice — the show put Rayna James and Juliette Barnes into a situation where they had to write, fight and perform together, and the show was all the better for it. Make them go on tour together! Make them write an album together!

Everyone makes terrible decisions this week!

If you aren’t already loving Nashville, I hope this episode brings you on board. I expected it from a show helmed by Callie Khouri, but the expectation doesn’t diminish my delight at seeing depictions of such strong, interesting, flawed female characters who are at the top of their career game — and that’s exactly what Rayna James and Juliette Barnes are becoming. Aaaand then there’s Scarlett.

Rayna is dreaming about Deacon, Juliette’s gone viral, Scarlett has a record deal and Teddy might be losing the election. Two of those subplots are totally boring.

This week on Nashville, much of the main cast was plagued by the bad deeds and general neglect of their mothers in the past — or at least, Rayna and Juliette were haunted by it, and everyone else got caught in the crossfire.

One thing that I already really love about Nashville is that so far, the engines for many of the storylines are the show’s women — Rayna’s attempts to get her career back on track and keep her lovelorn bandmate Deacon at bay and Juliet’s machinations in order to be taken more seriously as an artist cause ripple effects for the whole cast, and it’s great fun to watch. There are a couple of subplots that are already dragging, though, so let’s get them out of the way first.

I’ve been looking forward to the Nashville premiere for weeks: it’s a major network show helmed by a woman (Callie Khouri, who wrote Thelma and Louise, for heaven’s sake) starring one of my favorite actresses, Connie Britton, and featuring a fictionalized Faith Hill/Taylor Swift female country star rivalry. What’s not to love? The pilot, which premiered last night (but has been online for about a week) did not disappoint.