TV Diary
a) "Cupertino"
Robert King and Michelle King do some of the best writing on TV, but the fact that they always do it on CBS with cheap-looking sets and weirdly airless direction is frustrating, just once I'd like to see them film a show on location with a decent cinematographer or get HBO money. In any event, their new show "Cupertino" is pretty great, it still kind of has the feel of "Evil" even though Mike Colter is now a lawyer taking on powerful Silicon Valley companies instead of a priest investigating demonic possessions. I was already way on board with the first episode, and in the next two episodes Busy Philips and Renee Elise Goldsberry joined the cast and it's real must-see TV for me.
"WandaVision" remains a high watermark for Marvel TV projects but my expectations for a new show starring Paul Bettany without Elizabeth Olsen were low, like who cares? I will admit, though, this is kinda fun, particularly James Spader in the flesh as a human avatar of Ultron, and seeing Diane "Philomena Cunk" Morgan in the MCU is very entertaining. But where "Cupertino" has timely storylines about the concept of 'sentient AI,' "VisionQuest" all hinges on sentient AI characters in a kind of dated old timey sci-fi trope way, which I'm afraid I've become a bit of a humorless crank about. I just can't buy in to the premise in the same way, even for the sake of a silly fun story, when people believing their ChatGPT can think and feel is such a huge problem right now, Weird Science doesn't even hit the same.
A really interesting Apple TV show, at first I thought it was going to be just this droll British sitcom with Pearce Quigley as a guy in his 60s working a retail job. But then it takes this odd turn where he grows homunculi in jars to consult them for answers about his girlfriend who disappeared several years ago. And then there's still a fair amount of funny everyday scenes of Quigley's character at his job talking to his co-worker, played by the very pretty Lauren Patel.
d) "Below"
A Newfoundland fishing village being terrorized by a huge sea creature with tentacles is such a great premise, even moreso with Mackenzie Davis doing a thick Newfie accent, just Canadian excellence all around. What I've watched so far is good but sometimes frustrating, like it's one of those things where they see video proof of the monster pretty early on but instead of showing people footage they just run around the town yelling about it and sounding crazy.
"Minimum Wage" is a mockumentary sitcom on Netflix with new "SNL" cast member Grace Reiter and, I think just occasionally in some episodes, Randall Park. It's closer to a good version of "Tires" than a bad version of "The Office," if that makes sense, like it just feels a little low budget and slapdash, but the cast is reasonably charming and the humor doesn't lean on edgelord shit, and
f) "Carrie"
I just watched the 1976 Carrie movie this month and haven't read the book, so I won't act like I have a dog in the fight of whether this story has been adapted too many times now. But I generally like Mike Flanagan's stuff, and even if this doesn't reach the heights of my favorite Flanagan things (Oculus and "Midnight Mass"), it's pretty good. I've gotten through 6 of 8 episodes so I haven't seen how the big climax of the story goes in this version, but he's managed to make a much longer build-up to that iconic moment pretty interesting in a modern context. It was also cool to see that Haute & Freddy, who I interviewed last year, are a recurring musical theme, Flanagan
I'm generally a fan of talented actors doing horror, but I think Linda Cardellini is too good for a vaguely self-important Friday the 13th prequel series about Jason's childhood.
This is decent and I don't think doing shows or movies about American military missions is inherently jingoistic or problematic. But it's weird to air this show right after the 25th anniversary of 9/11, considering that one of the direct repercussions of 9/11 was the unjustified Iraq war.
i) "Ludwig"
I've never watched "Peep Show" so I mostly know David Mitchell from the "are we the baddies?" memes. I like this BBC mystery series that's now in its second season, though, he's good in a semi-dramatic role. Mitchell plays a crossword puzzle designer who poses as his missing twin brother, a policeman, while trying to find his brother, and inadvertently finds out that he can solve murders with his analytical gift for puzzles and pattern recognition. Sometimes they get a little overly cutesy with that premise but it's a really good show.
This is still an enjoyable show but I think the aspects of it that were always a little irritating are maybe more pronounced now. I liked Morgan and Sasha's platonic friendship in the beginning of the show and don't really like that they seem to be headed towards an actual romance in the season 3 episodes I've watched, but at the same time it's more fun to watch them together than Noah and Joanne.
I was pleasantly surprised that "The Diplomat" made the cut for NYT's recent 100 best TV shows of the 21st century. Shows that started in the late '90s but mostly aired post-2000 like "The Sopranos" were disqualified, and I suspect "The Diplomat" would have made the cut if "The West Wing" were eligible, but I'm still happy about it, the dialogue and the acting and the plotting is always so compelling, some of the season 4 storylines have really had me on the edge of my seat.
l) "Get Jiro!"
I didn't know Anthony Bourdain co-wrote a graphic novel for Vertigo in 2012 about a dystopian future where food is currency and sushi chefs are extremely powerful, but the Adult Swim adaptation is pretty cool.
"Haunted Hotel" isn't my favorite animated sitcom on Netflix but it's definitely one of the better ones, glad it's back for a second season. It kinda cracks me up how much Skyler Gisondo's character sounds like Bruce McCulloch.
n) "Odd Squad"
This is a Canadian show from about a decade ago where kids solve problems with math, my middle schooler found it on Netflix recently and really enjoys it, the kid actors have some pretty good comedy chops.
Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain, who's made some excellent movies including Jackie, produced this Netflix series and directed some of the episodes. It's a pretty compelling show about a woman who can see ghosts. That title kind of cracks me up, though.
An amusing Spanish series on Netflix where there's a murder on a resort and an actor who's played Sherlock Holmes gets involved in the investigation (and again, I feel very immature because I think the Spanish title, "El Problema Final," is funny).
An Italian teen drama about a military academy, didn't take much interest in it.
This Turkish show is about a mother who hires a mysterious nanny, watched a little but never really got far enough to find out where the plot was headed.
s) "Chumbak"
I liked this Hindi-language series on Netflix, kind of reminds me of an old-fashioned American sitcom, a little cheesy but some snappy dialogue.
This Mexican series is I guess based on a historical romance novel, kind of not a genre I take to very often but it seemed alright.
This Dutch mystery series is one of the better Netflix imports I've seen lately, kind of had like a "White Lotus" vibe, good dialogue and big personalities.
This K-drama about two teen pianists at a music school is pretty good, I'm a sucker for stories where people bond through music.
w) "Outside"
One of those very stupid reality shows where content creators have to survive in the wild. Dire.
x) "The Mob"
A very very stupid "Traitors"-style reality show where celebrities and vaguely fame-ish people do mafia movie-themed challenged. I felt bad for Debi Mazar that she's in this.
y) "Tyson"
I don't know why I put this on, I feel like we've all collectively heard enough about Mike Tyson at this point, I couldn't even muster enough interest to appreciate that the effort made at this being a serious definitive docuseries on him.
Decent HBO docuseries about the grisly murder of a Louisiana pet cemetery owner's murder in the '80s, although maybe I'm stupid for wishing they used the Ramones song in it.
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