grown-ish is back for Season 3...ish

I’ve always been delighted by the world that Kenya Barris has created around being black in America, something that has become even more potent in the last couple of years. All of the series focuses on the Johnson family have been incredibly entertaining and often very moving to watch. That said, the one I still find the most fun is the one that isn’t on ABC, and therefore has fewer boundaries when it comes to language, sex and issues in general.

It’s been more than a year since the first half of Season 3 of grown-ish  aired (the pandemic has made filming difficult) and while a lot has changed, particularly for Zoey (Yara Shahdi) there are a lot of deeper issues going on. For one thing, Zoey dropped out of college at the end of the first half of Season 3 to pursue her dream of being a stylist for celebrities. Like so much in her world, it hasn’t gone according to plan. When she came back to Cal State to try and hook up with her on-again, off-again squeeze Aaron, he basically told her that he’s finally moved on (perhaps as a signal to the audience that was getting as sick of the love triangle as he is). Everyone else is dealing with a whole new set of issues, which are still being formed. Twins Jazz and Sky are trying out for the next Olympics. Nomi, who ended up pregnant at the beginning of Season 3, is now raising her child on her own. Both Luca and Aaron had moved on to other girlfriends, and Jazz has finally broken up with her own boyfriend.

This could be seen as the making of a black college sitcom, but like so many other shows by Barris (and in a different way, so many of the series on Freeform), grown-ish has a way of making so many of these issues entertaining. In the second episode, Ana (who has been gunshy about dating) learned that her most recent boyfriend is a practicing celibate. So there were a fair amount of jokes about guys all wanting to have sex. But there was also a fairly sound discussion about Ana, who has always been religious, trying to find a way to understand her boyfriend. This led her to attending a youth church service unlike any I’ve seen on any medium and it later led to her finding a way to let God back into her life.

On a more serious note Aaron, the major student activist on this series, announced that he had been ignoring the Black Student Union because they didn’t take causes seriously. When he went to a meeting, though, he learned that the university had been investing in private prisons and using that money to pay for security. Aaron began to protest as he does, and it quickly turned very serious as two campus cops told him to take down his posters, then began to treat him very much as a felon. (The fact that one of the cops happened to be African-American was a very subtle jab at the nature of policing.) Aaron ended up being arrested while his girlfriend filmed the whole encounter. I really want to see how this turns out.

Honestly, as good as Shahdi still is, Zoey is now the weakest link of grown-ish. The series is far more of an ensemble piece than almost any of Barris’ other series, and in a way, I was getting fatigue watching Zoey try to find her place in the world and bouncing between Luca and Aaron. There are far more interesting stories going on, and the series far bigger than its lead. Zoey may not be grown-ish, but the cast and the writing sure are.

My score: 4 stars.

 

Nancy Drew's Back for a Second Season...kind of

 

When Nancy Drew premiered way back in October of 2019, it seemed to be yet another example of a CW angst filled revision of a once cheerful children’s series.  I really railed against mainly because I thought it seemed to be another point as to the direction this once promising network seemed to be going. Nancy Drew, the once cheerful teen detective, had become a bleached out, angry teenager who didn’t so much solve mystery as have them collide with her, whose friends seemed drawn to her more because of their flaws then due to any real friendship. When the series prematurely ended its first season because of the pandemic, I wasn’t exactly upset.

I’ve had some time to reassess my feeling over the series over the past several months and the last few episodes I’ve seen (because of the end, the series is wrapping up the mystery that was the foundation of Season 1 in the early part of this season) it has seemed notably better than I remember it being. The problems with the show are still there, but it may be my own reaction.

The series has been leaning more in the supernatural during the second half of the first season, which in my opinion is actually an improvement. It may seem petty, but by giving these characters the threat of potentially horrifying death has actually given them a bit more life. The fear now actually seems to give them more motivation than trying to solve the murder that took up most of the first season and it’s given them a lot of room to grow.  George has gotten over such of her poison by being helped by a backstory that actually explains so much of her harshness – she had an alcoholic mother and had to raise her siblings by herself, and her relationship with an adult has damaged how she views people. She’s actually moved into seeing Ned and this actually seems to have helped both of them move forward. Bess, who was proven to be an illegitimate child of the Marvin clan (the people who run Horseshoe Bay), has been given more of a personality as she fights between the loyalty to her friends, her family, and her police lover.  Even Ace, who was the forensic techie, now seems to be really alive as he faces what may be his death.

