TV Diary
Friday, January 26, 2018
a) "Counterpart"
This show has already had two seasons ordered and based on the first episode I'm already pretty down for at least a couple years of J.K. Simmons playing dual roles as parallel universe versions of one character. I really like the way the first episode unfurled this high concept story in the context of stuffy government bureaucracy, and then ended with a nice little twist that let you wonder what else The Other J.K. is lying about.
I've never read the graphic novel this is based on, but this British series is easily one of the best new shows from Netflix in recent memory. It starts with a teenage boy who kills animals and thinks he's a psychopath dating a girl with the intentions of making her his first human victim, and it kind of spirals out of control from there in a strangely heartwarming way. The episodes are really quick, like 18 to 21 minutes, which is really refreshing and I think enhances the odd rhythms and unpredictable nature of the show.
c) "Happy!"
I feel like Christopher Meloni has long been wanting for a star vehicle that lets him cut loose from his "SVU" image, and he's really gotten it in this SyFy show where he plays a crazed ex-cop who talks to a tiny imaginary blue horse voiced by Patton Oswalt. I have found the show's constant contrast of dark violent themes with loopy absurdity a little less entertaining over the course of the first few episodes, but still, they're pulling off the concept pretty well with some spirited performances.
d) "The Assisination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story"
The degree to which the second season of "American Crime Story" cares about the murder victim, when you think about how little it cared about the victims in the first season, really underscores how much more Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk are interested in celebrity than anything else in these stories. That's not necessarily a bad thing in the case of this season, which is a pretty detailed character study of both Gianni Versace and the serial killer who shot him, Andrew Cunanan (but I must say it doesn't bode well for "Crime Story"'s delayed season about Hurricane Katrina, where most of the victims lacked fame or sympathetic media portrayals). I don't know much about Versace or Cunanan so I'm appreciating the amount of detail and emotion they're putting into a story that doesn't have much in the way or mystery or suspense to move it forward.
e) "9-1-1"
Since I've seen Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk mishandle so many different genres of television over the years to different degrees, I was skeptical about what they would do with this procedural about first responders. But Angela Bassett, Peter Krause, and Connie Britton is about as good a trio of lead actors as you could hope for for a network drama, and I like the way they kind of jump between the 911 switchboard and police officers and the fire department with interlocking stories. Some of the dialogue and plotting is really clumsy and bad, though.
f) "LA To Vegas"
I'm a fan of workplace sitcoms in general, and in particular shows about transportation and a workplace that always has colorful characters passing through (this might seem like a painfully specific niche, but I mean, "Taxi," "Wings," "The John Larroquette Show," it's a very particular vibe to me). This show is a little bit broad and sleazy, but it's got a fun cast including Peter Stormare, it might grow on me if the writing doesn't stay too formulaic. And it's kind of nice to see Nathan Lee Graham, so memorable in his tiny role in Zoolander so long ago, get a good series regular gig like this.
g) "Alone Together"
This show is so funny in a very acerbic adult way that I'm kind of surprised Freeform made it. It's about two platonic friends who are looking for more attractive people than each other and argue way too much for you to hope they end up together, in a way it does the anti romance thing better than a lot of contemporary sitcoms have tried to. And Esther Povitsky is as odd and entertaining here as she has been in her small recurring role on "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,"
h) "Mosaic"
"Mosaic" is one of those weird formal experiments that Steven Soderbergh is so fond of: it came out as a mobile app, where you kind of choose scenes as an interactive movie where you try to solve a murder mystery, for about 2 months before it aired as a series on HBO, which has aired 4 episodes so far this week and airs the last two tonight. I was apprehensive that the app aspect would weaken it as a traditional TV show, but I have to say it's been pretty engrossing. Soderbergh goes overboard with his signature color palettes almost to the point of self parody, but I'm finding it more interesting than the average TV murder mystery miniseries (maybe because the victim is Sharon Stone as a famous children's book auther and not the small town adolescent these shows are usually about). Soderbergh always has a great eye for actors and this thing is full of memorable performances by people I haven't seen much of before: Devin Ratray, Jennifer Ferrin, and Bridey Elliott in particular.
i) "Black Lightning"
There are, I suppose, some benefits to The CW rolling out show about D.C.'s first black superhero show on the eve of Marvel's Black Panther hitting theaters, but I almost feel like the timing does it a disservice; "Black Lightning" doesn't get to have its own little cultural moment, and the ads soundtracks to Kendrick Lamar invariably bring to mind the Black Panther marketing. It's kind of like if "Super Girl" had premiered a couple weeks before Wonder Woman came out. That said, they're very different characters, and I like the way Black Lightning's story arc begins with him as a retired hero-turned-school principal who reluctantly puts the suit back on, the show is really well cast. It's trippy to see Krondon from Strong Arm Steady as a bad guy on here. I don't watch much of The CW's superhero shows in part because the production values tend to look a little flimsy, but I like the aesthetic of the costumes and stuff here.
j) "Jean Claude Van Johnson"
I was on the fence about the Amazon pilot season episode of "Jean Claude Van Johnson" that was circulated over a year ago, and I remained on the fence as I watched the full season of the show. It kinda felt like one episode would hit the right comic notes and realize the potential of the project, but then the next episode would just revert to a straight-up dumb action movie. Jesus Christ Venereal Disease has his moments as a comedic performer but the show really could've used more of the excellent supporting cast that included Kat Foster, Phylicia Rashad, and the always underutilized Richard Schiff. But it doesn't really matter, Amazon has already canceled it.
