a) "Russian Doll"
I've been following writer/director Leslye Headland's career for a while now and really enjoying her movies (
Sleeping With Other People,
Bachelorette, and the
About Last Night remake that was far better than it had a right to be), and I was disappointed when her first TV project (a pre-"Jessica Jones" Krysten Ritter vehicle) never got on the air. But "Russian Doll," holy shit, this is her masterpiece. The release of both this and the new
Happy Death Day sequel in February suggest to me that
Groundhog Day-style stories about people living in a time loop are now a genre unto itself with its own season (let's get that
Edge of Tomorrow sequel a couple Februaries from now, maybe?). And while "Russian Doll" is inventive and unpredictable with its own twist on the concept, it's really the dialogue and the characters that make this thing an absolute delight, I can't remember the last time I smiled this much watching anything. It wasn't that long ago that Natasha Lyonne seemed like this tragic figure who was mired in years of addiction and health problems, it's so much fun to see her be so hilarious in this. I kind of assumed this would be a self-contained one season thing until I got to the kind of open-ended season finale and saw that it was renewed for a second season, so I'm thrilled about that.
b) "Deadly Class"
This is really wonderfully entertaining, a great addition to SyFy's increasingly stellar original programming lineup, and visually it feels more 'like a page of a comic book brought to life' than most other comic adaptations. The whole '80s disaffected teenager template being done at a school for assassins is just great, sometimes they lay on the period stuff a little thick but I'm enjoying all the characters arguing about The Cure and
Risky Business. I was sad that they killed off the Henry Rollins character so quickly, but at least he had a good death scene.
c) "Hanna"
2011's
Hanna was one of those perfectly decent movies that got fairly good reviews and was fairly profitable at the time, but I don't think I alone in not giving it a second thought after watching it once. So it becoming a TV series is kind of surprising, all the more because 8 years is an odd interval of time to revisit it -- it's not fresh in anyone's mind, but it hasn't really had time for anyone to be nostalgic about it either. The first episode of "Hanna" that Amazon previewed ahead of the March release of the first season is promising enough, though, the story might be more suited for a series than a one-off film. And Esme Creed-Miles seems to have inherited her mother Samantha Morton's ability to command the screen even in scenes where she has little or no dialogue.
d) "The Other Two"
This Comedy Central show created by two "SNL" writers is about the two older siblings of a teen star who try to leverage his fame for their own careers in show business. And while that premise sounds very "Entourage," this show has the sharp, hilarious satirical edge "Entourage" always wished it had, it's just hysterical, at times almost "30 Rock" level with the references. I think the moment in the third episode with Justin Theroux's motorcycle toilet was when I knew that this show is great.
e) "PEN15"
This Hulu show about middle schoolers in the year 2000 feels like a much more successful version of what the late '90s set Netflix series "Everything Sucks!" was attempting. And I almost hate saying that, because I applauded that show actually casting actors who are the same age as the kids they're playing, whereas the best and worst thing about "PEN15" is that the two main 13-year-old characters are played by women over 30. It's kind of a weird gambit because the rest of the cast is actual kids, but it more or less works by the force of Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle's performances (and the braces they're wearing).
f) "I Am The Night"
In between shooting
Wonder Woman, which takes place in the 1940s, and the upcoming
Wonder Woman 1984, Patty Jenkins and Chris Pine made this TNT miniseries that takes place in the '60s, almost like a chronological pit stop. It's a very slow moving story that kind of works its way backwards to uncovering information about the Black Dahlia murder 20 years earlier, it's interesting in spots and the Pine stuff is entertaining but I get the feeling it would've worked better as a feature than a series, I don't feel like it has a whole lot of narrative momentum from episode to episode so far, it's just now starting to pick up in the 3rd episode.
g) "Pure"
This Canadian series about the true story of a drug trafficking ring in a Mennonite community was pitched in the early 2000s but it's not surprising that the show didn't get produced until after "Breaking Bad." It's a little slow moving so far, but obviously the premise is pretty interesting and there have been some pretty memorable scenes.
h) "Valley Of The Boom"
I remember being excited when I heard that people like Bradley Whitford and Steve Zahn and Lamorne Morris had been cast for this miniseries about the '90s dot com boom. But it's on NatGeo so instead of a full-on scripted drama it's one of those weird hybrid docudrama things that combines real footage and talking head segments and breaks the 4th wall a lot in jokey conceptual ways. I appreciate the ambition but it really just comes out as a mess, like The Big Short but even more poorly realized. And Steve Zahn totally overacts his role as the eccentric con man who winds up in prison by the end of the story, he's just unnecessarily over the top.
i) "Black Earth Rising"
After Michaela Coel's tour de force performance in two seasons of "Chewing Gum," I kind of assumed the next thing I'd see her in would have a similar comedic sensibility. Instead, "Black Earth Rising" is serious as a heart attack, a political thriller about genocide and war crime tribunals. But I kind of enjoy watching Coel and John Goodman set aside their comedy chops and really give their all to this dark story. Some of the dialogue is really clumsily on-the-nose, though, the cast is sometimes failed by the writing.
j) "Informer"
Another tense British thriller about race and political violence, well done but I don't know if I find it interesting enough to finish it.
k) "A Discovery Of Witches"
My wife read the novel this series is based on and she seemed kind of lukewarm about the adaptation, and I haven't really been into it too much so far, you'd think a show about an alliance between witches and vampires would be more fun.
l) "Always A Witch"
"Always A Witch" (aka "Siempre Bruja") is a Spanish language series (dubbed in English) that seems to have disappointed everyone who's seen it, whether for its racially problematic plot or its poor production values. But what really surprised me is how dull it is, half the time it just feels like a generic teen soap opera.