Sadly, I still think the biggest problem with the show is Kennedy McCann’s work as Nancy Drew.  Already weighed down by so much in the early episodes and now dealing with the curse of a sea spirit, she has to deal with the death of a boyfriend and the fact that Carson (Scott Wolf is still struggling for something to do) is not her real father and that she is also a bastard child. There actually seemed to be some forward motion in the first episodes of the season, when she finally realized how her fear and anger were destroying everybody, and maybe it’ll be a motion forward.

Honestly, my major problem with the series that it still plays like a cross between True Detective and Supernatural. Just once, I wish there could be a little light in this series. I know the CW is capable of doing things like with a slight shade of humor – iZombie was a delightful little charmer and Katy Keene proved that being a Riverdale spinoff didn’t mean you couldn’t have fun.  And given that the CW has produced some franchises recently that were actually enjoyable – Stargirl was a revelation among the darkness of the Berlanti-verse - it’s not like there aren’t some better examples of it out here. There are good things to be found in Nancy Drew, but half the time it still plays more like a slog that entertainment.

The sea spirit curse that has made up the bulk of the first season will probably reach a climax in the next couple of episode. I really hope that Nancy Drew then tries to do something that’s a little more fun. Part of me thinks they will because once you’ve been faced with a supernatural curse, things can only go up. But then I see what Riverdale has become and I hope that serves as an abject lesson.

My score: 2.75 stars.

Yes I'll Call This Number: 9--1-1 Season 4 Review

 

I’ve had a problem with a lot of procedural series for a while, going as far back as ER and much of Dick Wolf’s oeuvre. But over the last few years, I’ve been more than willing to make an exception for Fox’s 9-1-1, a series that some critics have dismissed as ‘disaster porn’.

To be fair, it’s really hard not to see where they’re coming from. Season 2 open with a massive earthquake. Season 3 opened with a tidal wave. And this season’s opening arc has involved a massive quake breaking down the reservoir and causing the ‘H’ of the Hollywood sign to be floated down hill. And if it were just because of the crises, one could see this easily being done by the hand of Michael Bay. But it’s done by Ryan Murphy who, as anyone who remotely knows of his work (American Horror Story is the prime example) knows that he is fond of going to excess.

But what makes me lean more in favor of this series than some of his other work is that Murphy, who will go towards excesses of camp in almost all his network series, is playing most of the characters in 9-1-1 relatively straight. Most of the characters do not lean towards the excesses that we saw in Glee and Scream Queens; instead, they are human beings trying to get through a day’s work. And perhaps more than any show on television in the era of the pandemic, 9-1-1 seems to have its pulse firmly on the world we live in.  (Trying to figure out a person’s level of competency, a paramedic asks a victim “What year is it?” Her response: “Don’t make me say it.”)

As we all know, our first responders and emergency care workers have been stressed to the limit during this past year. 9-1-1 handles this with far more competency and subtlety than just about any series I have seen in the 2020-2021 season so far. Chimney and Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt), who found out they were having a baby in the Season 3 finale apparently spent most of the hiatus in separate apartments, ostensibly to keep the child safe, mostly out of Chimney’s personal fears. Bobby Nash (Peter Krause, once again playing his everyman personality to perfection) is running the fire station trying to deal with the crisis in the world with the problems with his family. And Athena (frequent Murphy player Angela Bassett) is back on the job after a major assault, but it takes a crisis for her to realize that she may not be ready to be back.