k) "Wormwood"
I really dislike the genre of docudrama that mixes real footage and interviews with dramatization, and I hesitate to say that because "Wormwood" director Errol Morris is extremely revered for doing films in this style. But honestly, there's just something about intercutting acted scenes with documentary scenes that makes it all feel like an upscale version of reenactments on shows like "America's Most Wanted." The story depicted in "Wormwood" is one that I've heard about and been fascinated by for decades and I really probably would've enjoyed a straight up doc or a straight up drama way more.
l) "Dark"
This German series from Netflix was compared incessantly to "Stranger Things," and as no particular fan of "Stranger Things" it is very little trouble for me to say that "Dark" was better. I didn't love it or anything, but it had some pretty cool visuals and the concept, though it sometimes went over my head, was interesting.
m) "My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman"
It's been less than 3 years since David Letterman's retirement, and I've been happy to see that he's not entirely ready to withdraw from the spotlight. I really enjoyed the episode of the climate change NatGeo series "Years of Living Dangerously" where he did field reporting from India and got to interact with everyday people, so I kind of hoped if he did another series that it would be in that vein, but a Netflix series where he interviews extremely famous people works too. The Barack Obama interview was interesting because these are 2 guys who you've only seen interact before in those little bite size network talk show interview segments while Obama was president or a candidate, and even with an audience present there was still a new looseness you get in this format and with both of them freed from their old jobs.
n) "Black Mirror"
I've always been a big "Black Mirror" skeptic, obviously speculative fiction is a very useful way to talk about the new forms of communications and surveillance technology that are rapidly changing our world, but I'm not a huge fan of Charlie Brooker's particular approach. That said, season 4 was the first one I watched every episode of, so it's starting to grow on me. I thought "USS Callister" and "Black Museum" were among the more memorable and engrossing episodes, but I was struck by how much they hinged on the idea that you could put human consciousness into a computer and its feelings would be so real that human morality applies. Maybe it will be possible someday, I don't know, but it felt like a logical stretch that was handwaved with compelling performances by human actors. Douglas Hodge in the latter was a really memorable, charismatically horrifying performance, I'm surprised I've never seen him in anything before.
o) "Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams"
It's either good or bad timing for a Philip K. Dick anthology series to come out at a time its format seems similar to or inspired by "Black Mirror," even though obviously Dick has influenced so much these days including "Black Mirror." The first episode was pretty good, with the whole concept of two people played by Terrence Howard and Anna Paquin who both think the other is their virtual reality alter ego (and Howard at one point being told "you're not really a lesbian supercop in the future in a flying car"). My interest really waned in the second episode, though, I still need to check out the rest.
p) "Dope"
This is a Netflix documentary series about the drug trade that puts cameras with cops as well as dealers in different cities. Obviously I was more interested in the episode about heroin Baltimore than the ones about other places, but even that one kind of rubbed me the wrong way in little ways, and also I hate the narrator, who struggled to pronounce 'Anne Arundel County' in a really hilarious way.
q) "The Toys That Made Us"
This is another Netflix documentary series, about the history of the toy industry. An in depth look at the history of Star Wars licensing or Barbies is interesting but after a certain point it just became background noise to me.
r) "Rotten"
This is yet another Netflix documentary series, about crime in the food industry. Some really unsettling stuff in here, I have a strong stomach and I still don't think I'll finish it.
s) "Devilman Crybaby"
A Netflix anime series based on a manga, really nasty violent dark comedy, on some level I enjoyed the shock value of it but I didn't really feel like sticking around long enough to figure out if there was some kind of point or redemption or if it's just straight up nihilism.
t) "Erased"
A live action Netflix series based on a manga, this one became background noise to me pretty quickly, I just don't really understand the genre that much.
u) "The Last Post"
A lavish historical BBC series about a British army base in the 1960s, I haven't taken much interest in the story but Jessica Raine is stunning.
v) "Gunpowder"
A lavish historical BBC miniseries about the 1609 'gunpowder plot,' a passion project of Kit Harington where he plays a guy who he's a direct descendant of. Pretty nice production values, but over the course of 3 episodes I kinda found it harder to hold my attention that a one off feature film would have.
w) "Trollhunters"
The first season of Guillermo del Toro's Netflix animated series "Trollhunters" debuted 6 months after lead voice actor Anton Yelchin died, and I kind of assumed they used all of the dialogue he'd recorded in those 26 episodes. But it turns out he did more, and is still the star of the 13 new episodes, which was a nice surprise. My kids love this show, I never thought del Toro would make something that children under 10 wouldn't be terrified of. Kelsey Grammer is so funny in this show, I mean you can basically watch his character like he's Frasier as a three eyed troll.
x) "Glitch"
This Australian sci-fi show had a really intriguing premise, but I feel like I lost the plot in the second season and didn't really know what was going on by the end.
y) "Easy"
Joe Swanberg's anthology series about the dating habits of a loosely connected array of Chicago hipsters doesn't get any closer to feeling like it has a point in its second season, but neither do most of his movies, so at least these are shorter and mostly more engaging slices of life. Often it feels like a thinly veiled excuse for him to shoot nude scenes of half the well known actresses he knows (and on that note, holy shit at the sex scene Elizabeth Reaser had in this season).
I kind of treat it as a self-deprecating joke that I love "Grace And Frankie," but this show really is wonderful and is possibly getting more laugh out loud funny in its 4 season. Jane Fonda is 80 and the other three principals are approaching 80 and it almost doesn't seem fair that people get to make something this good at that age.
