TV Diary
"The Big Cigar" stars Andre Holland and Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton -- I imagine if this project had come along when he was a little younger, exec producer/director Don Cheadle would be playing Newton, but I really like Holland, he's great in this role. The series focuses Newton's friendship with Hollywood producer Bert Schneider, which is an interesting angle, I didn't know about any of this aspect of his life.
b) "Eric"
There was a show called "Happy!" on SyFy a few years ago where Christopher Meloni played a father looking for their missing child with the help of their kid's imaginary friend, played as a surreal dark comedy. "Eric" has a very similar premise, with Benedict Cumberpatch as a puppeteer who starts to see visions of a puppet his son designed after he disappears, but it's all played much more serious as a psychological period piece prestige drama, I really don't like it.
My wife has read Blake Crouch's novel Dark Matter and so far she's seemed to approve of the Apple TV+ adaptation. I do wonder if it works better as a book, though, onscreen it feels a little like, yes, a guy switches places with himself in a parallel universe where he has a different life, I've seen a lot of this stuff before. But being married to Jennifer Connelly in one universe, and then winding up in another universe and going off to find alt universe Jennifer Connelly, that I found relatable.
d) "Bodkin"
I have kind of a low opinion of the true crime podcast industry, so I am fine with multiple TV comedies lampooning it, with "Only Murders In The Building" and "Based On A True Story" and now "Bodkin," the more the merrier. "Bodkin" features Will Forte as a goofy American podcaster who teams up with a serious Irish journalist to do a podcast about mysterious disappearances in a small town in Ireland, which sounds like a broad premise but Forte dials it back nicely and it's a good dry comedy with some dramatic tension.
A Holocaust love story, still very sad and hard to watch at times but with some nice moments of light and humanity. I honestly did not even recognize Harvey Keitel in this, I watched an entire episode not knowing it was him, he really disappeared into the role. He and Melanie Lynskey both play Australians, and I wonder what it's like for someone from New Zealand to play Australian, like does she just use her regular voice or is she very consciously adjusting her accent?
f) "Geek Girl"
A cute little Netflix comedy about a teenager who sort of falls into being a model after being a geeky outcast at school, pretty formulaic but charming nonetheless.
g) "Shardlake"
A mystery series set in a Tudor era monastery, haven't found it especially gripping so far but a good cast, good production values.
h) "Tires"
This Netflix sitcom features an assortment of problematic white comedians with unflattering mustaches: Shane Gillis (cancel culture poster boy fired from "SNL" for saying slurs on a podcast), Stavros Halkias (from the hipster racism podcast Cum Town), and Andrew Schulz (Charlamagne The God's even more embarrassing sidekick). It's a pretty shitty show.
This show's whole concept is still a little strange and hard to embrace, but it feels mostly like an excuse for a sweet ensemble show about a small town and it has a cast good enough to pull that off, I just adore Gabrielle Dennis.
The first season of "We Are Lady Parts" was 3 years ago, so I kind of forgot the show existed for a while until Sarah Kameela Impey appeared in an episode of the otherwise mediocre "Dinner With The Parents" recently and I realized that "Lady Parts" was finally coming back for a second season. I really enjoy this show, it feels very true to a lot of aspects of playing in a punk band even though it's got the distinct perspective of being about Muslim women in London.
k) "Bridgerton"
Season 3 of "Bridgerton" is based on the only book in the series that my wife has read, so even though we didn't ever finish season 2 we've been watching this one. Still not totally my kind of thing, but I like the sort of irreverent modernized version of a period drama they do and Nicola Coughlan is great.
This Netflix sci-fi show is about seven giant holes opening up in Japan that people think are portals to a divine realm, which is an interesting premise. But of course, the name of the show is "Seven Orifices" and they constantly use the word "orifice" and it's just very uncomfortable and hard to take totally seriously.
A pretty entertaining Korean show on Netflix about a radio announcer who suddenly develops a disorder where he speaks without thinking and is unable to filter or censor himself.
n) "The 8 Show"
This is another Netflix show from Korea about a deadly dystopian game show, I think it's probably just as good a show as "Squid Game" but it definitely hasn't struck the same chord, at least in America.
Another Korean Netflix show, a pleasant romantic dramedy about young adults who aren't sure what to do with their lives, feels like the equivalent to a CW soap opera.
p) "Kubra"
This Turkish drama on Netflix is about a guy who uses a religious texting app and finds that he seems to be texting with God himself, which is a fantastic premise, I feel like if this was done in America it would be kind of corny or played for laughs but there's a cool thriller tone to this show.
A dark anime anthology series based on Brothers Grimm stories, which is a decent idea. But I was recently reminded that Netflix had another animated series "A Tale Dark & Grimm" in 2021 because my son started watching it again, a more kid-friendly but I think overall better take on the concept.
A Netflix docuseries about a Spanish chef who was convicted of murder. Interesting story, but again, I hate the true crime industry, "Cooking Up Murder" is such a hacky title.
s) "Ren Faire"
This docuseries is about the leadership fight over the Texas Renaissance Festival, I feel like someone at HBO said "hey, a succession power struggle? those do really well for us, let's go!" We've gone to the Maryland ren faire a few times so I thought it'd be a fun watch, but the comparisons to "Tiger King" are apt, I don't really care for these documentaries about obnoxious guys with "big personalities" and big egos.
I only went to Lollapalooza one time (in 1996, the Metallica year, which is fairly depicted as a divisive turning point in the festival's history). But this 3-part Paramount+ docuseries really feels like a fond walk through my '90s alt-rock memories. I already knew a lot of the stories but some of them were new to me and there was some awesome footage, I especially appreciate that they dedicated the whole first episode to the 1991 tour in great detail.
Another awesome recent music docuseries, I'm glad they did this now while there are still a decent number of important Stax people still alive to talk, although obviously a lot of them have already passed.
v) "Camden"
This music docuseries focuses on Camden Town, which I guess is a part of London with a lot of venues and where a lot of famous musicians have gotten their start -- my American perspective was I imagine it's kind of to London as the Lower East Side or Williamsburg is to New York or something. Some cool stuff in here, I like that they go through all these different types of music, from Coldplay to Dua Lipa to Soul II Soul. Some of the ways they put together narratives make me roll my eyes, though, like the 'Rebels and Misfits' episode that parallels the stories of The Clash, Oasis, The Libertines and YUNGBLUD, which kind of gets more and more depressing as it goes on.
w) "The GOAT"
This is kind of a meta reality show competition full of people from other reality shows, similar to last year's "House of Villains." I feel like it's embarrassing that I sometimes find Daniel Tosh funny, but he's the right person to host a stupid show like this, he's just emanates so much loathing for himself and the show he's hosting.
A slick reality show (or "docusoap") about rich people in the Caymans, totally just put this on as background noise one day.
Major league baseball always seems vaguely like a clusterfuck of big personalities and crimes and scandals to me, so I watched this without really getting any sense that the early '90s Yankees was some especially crazy time, but I could be wrong.
Still a pretty fun little show, I like that they're not too committed to the show having the same feel or format from episode to episode or season to season, it's a little loose and improvisatory. I enjoyed when Ryan Reynolds did the silly song for Rob McElhenney's birthday instructing everyone on how to pronounce 'McElhenney.'
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on Tuesday, June 04, 2024 at 12:27 PM.
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