m) "Pinky Malinky"
This Netflix cartoon about a sentient hot dog is pretty entertaining, both my 9-year-old and I enjoy it, it reminds me a bit of "The Amazing Adventures of Gumball" in terms of both the visual aesthetic and the humor.
n) "Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty"
Cartoon Network started airing the series "Unikitty" last year (starring a character introduced in 2014's
The Lego Movie), so I raised an eyebrow at Nickelodeon recently debuted a completely different series about a pink unicorn/cat hybrid creature. Like, even if nobody ripped anybody off, that's an insanely specific premise for 2 new shows to have in the space of a year (even my 3-year-old unintentionally verified the similarity by calling it "Butterfly Unikitty"). "Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty" kind of has a different animation style and isn't too similar in other respects, but it's not as funny as "Unikitty," definitely the lesser of the two.
o) "Carmen Sandiego"
As someone who grew up with the "Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego?" game show and video games, where the titular character is a largely unseen and the main point is for kids to learn about geography, I'm totally puzzled by this Netflix series, which just turns Carmen Sandiego into a plucky cartoon heroine in the mold of, like, "Kim Possible."
p) "The Masked Singer"
This show is ridiculous, but it knows it's ridiculous, so it's got that going for it. I kind of like how all these celebrities who aren't known for singing get to do karaoke on TV with millions of people watching. I wish they weren't so heavy handed with the hints they give about who the singers are, but probably nobody would get into guessing if they didn't leave a good trail of breadcrumbs.
q) "Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club"
Now, MTV's latest "Jersey Shore" knockoff about young sexy dumb people getting wasted and hooking up may not seem like a groundbreaking, innovative show. But what else can you call a show that presents Lindsay Lohan as an authority figure?
r) "The Titan Games"
I was always a little befuddled that The Rock had time to do seasons of "Ballers" in between movies, so now I'm really amazed that he also can fit hosting an inspirational twist on "American Gladiators" into his schedule too. It's like the guy is made of muscles and time.
s) "Mythbusters Jr."
There have been so many attempts to kind of carry on the "Mythbusters" franchise since the original show ended, including the 2017 version with a new team and the Netflix show "White Rabbit Project" with some of the old show's crew. But I think "Mythbusters Jr." is probably the best continuation of the show, since original co-host Adam Savage returns with a cast of teenagers who test more kid-friendly myths about duct tape and stuff, it's pretty fun, I would let my kids watch this.
t) "Counterpart"
"Counterpart" is reminding me a little of "Westworld" in that they both laid out this interesting ambitious concept with a large cast of characters really well in the first season, but then the second season lost a little momentum moving around all the chess pieces of the big complex plot. And in both cases, the one-off episodes that kind of zeroed in on particular characters/stories tended to be the best ones. For "Counterpart," the flashback episode about the beginning of the 2 parallel dimensions, centered around Yanek (James Cromwell in the present and Samuel Roukin in flashbacks), was really gripping, one of the best episodes of the series even without J.K. Simmons.
u) "Adam Ruins Everything"
Last year "Adam Ruins Everything" did a handful of 'reanimated history' episodes where the entire show was a cartoon but essentially the same show, which was kind of fun, but I'm glad they're back to the regular format again, I enjoyed the 'plate of nachos' episode.
v) "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt"
I'm sad to finally have the last handful of "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" episodes to watch, which I'm almost done with, but I was pleasantly surprised that one of them, the really ridiculous and entertaining
Sliding Doors-themed episode, was an hour long. This show always had a loose grip on reality and I enjoy how they've kind of leaned into it over the years, I just hope Titus Burgess keeps getting showcases this perfect for his comedic voice.
w) "Grace And Frankie"
I can deal with "Kimmy Schmidt" winding down partly because Netflix seems committed to renewing "Grace And Frankie" for more seasons as long as all 4 principal actors are alive and kicking. I kind of like that they've taken the characters out of their comfort zone a little this season, get a bit of a change of pace. The RuPaul and Nicole Ritchie episode was really funny.
x) "True Detective"
Casting is everything for most TV and especially "True Detective." The first season was the right role for Matthew McConaughey at the right time, and season two, while inferior from a story standpoint, probably would've been better received if Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn weren't the wrong actors at the wrong points in their careers. The third season splits the difference with Mahershala Ali at a great moment in his career and, bafflingly, whose career peaked around the time he appeared in a Limp Bizkit video. Dorff musters some of the same cantankerous southern cop charisma Woody Harrelson had in the first season, but I don't want to give him too much credit, and really if anything this season is a little too much like the first season. The big difference is Ali is revisiting a 20-year-old old case with his mind slipping into dementia where McConaughey was just kind of a talkative weirdo, so it's a little more downbeat and melancholy. I'm starting to get caught up in the mystery but I'm still a little skeptical about this season.
y) "Drunk History"
Although "Drunk History" always tends to get bigger stars to act in the reenactments and hype that up in the ads, I really feel like whoever's getting drunk and telling the story is the star of the show, and Amber Ruffin and Katie Nolan have really become 2 of the MVPs of the show, really enjoyed their recent appearances.
z) "Conan"
It's crazy to think that I've been watching Conan's late night shows for over 25 years now, and that he's already been on TBS for almost a decade. In January he relaunched the show that's always been 60 minutes with a new half hour format, and I have to admit, I have bittersweet feelings about the changes. I probably have more great memories of bands and standup comics at the end of Conan's shows than the celebrity interviews, and those performances are all gone, as is one of the best house bands in late night TV. Conan doesn't wear a suit anymore, but every night he has a different jean jacket or leather jacket with a square bottom tie, it's a weird business casual look. That said, the new show is more like the old one than it's different, and it kind of feels like they just trimmed the fat so that Conan and Andy can focus on their favorite parts of the show and make the whole thing worth watching instead of just channel surfing past.