In a way, 9-1-1 has a better handle on the idea of family than any Murphy series since the early days of Glee.  Athena is still reeling from the fact that her daughter May has abandoned her plans for college to work at a call center, and doesn’t seem to realize just how powerless May feels. This is made clear very quickly when her mother is in a crisis. Even though Athena has long since moved on with Bobby, it is clear how big a role her ex-husband will always play in her life. ‘Hen’ Wilson (Aisha Hinds) having spent so much of the last year trying to get a family, is now trying to move on professionally: she’s going to med school (on Zoom, of course) And Buck, still dealing with the fall out from last year’s finale, is now facing his own issues in therapy. 9-1-1 makes it clear that the family you’re born in and the family you work with are just as important.

So yes, 9-1-1 is in a sense disaster porn. But considering that we’re all basically living in a disaster movie right now, makes it to hard to argue that it’s not relevant.  And considering that so many of these shows put the disaster above character development, shouldn’t we celebrate a series that does the reverse? It may be a formula show, but a formula works for a reason.

My score: 3.75 stars.

 

Why The Office Never Worked For Me: Conclusion

 

I’ll admit that when I saw the documentary approach to The Office, I was mostly left cold. In retrospect, I’ve never been sure why it didn’t appeal to me. It certainly did for Parks and Recreation, which I felt was one of the great comedies of the last decade, if not of all time and it worked well for me in Modern Family, a series I mostly ignored when it was on the air, but every time I see an episode in syndication I get a pang when I realize what I missed.

For some reason, though, the way The Office did it never quite worked. I got the feeling that almost everybody on the series was playing to the camera in a way that just never appealed to me.  Jim’s knowing glances to the fourth wall (which I’ll admit could be amusing) reminded me to much of the work of Jack Benny, who could say so much with just a look at the camera. The difference is, when Benny did, he was lampooning himself. When John Krasinki did it, it seemed a little mean.

There were some things, I’ll admit, that I really liked about the series. Most of it applied to many of the background characters. Kelly Kaling and Angela Kinsey were both incredibly good at being two polar opposites; Mindy utterly irrepressible in the face of her job; Angela incredibly repressed in just about everything (well, except her cat.) I thought just about everything that came out of Stanley’s mouth was funny – in retrospect he may have been the most relatable character on the show, someone who just wanted to get through the day and had no patience for his bosses shenanigans. And I really like the naivete of Ed Helms’ early work as Andy, someone who seemed so eager to do what he wanted.

And yes, like everybody else in the world, I loved Jim and Pam. How could you not? Of all the people at Dunder Mifflin, they were the only ones who seemed genuinely interested in life outside their jobs.  Jim was never really happy at his job, which is probably why he did everything he could to divert attention from work. And Pam so clearly wanted to do more with her life than be a secretary and it was actually wonderful when she managed to break free of that desk.

  And the flirtation that went back and forth between Pam for the first three seasons was adorable and unlike so many romances that fizz out when they finally hook up, it actually became more lively and entertaining when they were together. A lot of this has to do with the chemistry between Krasinki and Fischer that was always there. There are very few relationships on television that actually work all the way through. (Another reason I never really liked one of the final episode arcs, but since I never saw it, I’ll let it go.)

So it’s obvious that there were parts of The Office that worked very well. Why then, did it never add up to real greatness for me? I really don’t know. Full disclosure: one of the greatest joys I ever found watching the Emmys came in 2011 just after Steve Carell had left. In this three minute segment, the workers at Dunder Mifflin were upset at the ‘new people’ who had come to work there after Michael had left. Most of these people were either stars of Emmy nominated or popular series. Among my favorite segments: Aziz Ansari’s Tom from Parks & Rec trying to get Stanley to cheer up (which he didn’t) Jesse Pinkman walking in to see Creed (the office’s clearest criminal) and Creed openly buying crystal meth from him, and a segment where Peter Dinklage’s character from Game of Thrones was seen speaking Dothraki, followed by Leslie Knope doing the same. I’ve rarely laughed that hard at any segment before or since.

So why couldn’t I enjoy the series either when it was on the air or in syndication now?  When it comes right down to it, unlike so many of the great sitcoms of that era – I think not only of Parks & Rec, but 30 Rock and, when it was at its peak, Arrested Development -  how mundane it was. All of the funniest series on the air at the time offered absurdity and Easter eggs if you paid close attention. Most of all, even in their lunacy, they offered escapism. The Office’s humor was literally based in the average job that so many of us have. In retrospect, that may have been the main reason The Office was so popular, while the series I’ve mentioned were critically acclaimed but barely watched. The series I listed have had a great afterlife too – believe me, their fans are legion as well – but none have had the consistent fanbase of The Office.

Perhaps in that sense I’m more of an elitist than a working stiff. But I’d still rather spent an afternoon watching Leslie and Ron spar in Pawnee in the parks department or see Liz Lemon try to control Jenna and Tracy than watch Jim perform pranks on Dwight at Dunder Mifflin.  And I still prefer Leslie and Ben’s love story – or for that matter, any of the wondrous romances that unfolded in Parks & Rec – to any of those – yes, even Pam and Jim’s that came to life in Scranton. They were truly moving and there were none of the contrivances to keep them apart after they got together. Maybe the satire is more obvious than the humor on The Office, but I’d rather hang out with them than got to work there.

 

 

Why The Office Never Worked for Me, Part 1

 

Over the last several years – especially during the pandemic – there has been a near deification of NBC’s The Office. The series was beloved when it was on the air, but after it left its reached heights that I don’t think even the creators would’ve expected. The series has become one of the most streamed shows, there are several major podcasts and rewatches going on and it continues to rerun everywhere. (During the height of the pandemic, Comedy Central has devoted anywhere from two to three of its nights and much of its daytime slots to The Office marathons, which may sadly say more for the state of the network than anything else.)

Now I understand than in a period where everybody is working from home, the nostalgia for a show that glorified the dullness of your work life would be understandable. But I can’t for the life of me understand why so many people would embrace this series more than any other workplace comedy. When it was on the air, I put a tremendous about of effort into trying to see what so many people saw in it. And after watching the first five seasons (the creative peak according to fans) I still can’t find anything entertaining or amusing about it. So I figured, given the current worship of this series which is only likely to become even greater now that it is the foundation of NBC’s new streaming app Peacock, now would be a good time to look back.

Any discussion of The Office must begin with its origin in Britain under the auspices of Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais. I can’t in good conscience do so, however, because I never watched it and have no plans too. This is mainly due to my utter loathing of everything Ricky Gervais does. With the lone exception of his HBO series Extras, I have never found a single thing about him funny. His smarmy, bad music hall insult comic shtick has never appealed to me at all. I have no understanding why the Golden Globes keeps asking him to host, considering he is charmless, smug and utterly without wit. The idea that anything remotely funny could come out his mind has always amazed me, which may be part of the reason NBC took so long to decide to make an American version.

From everything I’m told, Greg Daniels and his troop went out of there way to make things ‘ten percent nicer’ at Dunder Mifflin. Nicer, however, didn’t translate into funny. I recall laughing maybe three times during the entire 100 episodes I ended up watching of the series. That’s truly remarkable, considering that in almost every show, movie or special they have done, I have loved almost every actor in the cast. I was a fan of Rainn Wilson’s awkwardness when he played an intern on Six Feet Under.  I now consider John Krasinki one of the most brilliant talents in acting, writing or personality. Jenna Fischer has always been a charming comic to me. And I’ve loved Ed Helms, BJ Novak, Angela Kinsey, Elle Kemper and especially Mindy Kaling in just about everything they have done. So what the hell was wrong with The Office that just made me go ‘Eh’ so much?

A lot of the problem has to do with Michael Scott. And to be clear, I mean Michael Scott, not Steve Carell. I love Steve Carell. His work on The Daily Show was a masterpiece. (Go to YouTube, type in ‘Daily Show Even Stephen and revel in the glory.) I’ve found his work in so many movies brilliant, from The 40 Year Old Virgin and Get Smart to dramas like Foxcatcher and The Big Short.  I even loved his acceptance speech when we won his only Golden Globe for The Office.

No, the biggest problem with Michael Scott is the fundamental flaw in the show. He’s a terrible boss. I’ll start with the obvious problem of his political incorrectness (though as you’ll see that’s actually the least of his flaws). It’s hard to look at so much of what the series did, even before the era of cancel culture, and find it funny.  Michael was a racist and a sexist, a very gentle one, but nevertheless one. How many of the episodes that aired have issues where he has problems with Stanley, an older black man? It was hard to see them then and not feel there was something flawed it; it’s more apparent now. When the women in the office started a women’s group; he started a man’s group. So many of the episode deal with his issues with Toby, the head of human resources who he considers his nemesis, because he won’t let Michael speak the way he wants to. I think it’s a tribute to Carell’s basic affability that so many people were willing to overlook his obvious bigotry.

But that’s not the real reason he’s a terrible boss. He’s more concerned with everybody thinking he’s a great boss than actually being a great boss.  There was so much focus on the “party planning committee” (which was run entirely by women, but let that pass) that one wondered how they ever got work done. There was more focus on having a fun work environment than actually having work done. I don’t think there was a single episode that I watched where we saw the staff at Dunder Mifflin doing their jobs. This would barely be tolerated at a successful company, which I may remind you Dunder Mifflin was not.

Another dirty secret: the company was producing paper in a world that is increasingly going digital. In the first five seasons, two branches of Dunder Mifflin closed and in the sixth, the company itself was sold. Michael didn’t seem to understand that the company needed to stay afloat, and if he did, it was only in how it affected his position. There was an episode called ‘Shareholder’s Meeting’ where the bosses inexplicably called Michael and Dwight in to calm the panic. As I recall, they poured napalm on the fire.

Which leads us to what is ultimately the tragedy of Michael Scott: he was loyal to a company that never valued him. In the third season, he began a relationship with Jan (Melora Hardin) his superior who he couldn’t stop bragging about having sex with even though she told him how critical it was not to let her bosses know. Jan than had a nervous breakdown in the third season finale and was fired. Michael then defended Jan in a lawsuit in which his girlfriend revealed the biggest secret of all: Dunder Mifflin was never going to promote him. Rather than turn on his company, he turned on Jan. (Says even more about him, but let that go.) The following season, Michael was removed from his position and came as close to rebelling when he formed the Michael Scott Paper Company. Pam and Ryan went with him, Pam because she wanted to try and move up, Ryan because his star had fallen in the course of the past season. The rebellion lasted barely an episode but Michael managed to win when he outmaneuvered the bosses (with an assist from Jim).

This might make entertaining material for a dramatic series, but all of this was ostensibly played for laughs. And these were the smart jokes; the lion’s share of the rest was Michael trying to be clever, when they just showed us how big an idiot he was. I’ve never been sure why you’d want this to be a workplace comedy; it might have been funny in flush times, but the lion’s share of The Office was being shown in the middle of a recession. Carell managed to keep much of the material from being cruel, but he just couldn’t make it funny. That’s rather impressive, when you consider what a masterful comedian and actor Carell is. I don’t know if the writers ever decided what Michael’s role was supposed to be – protagonist? Antagonist? Comic foil? Clown? 

The only thing they could agree on was that he was the center, and when he left in 2011, the series completely collapsed.  That being said, I’m not sure they could’ve gotten around some of the other flaws, which I’ll discuss in the next part.

 

 

My Reactions To This Year's Critics Choice Nominations, Conclusion: Limited Series/TV Movie

 

BEST LIMITED SERIES

No problem with Mrs. America or The Undoing. I’m fine with I May Destroy You and The Queen’s Gambit,  both of which were very strong. I’m overjoyed that the critics recognized one of the major flaws of last year’s Emmys and gave a good amount of nominations to The Plot Against America.  And I can see the logic with recognizing Normal People and Unorthodox both of which were highly considered by the Emmys even though they were ignored.

It’s just really hard to see why Small Axe, which is being considered in the Best Movie categories by some critics group is in the TV category. And what makes it even harder to stomach is who they left out. I’m appalled that the critics, who loved Fargo in its three previous incarnations, ignored it this time, and I’m horrified that Little Fires Everywhere was completely shutout. Both are the kinds of series that the critics usually recognize; this time they were basically ignored. This may be the most glaring omissions so far, and they’re going to be more.

 

BEST ACTOR INA LIMITED SERIES OR TV MOVIE.

Mark Ruffalo deserved to be here for I Know This Much Is True (though I’m still hurt that the rest of the cast was ignored) Chris Rock more than earned his spot here, as I made clear. Hugh Grant really earned it for The Undoing. And I’m glad to see Morgan Spector included for his work in The Plot Against America. Paul Mescal received a lot of buzz for his role in Normal People, so I’m not surprised.

But against, I question John Boyega in this category at all. I would much rather have seen Hugh Jackman nominated for his incredible work in Bad Education. This is a very questionable choice. Hell, Ethan Hawke was ignored for his great work in The Good Lord Bird whose omission as Best Limited Series is kind of shocking too.

 

BEST ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TV

Cate Blanchett, no argument. I’m very glad to see Michaela Coel recognized for everything she did in I May Destroy You. Anya Taylor-Joy has taken chess to a new level in The Queens Gambit. Shira Haas was recognized by the Emmys for Unorthodox so that’s logical, and a lot of people were angry when Daisy Edgar-Jones was ignored for Normal People.

I don’t care how great Tessa Thompson was in Sylvie’s Love. How could they ignore Nicole Kidman for The Undoing? Even if by some miracle they could explain nominating her male costars and not here, there is no justification of Thompson being nominated instead of either Reese Witherspoon or Kerry Washington for Little Fires Everywhere. This is a travesty.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR TV MOVIE

This is a bit better. John Turturro was on almost everybody’s short list for a nomination as the corrupt adviser to Lindbergh in Plot Against America, and it was ridiculous that he was shutout. Glad to see him included. Daveed Diggs and Joshua Caleb Johnson were both incredible in their work in The Good Lord Bird, so I’m glad to see them acknowledged at least. (You could make an argument that Johnson should be considered for Best Actor, but he’s here so we’ll let it pass.) Donald Sutherland was a tower of strength in The Undoing and was a sure thing. And while I would’ve been happier to see Ben Whishaw or Jason Schwartzman nominated, Glynn Turman’s work in Fargo was so good (and he’s been such a good actor for so long) that I’m glad to see him nominated.)

Dylan McDermott’s nomination for Hollywood is hard to fathom. If they were going to nominate someone from that series, I thought it would be Jim Parsons. And it would’ve been nice for another nominee for Fargo instead. But this is more what I expected.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TV

 

The three women from Mrs. America  were pretty among the best performances last year and I have no problem with any of them being nominated for anything. Winona Ryder should’ve been nominated for Stranger Things at least, so I’m glad to see her get one for The Plot Against America (though Zoe Kazan would’ve been a little better choice. Marielle Heller was a good choice for The Queens Gambit.

I’m torn about Betsy Brandt’s nomination. She was the only actor on Breaking Bad who never seemed to get any recognition for what she did. So I’m glad she’s nominated for something. That said, why did they have to nominate her instead of Jessie Buckley for Fargo or Allison Janney for Bad Education? What am I saying… these are the Broadcast Critics.

 

On a side note, in the talk show category, it’s good to see Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert nominated. It’s great to see Samantha Bee and Desus and Mero nominated. Nothing for John Oliver? I guess the critics are getting tired of him.

 

I’ll be at some point later to deal as I try to handicap (ha-ha) this awards. See you in a couple of weeks when the Golden Globes make their choices.

The Critics Made Some Good Choices, Part 2: The Comedies

 

I have a mixed feeling towards the comedies, but that may be based on my own biases. Here are my reactions.

 

BEST COMEDY SERIES

I’d be an idiot if I denied Schitt’s Creek deserved to be here. The Critics actually recognized some of the actors before the Emmys caught on. Ramy and Better Things should’ve been acknowledged by the Emmys in this category before, and Mom has been ignobly ignored. What we Do in the Shadows has an even more devoted following than Schitt’s Creek. I’ve clearly got to see The Flight Attendant. Ted Lasso has been building a following and the fact that it’s written by one of my all-time favorite showrunners Bill Lawrence makes me want to get on the bandwagon even more.

Did Pen15 deserve a nomination more than say, Dead to Me or Insecure? Considering that it got no other nominations, I do judge this one a little harshly. But still, good choices mostly.

 

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY

It would be wrong if Eugene Levy wasn’t here, and it would be even more wrong if Ramy Youseff wasn’t.  I’ve been thinking more favorably towards Hank Azaria’s work on Brockmire the last year or so, therefore I acknowledge the wisdom of the choice. I’ve always been found of Jason Sudeikis’ work on almost everything else, so I’ve no problem acknowledging him here. I’m a little surprised Matt Brewer is being considered a lead on What We Do In the Shadows, but I can live with it.

If you’re going to honor The Great, why not, you know, honor The Great? Why give a nod to Nicholas Hoult as opposed to Elle Fanning?  There are a lot of better choices for this category, starting with Walon Goggins and Anthony Anderson and Iain Armitage? Still, this is how they work.

 

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

Much better. Catherine O’Hara, Issa Rae and Christina Applegate were more than worthy of their Emmy nominations so I’m glad to see them here. I’m even happier to see Pamela Adlon acknowledged for her incredible work on every facet of Better Things – the Emmys shouldn’t have ignored her. Kaley Cuoco has always been a favorite of mine, so I’m glad to see her back in the ranks.

Natasia Demetriou – it’s not a bad choice, per se, but I’d still rather have seen Linda Cardellini or Allison Janney in here instead. Like I said, Elle Fanning would’ve been a better choice.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY

This is where I start having troubles. Daniel Levy, no disagreement. William Fichtner has been deserving of a nomination for so many series over the past twenty years that I’m thrilled he got nominated for anything, especially his superb work as Bonnie’s unlikely soulmate on Mom. Alex Newell is a force of nature on Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. (I would’ve liked to see the series and the lead nominated, but we can’t have everything.)

There may be a little too much love for What We Do in the Shadows in this category, but that doesn’t bother me. The biggest flub in this category Andrew Rannells in Black Monday. Love the actor, hate the show, and his work are nowhere near the best thing of it. It would’ve made more sense to honor Don Cheadle or Regina Hall for their work here, or better still Mahershala Ali for Ramy. Hell, I’ve settled for a nod for any of the young actors in Shameless over him.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

This will be interesting. Annie Murphy was going to be here anyway, so no problem. Rita Moreno is a national treasure, and frankly she should’ve gotten a nod from the Emmys for One Day at a Time. I’ve loved Jaime Pressly for a very long time, and her work on Mom is just another feather in her cap. There have always been a lot of good actresses on Roseanne and I’m glad to see Lecy Goranason continuing the tradition as Becky in The Conners.  I’ll give Hannah Waddingham more than the benefit of the doubt for her work on Ted Lasso.

I’m a little mixed on the nomination for Ashley Park in Emily in Paris. It’s clearly not the best series even on Netflix, and I’d much rather they honor someone who was fairly outstanding such as Yvonne Orji for Insecure or Zoe Perry or Annie Potts for Young Sheldon. But then again, that’s always been the purpose of the Critics Choice – to nominate shows and actors we wouldn’t normally consider.

 

Tomorrow, I wrap it up with Limited Series and Movies, along with some ephemera. Here I have some real issues.

My Reactions to the 2020 Critics Choice TV Nominations: Part 1, Drama

 

As I mention every year, one of my favorite awards shows of all time are the Broadcast Critics. Ever since they began specializing in TV nominations back in 2010, they have done a superb job recognizing a lot of the series that so frequently the Emmys fail to acknowledge. They have acknowledged brilliant series like Justified, Masters of Sex, The Good Fight, The Americans in Drama and exceptional comedies like Mom, GLOW, Jane the Virgin, Master of None  and in their most brilliant foreshadowing, Schitt’s Creek.

These nominations are often more satisfying because they tend to recognize the more obscure cable and streaming series, as well as far more attention to network shows. And they often have great foresight – acknowledging series like Breaking Bad and Marvelous Mrs. Maisel before the Emmys do. Furthermore, with a different calendar than the Emmys, they are more likely to acknowledge a lot of shows that the Emmys might unjustly ignore.

Here are my reactions to the nominations, starting as always with Drama.

 

OUTSTANDING DRAMA

For once, almost no complaints. Better Call Saul, Perry Mason, Lovecraft County and This is Us more than deserve to be here. The Crown continues its brilliant streak here, and its good to see Ozark making the list last. The Good Fight continues its hot streak here.

Am I a little perturbed to see The Mandalorian here instead of say, Billions? Yeah, but I’m willing to give them some leeway. There’s always one nomination that’s a bit quirky.

 

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Bob Odenkirk and Sterling K. Brown have more than proven their worth, and I’ve overjoyed to see Matthew Rhys here for his exceptional work as Perry Mason. Jonathan Majors’ work as Atticus was dazzling in Lovecraft County and I’m glad to see Jason Bateman back in the ranks. I have no problem with Josh O’Connor being nominated for The Crown; I just question him being nominated as a lead rather than supporting. Still, a good bunch.

 

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

Olivia Colman more than deserves to be here, and so does Emma Corrin. I’m glad Christine Baranski is getting recognition for her work on The Good Fight, and I’m always glad to see Laura Linney nominated for anything. Claire Danes got the recognition the Emmys refused to give her for her final season of Homeland, and Jurnee Smollett’s work as Leticia on Lovecraft County was next level. Would I have liked to see Juliet Rylance nominated for Perry Mason? Sure, but we can’t have everything.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA.

They’re already doing better than last year’s Emmys. They acknowledged Jonathan Banks and Justin Hartley who were shafted for their work last year. Michael K. Williams always deserves to be recognized, and there were even more depths to his work as Tic’s father in Lovecraft County then we usually get. Tobias Menzies is always superb as Philip on The Crown. While I’d rather have seen Shea Whigham nominated, I can’t really argue with John Lithgow’s fine work on Perry Mason.

Is Tom Pelphrey’s nomination for Ozark a little bit like overkill? I’d rather have seen Mandy Patinkin or Giancarlo Esposito here. Still, they’re doing fine.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA

They recognized Rhea Seehorn. Thank you critics. Julia Garner has won two Emmys, so it would be crazy to ignore her for her work on Ozark. Gillian Anderson continues what will surely be a march towards an Emmy this year. Wunmi Mosaku’s work on Lovecraft County as the sister trying to break free of Jim Crow was exceptional, even though she spent a lot of it in another person’s body. Cynthia Erivo was shafted of an Emmy nomination for her great work in the now-cancelled The Outsider, so I’m glad she was nominated, even I do think the show should’ve been regarded as a limited series.

I love Janet McTeer, but it does strike me that it’s a little bit of overkill to give her a supporting nomination that would be better served for Susan Kalechi Watson or Tatiana Maslany. But I’ll give them a little latitude.

 

Wow. Almost no complaints. I never say that about most nominations. I will tomorrow when I deal with the comedies.

I Turned on Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist and I'm Never Turning it Off

 

How often, even in the world of Peak TV, do you come across a series that truly, remarkably different? Last year, I watched the Pilot for NBC’s tremendous musical comedy Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist. To say I was swept away would be an understatement. The series dealt with a coder at a Silicon Valley startup called SPRQIST. She seemed to be an ordinary woman. Then she went into an MRI and was listening to Muzak when there was an earthquake. From this point on, she’s been able to read other people’s innermost thoughts. Except they express them through elaborate and delightful musical numbers. In the Pilot, Zoey befriended a man named Simon, whose dark song revealed that he was severely depressed, even suicidal. She learned that her father, who was in the latter stages of ALS, still had spirit in him. And that her long time best friend, Max, was in love with her. It was one of the most daring and original pilots I’ve ever seen, with an exceptional cast from Jane Levy in the title role to Mary Steenburgen as her mother. And because of it being on Sunday night against the final season of Homeland, I basically chose to walk away from it.

Miracle of miracles, it has made it into a second season, and I’m determined not to make the same mistake I did before. So when Season 2 premiered last Tuesday. And like so many other great series, even if you missed the first season, you can very quickly become absorbed. