Tigers-level Losing Streak Edition

So I noticed I have views on this blog.
They must be errors.

So, for once I'll attempt to review more than two series a season. Who knows, maybe that'll make me popular.
Enough with the jokes.

Wake Up, Girls
So normally, I'm not a big fan of idol series. They tend to catch my attention, and I watch the first two episodes, and then I realize that I think they suck. It's usually due to a combination of a poorly prioritized cast too big for the time allocation, a cliché plot and a predictable "quota" of things that need to happen - a member has family problems, another member thinks about leaving, there's a beach episode, a member gets sick. It just gets too bleeding predictable and hackneyed in the long run.
Wake Up, Girls doesn't follow that formula as much as many other shows, but I'm still not sure it's going to save it.
The series tries very hard to be a more realistic take on the idol genre, and as such holds off on many of the clichés and has rather more sober character designs. However, both these choices have their drawbacks. The characters are introduced slowly, and the audience is allowed to get a feel for them instead of having them showcased. However, this coupled with the simple and down-to-earth character designs means that it can be hard to get a feel for each individual character, especially with such a large cast - the intent is noble, but it isn't pulled off entirely right.
For two, the series is very aggressive in attempting to avoid clichés. In normal human language, that means that the plot is basically the idol series equivalent of Warhammer 40k compared to other fare. Catastrophes and letdowns are slung in the group's face with robotic precision, and it's not always handled equally well. Character responses to such crises are often noticeably wooden, while the whole "members thinking of leaving" gimmick gets fired off so often it rarely makes sense anymore.
The company president ran away with the money and the future of the bureau is up in the air? The characters act like everything's fine, with one or two doubtful comments sprinkled in. Everything actually going fine? Time to bring out the major membership crises - and then forget it a little bit later. As can be seen, the pacing is also quite funky, more specifically in the sense that the general mood seems to lag a bit behind the actual events of the show, and character responses feel anywhere from wooden to overacted.
Wake Up, Girls has a good concept.
It's promising, sure.
But right now, it's definitely unsteady, suffering from bland characters, implausible and forced plotting, wooden acting, strange character responses and an utterly bozotic sense of pacing.
55/100 - and how I hope it becomes better. It has the material for a 80/100 - if it succeeds in what it's trying, it might well be able to revolutionize a stale and gimmick-plagued genre historically aimed squarely towards wota and creepy neckbeards. I'm not sure it will, however. Let's hope it's a problem that'll go away as the series settles in, and not a pervasive problem with the staff and direction.