TV Diary
"Reservation Dogs" is a modern classic and I wish it lasted more than 3 seasons, but I'm cool with FX picking up Sterlin Harjo's new series that takes place in the same fictional universe's Oklahoma (as confirmed by a Willie Jack cameo in the first episode). Ethan Hawke's Lee Raybon is a bit of a self-destructive fool and a little of a noble resourceful hero, getting beat up and nearly killed in every episode so far, a really entertaining protagonist to throw into a neo-noir story full of colorful characters, including great turns from Keith David and Abbie Cobb, and lots of needledrops from Tulsa's musical legends (The Gap Band, Leon Russell, J.J. Cale). I'm loving every minute of it.
The latest series from "Peaky Blinders" creator Steven Knight is a big lavish period piece about the family that founded the Guinness brewing company. I didn't realize that Jack Gleeson had mostly done theater in the decade since his great performance on "Game of Thrones" and I guess this is his most prominent screen role since then. Niamh McCormack is mostly who I remember from the first episode, though, wow.
c) "Wayward"
The first Netflix series Mae Martin created and starred in, "Feel Good," was kind of a typical standup comic's autobiographical sitcom, albeit a good one. "Wayward," however, is a much more original and intriguing drama, with Martin as a trans man who becomes a police officer in a small Vermont town where some odd stuff is going on an Toni Collette plays the sinister headmaster at a mysterious academy.
A pretty entertaining drama with Jason Bateman playing against type, as he seems to more and more these days, as a troubled fuckup whose debts endanger is brother (Jude Law)'s successful nightclub. Sometimes it feels like Netflix has completely abandoned any pretense of making scripted English-language shows that can compete with what HBO and Apple TV+ and Hulu are putting out, so to get a few shows like "Black Rabbit," "Wayward," and "House of Guinness" in the space of about a week gives me some hope that Netflix isn't fully resigned to cranking out slop.
Jesse Williams learned to speak Italian and attempts a breezy Will Smith-style leading man turn in this Amazon series that takes place in Italy, both with mixed results. Not bad, though, kinda fun.
The USA Network stopped making original series years ago, but given the streaming resurgence of "Suits" I guess they've decided to give the old fashioned legal drama game another go, starting with a John Grisham adaptation. I never saw the movie Coppola made of The Rainmaker, so I don't know the story or have a frame of reference to compare to, which is probably good, I can go into this cold. Lana Parrilla was always the best thing about "Once Upon A Time" in my opinion, happy to see her in something new.
g) "Invasion"
If the second and third seasons of "Invasion" have had budgets in the same ballpark as the first season, Apple TV+ has spent half a billion dollars on this show that I've virtually never seen anybody else ever acknowledge the existence of that has no real recognizable stars (outside of Sam Neill, who was only in the first episode). I love money pits like this, though, it's not a great show but it's visually very impressive and there's a good ensemble cast that gives me enough gripping scenes now and then to keep me invested in the story.
A pretty good new animated sitcom on Netflix created by a "Rick and Morty" writer that as a great voice cast (Will Fote, Eliza Coupe, Skyle Gisondo, etc.) and feels more like its own thing than yet another offbrand "Rick and Morty" like "Solar Opposites" or "Krapopolis."
My ten-year-old loves "The Owl House" and has watched every episode multiple times. So I was happy to hear that creator Dana Teace has a new show, although there's just the pilot on YouTube so far and I don't think I'll show it to my son anytime soon. It's not really more 'adult' than "The Owl House" in any meaningful way except language, but the characters say "shit" a lot (no other curses I can remember, just a lot of shit, to the point that it feels forced and unnecessary).
A Korean show on Netflix about first year residents in a hospital's OB-GYN department, feels surprisingly interchangeable with American medical dramas, which kinda just makes me less interested in watching it.
This Spanish series is pretty creepy and compelling, about a guy whose own mother trains him to become a hitman.
l) "The Royals"
I like this Indian series about power struggles in a luxury hotel, it's very soapy and everybody is really gorgeous.
m) "1 In 7641"
Netflix debuted two different docuseries celebrating the culture and history of the Philippines in the space of three months, which is just fine with me, it's a fascinating count, I checked out both. If you see only one, though, I might recommend "I Love Filipino," which has more of a native perspective than the tourist perspective of "1 In 7641."
The same Vice TV people who made "Dark Side of the Ring" produced this Hulu docuseries about some of the more tragic or violent stories from metal istory. I find that overarching theme a little lurid, but the stories are generally told sensitively with an appropriate amount of attention paid to the actual music.
o) "Taurasi"
I knew of Diana Taurasi as one of the WNBA's big names who retired earlier this year but I didn't really realize how long or impressive her career was until I watched this docuseries, which also gives an interesting perspective on the changes and growth of the league over the past 20 years.
I didn't know Ted Bundy gave extensive interviews in prison to an investigator who was trying to catch the Green River Killer, it's pretty chilling to hear audio of his voice in this docuseries, definitely reccomended to "Mindhunter" fans.
I hadn't heard of model Books Nader but this reality show is about her and her three sisters living together in New York City. A very transparently Kadashians-ish show but with a slightly more likeable family of beautiful people who are from Louisiana.
I will say that the title "Back To Reality" is clever: Todd and Julie Chrisley are returning to reality television, and 'normal' life, they're out of prison following President Trump pardoning their 2022 tax evasion and fraud conviction.I hate watched them a little back in the day before they were felons, so I felt like hate watching them a little again for old time's sake.
I feel like there's probably no American sports team that has fallen further in my lifetime than the Dallas Cowboys, even just making a docuseries that focuses on that '90s streak when they were Supe Bowl champs three out of four years just feels like a latent admission that the last thirty years are a story that they don't want to tell.
The Kansas City Chiefs are kind of the Cowboys of the modern NFL era, so it feels almost like an incomplete story arc to see a doc about their dominant years while they're still happening but it also allows you to get a more candid real time look behind the curtain.
"Lego Masters" is a fun show partly for the novelty of seeing adults get passionate about Legos, but it's just as much fun to watch the spinoff about kids. And they brought back my favorite person from the other show, the cute Scottish woman Brickmaster Amy.
Godon Ramsay's daughter Tilly hosts this Amazon show where chefs have to make dishes from a 'mystery box' of ingredients, a moderately fun little cooking show.
This is a more is pressure "Top Chef"-style show, but I like that it's explicitly about younger chefs who ae early in their careers. But I did cringe that the teams were named after famous deceased chefs like Julia Child and Anthony Bourdain, just a bit tacky.
w) "99 To Beat"
Ken Jeong hosts this American adaptation of a Belgium game show that stats with 100 contestants and keeps eliminating people though different challenges until the last person remaining wins it all. I love the concept although I doubt I'll watch it enough to get invested in who makes it to the end.
I recently watched the docuseies "Virgins" and found its depictions of people in their twenties, thirties and forties who'd never had sex to be touching and empathetic. This "Love Island"-style dating show about a resort full of virgins, not quite so sensitive, but it's still full of nice people that you can't help but root for and care about.
I never really watched this show when it was a ratings phenomenon but I suppose I'm not too surprised to learn that it's problematic.
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