Loot (Apple Plus)-Maya Rudolph stars as a rich socialite who decides to take a more hands-on approach to running her own charity after her husband dumped her. It’s a classic classist comedy like “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” or “The Nanny” in which people of different social strata learn a little bit from one another. Joel Kim Booster (Fire Island) and Ron Funches are a highlight as a pair of co-workers who are a better fit as besties than Booster’s character would care to admit. The show is watchable but seems to rely a little too heavily on Maya Rudolph to carry the jokes. Unfortunately, Rudolph’s character of Molly Novak isn’t that much more memorable so far (I’m 4 episodes in) than her character outline suggests.
Never Have I Ever (Netflix)-I hate to use the term “jump the shark” because that fails to acknowledge the show’s achievement of once being good and it implies that it’s the show’s fault that current viewing isn’t as rewarding as past viewing. Never Have I Ever ended on a happily-ever-after resolution that took away my investment in seeing where the characters might go next. Season 2 featured a wonderful arc with Common as a love interest for the mom, the cousin standing up for herself professionally, and the independent-minded Dev yo-yoing between Ben and Paxton before landing in a place of self-respect. I’m still nipping away at an episode here or there, and I’m always happy that other people will get a chance to enjoy another season of a deservingly good show. I just might not partake.
Central Park (Apple Plus)-Set in New York’s Central Park (something I personally view as a minus), the story tells the tale of villainous hotelier Bitsy Bindingham (Stanley Tucci) and her efforts to purchase over Central Park for presumably nefarious purposes. Defending the park are expose reporter Paige (Kathryn Hahn) and husband and Central Park manager Owen (Leslie Odom Jr) and their two mixed-race children Molly (Kristen Bell) and Cole (Tituss Burgess Jr) are also pretty equally invested on the side of good. The family and story’s narrator (Josh Gad) provide the warmth while Bitsy’s snootiness and the deadpan of her devious lackey Helen (Daveed Diggs) provide the humor. And did I mention there’s songs provided by the musical talents of Leslie Odom Jr., Daveed Diggs, and Kristen Bell?
The Shrink Next Door (Apple Plus)-A harrowing yet highly engaging watch about a cunning psychiatrist, Ike Herschkopf (Paul Rudd), who manipulates his patients into giving up their lives in service to him. Although the real Herschkopf swindled at least 16 patients, the story focuses on a nominal millionaire (Marty, played by Will Ferrell) who comes to visit Dr. Ike at a low point in his life (parents just died, uncle is suing him, ex-girlfriend is demanding, yada yada yada) and feels like a new man after a few sessions.
I watched this show in a vacuum so I had no idea through the first two or three episodes where this eight-episode miniseries was going. It seemed like an uplifting story of a therapist helping a timid sack of a man with a few dark undertones here or there. Of course, I knew that prestige TV networks since roughly 2010 haven’t been interested in low-stakes feel-good stories in eight-episode chunks. So yes, I was prepared for the dropping of the other shoe (is that an expression? I don’t even know), and boy did it drop. Dr. Ike persuades Marty to cut off his only family (sister Phyllis, played so endearingly by Kathryn Hahn), make him president of his business, take over his house in the Hamptons and move into the master bedroom, and eventually write him in his will.
Like the aftermath of Hitchcock’s The Birds, I wouldn’t be surprised if a sizeable number of viewers get a nightmare or two about what evil lurks in the hearts of their own therapists.
The series is tear-inducing with credit going to the performances of Will Ferrell and Kathryn Hahn (although it’s regrettable Hahn isn’t in most of the middle episodes) with Rudd providing equal weight as the villain. This isn’t a sad clown performance where a comic actor wants to stretch his wings: This is the real deal.
The Resort (Peacock)-A married couple (Christine Milioti as Emma, William Jackson Harper as Noah) is experiencing the doldrums during their 10th anniversary vacation to a tropical Mexican resort. What possibly shakes them out of their rut is when Emma get shaken out of their rut when Emma discovers an old cell phone from 15 years through going down the rabbit hole of a local missing persons case. During one frightful and stormy night (cue the organ music) 15 years ago, a pair of young lovebirds (Skyler Gismodo as Sam and Nina Bloomgarden as Violet) disappeared during a hurricane. Careful not to reveal the sequence of events before Emma and Noah (and the audience) learn them, the series deftly cuts between past and present as Noah and Emmy chase after the trail of Sam and Violet.
There’s an unevenness between the relative excitements of the past and the present. Sam and Violet, are a fun combination of hormones, angst, and naiveté, whereas Noah and Emma are about as fun as the Needlers (Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers) on SNL. What saves their scene is a delightfully kooky local named Balthasar Frias who fashions himself a noir detective.
The series is ambitious--needle-dropping all over the place and taking its time to cut between stories--and while it's uneven from week to week, it's enough to keep me guessing.
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