More of my work is migrating to Patreon, including writings on politics, culture, and how to publish. Feel free to follow me there. There are even free options.
Grosse Pointe Garden Society (Peacock): Four disparate grown-ups struggling with grown-up problems get caught up in a yet-to-be-revealed murder through a gardening society. Also, there’s a gardening society with the requisite scenes of hoeing and weeding, if you really are itching to see the title work itself into the plot somehow. Brett’s (Ben Rappaport) recovering from the emasculation of his wife leaving him and has a custody battle on the forefront; Alice (Annasophia Robb) is a teacher caught between kowtowing to a school’s rich benefactor and her integrity, on top of a rocky marriage and a dead dog; Catherine (Aja Naomi King) is the other woman in an extra-marital affair, but her regular marriage isn’t so hot either; and Birdie (Melissa Fumero) is a snooty (and quite fun) socialite who becomes entangled with her biological son and their adopted family. There are time jumps to this big tragic murder thingy six months out, but it’s not really a strong point of the show. Instead, this show is one of the best on TV for the four fully realized story arcs, the juicy drama, and the pointed classism satire. The arcs (particularly Brett and Alice) interact enough to give a sense of connection, and I’m assuming (I’m only halfway through) it will all point to some grand catharsis.
Laid (Peacock): Stephanie Hsu and Zosia Mamet make a good pair of friends (with whom some nice tension develops midway through) who are investigating a supernatural phenomenon of all of Hsu's exes dying in a certain order. It's an unapolagetically sex-positive take on a woman who's gotten around, but that's not really new (Amy Schumer, Chelsea Handler, Broad City, Girl Boss have treaded this territory). In this take, there's an interesting counter-current of "sex has consequences." It might even be read as a metaphor for STDs. If this is a "conservative take", it's all wrapped up in enough of a flippant overly comical storyline that I doubt anyone will care. It's developed by Nahnatchka Khan who generally treads in absurdist genre spins on the traditional formula (Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23, for example) so there's some of that absurdity here.
Running Point (Netflix): In my book this is one of the best casts on TV: Kate Hudson, Drew Tarver, Scott McArthur, Justin Thoreaux, Brenda Song, Jay Ellis, and Jon Glaser. And four of them play siblings quite convincingly. It's a behind-the-look at a female executive in the NBA played by Jeannie Buss, though it never feels like it has a whole lot of verisimilitude to NBA life. Instead, the episodes are arranged more around various themes as sitcoms are wont to do: One episode is more about trades, one episode is about disciplining the players, one episode is about tackling double standards between genders in the front office.
Going Dutch (Fox): An excellent military comedy about a stubborn man (with a capital M) and daughter forced to share commanding duties on a military base.
Unlike MASH which took medics to the front-lines and found humor in bleak situations, this show is more devoid of social commentary about war, because it doesn't take place anywhere near combat. Going Dutch gets a lot of comic mileage from its setting: This is a support base in the Dutch countryside which features a laundromat, bowling alley, and cheese factory (which they refer to as a “formagerie”; hey, I learned a new word).
The targets of satire are the crusty military traditions and classicism of the instutitons are the satire target in the form of the excellent general and failure of a father in General Quinn (Dennis Leary, did not know he had this type of character in him). The chemistry between Taylor Kisiak and Dennis Leary is reason enough to watch this show alone.
Deli Boys (Hulu): Solid mob comedy that gets better as it goes. There probably was a point when “ordinary people falling too deep into illicit activity that they were stuck in bed with organized crime” was an original comic idea. El Mariachi? Mickey Blue Eyes? By now, it’s pretty old hat but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for something like this which has great execution and even better characters. The show features an all South Asian cast, so part of the fun is taking this small subpopulation of character actors who we generally associate with Glee and Community (Iqbal Thegba); Never Have I Ever (Poorna Jagannathan); Seinfeld (Brian George); and even Queer Eye (Tan France) and turning them into stone cold killers.
Other stuff I'm watching that I've either previously reviewed
Animal Control (Fox): Premiering the same night each week as Going Dutch, it's getting better each week. I've covered it here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyfdQB_mc9I
Ghosts (CBS) and Krapopolis (FOX)-Still two of the strongest comedy programs on TV. They've preiously appeared in my top 10s.
Dark Winds (AMC)-Another new Native American-centered show. A bit more of a slow burn than I'm looking for, but it has an interesting setting.
No comments:
Post a Comment