High Fidelity premiered on Hulu on February 14, 2020, to positive reviews from critics. The series was canceled in August 2020 after one season.[2]
Premise
High Fidelity follows "the ultimate music fan, a record store owner who's obsessed with pop culture and Top Five lists" in the neighborhood of Crown Heights, Brooklyn.[3]
Cast and characters
Main
Zoë Kravitz as Robyn "Rob" Brooks,[4][5] the owner of Championship Vinyl who struggles with a lifetime of failed relationships
Robyn "Rob" Brooks is the owner of a record store called Championship Vinyl in Brooklyn. Breaking the fourth wall, she explains her history of failed relationships, five of which she calls her All-Time Top 5 Most Memorable Heartbreaks. One of her ex-boyfriends is Simon, a music enthusiast who is still a close friend of hers and now works at her store. They work at the store with Cherise, an aspiring musician and another close friend of Rob's. Together, the trio often makes Top 5 lists of their favorite things. To the audience, Rob reveals that her number one heartbreak was Russell "Mac" McCormack, who dumped her and moved to London. A year after her breakup with Mac, Rob goes on a first date with a man named Clyde to avoid getting set up by her brother. On her way to her date, she surprisingly bumps into Mac, who has moved back to New York. At her date, she is at first disinterested, but ultimately warms to Clyde. They spend the night at her house. The next day, she is dismayed to wake up and find Clyde gone. When he returns to her house later that night with an explanation, she acts coldly. To the audience, she admits she still has feelings for Mac.
2
"Track 2"
Jeffrey Reiner
Veronica West & Sarah Kucserka
February 14, 2020 (2020-02-14)
Rob begins crafting a playlist for Mac with no intention of sending it to him. To the audience, she explains the elements of a good playlist. She reminisces about her relationship with Mac. It is revealed that shortly before they broke up, she had found an engagement ring intended for her in his things. Panicking, she left their apartment without explanation, returning hours later to let him know she was ready to be engaged. In the present day, Simon and Cherise, interrupts Rob's reminiscing to take her to a bar to see an up-and-coming punk rock singer named Liam Shawcross. Impressed by Liam's performance, Simon and Cherise tell him about Championship, asking him to stop by. "Nothing Compares 2 U" plays at the bar and Rob realizes it's the perfect song to end her playlist. She sends it to Mac, who doesn't respond. The next morning, having brunch with her brother Cam and his wife Nikki, Rob discovers that Mac is now dating a woman named Lily. She leaves infuriated.
3
"What Fucking Lily Girl?"
Jeffrey Reiner
Josh Koenigsberg
February 14, 2020 (2020-02-14)
Rob is upset to learn that Mac and Lily have been dating for a year and that he's about to propose to her. She starts to obsess over Lily, stalking her Instagram and going to a frosé bar after learning that it's Lily's favorite drink. Later, Rob, Simon, and Cherise hang out with Liam the punk rock singer at a bar. Rob and Liam end up at Liam's apartment, where Rob discovers that Liam's much younger than her. She leaves abruptly. Questioning why her relationships never work, Rob decides to call Kevin Bannister, who dumped her in middle school and is one of her All-Time Top 5 Most Memorable Heartbreaks. She learns through his mom that he married the girl he dated after Rob in middle school. This revelation makes Rob believe that the breakup with Kevin Bannister was not her fault and was instead in the hands of fate. Relieved, she decides to reach out to the other four people in her Top 5 heartbreaks and understand the reason of each breakup.
4
"Good Luck and Goodbye"
Andrew DeYoung
Eli Wilson Pelton
February 14, 2020 (2020-02-14)
Rob starts her search to track down her Top 5 Heartbreaks to find out why she's always "rejected." Though initially planning on speaking with them chronologically, she runs into Simon at a pretentious coffee shop. Simon becomes annoyed when Rob tells him he's on her list of heartbreaks, but also insists that since they've maintained their friendship, in a way, they've never broken up. At the store, Rob and Simon notice Cherise putting in more work than usual and that she's put up a flyer in search of a band. Rob reaches out to Kat Monroe through Instagram, where Kat's found a moderate amount of fame as an influencer but is left on read. Rob decides to move on to Justin Kitt, her fourth ex, who still performs stand up comedy as he did when they were dating. Rob becomes moderately disinterested in their conversation, but she does feel a lot better when reminded that she was the one who ended things with Justin not the other way around. The next day, Kat follows up with Rob. They meet at a sponsored event for Kat and her fellow influencers, which Rob leaves dismissed and irritated by Kat. That night, Simon and Cherise heavily advise Rob not to talk to her final ex: Mac. Instead, Rob decides to show up to Mac's apartment unannounced. They share a drink and at first things seem well, until Rob brings up Lily. She leaves, upset that she could not bring herself to ask Mac why he left her and smokes alone in her apartment in frustration.
Veronica West, Sarah Kucserka, and Leigh Ann Biety
February 14, 2020 (2020-02-14)
10
"The Other Side of the Rock"
Jeffrey Reiner
Veronica West
February 14, 2020 (2020-02-14)
Production
Development
On April 5, 2018, Disney announced it was developing a television series adaptation of their 2000 Touchstone film High Fidelity to be written by Veronica West and Sarah Kucserka with the intention of distributing it through their then-unnamed upcoming streaming service, now known as Disney+.[6] Production companies involved with the series were slated to consist of Midnight Radio and ABC Signature Studios.[7] On September 24, 2018, it was announced that Disney had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. Executive producers were expected to include West, Kucserka, Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg, and Zoë Kravitz.[3] On April 9, 2019, it was announced that the series has been moved from Disney+ to Hulu.[8] In July 2019, during an interview, Natasha Lyonne revealed that she was directing an episode of High Fidelity.[9] On August 5, 2020, Hulu canceled the series after one season.[2]
Casting
Alongside the series order announcement, it was confirmed that Zoë Kravitz, whose mother Lisa Bonet appeared in the 2000 film adaptation, is set to star in the series.[3] On April 22, 2019, it was announced that Jake Lacy had been cast as a series regular.[10] On May 17, 2019, it was reported that Da'Vine Joy Randolph and David Holmes had joined the main cast.[4] In the same month, Kingsley Ben-Adir was cast in a guest starring role.[11]
Filming
The principal photography started around July 2019 in Brooklyn.[12]
Release
Broadcast
High Fidelity premiered on February 14, 2020.[13] The first three episodes were also aired on March 16, 2020, on Freeform.[14] Internationally, the series premiered on February 21, 2020, in Canada on Starz and on May 1, 2020, in Australia on ABC iview and ABC Comedy.[15][16] It was also released in select territories like Australia, the UK and Canada on Disney+ under the Star content hub and on Star+ in Latin America.[6]
Marketing
The first set of images were released in late October 2019 with the announcement of series premiere date.[17] The teaser trailer for the series was released on December 20, 2019 [18]
Reception
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an 86% approval rating with 70 reviews, with an average rating of 7.79/10. The website's critical consensus states, "Though it skips the occasional beat, High Fidelity's fresh take on a familiar track is as witty as it is emotionally charged, giving the charming and curmudgeonly Zoë Kravitz plenty of room to shine."[19] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 70 out of 100, based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[20]
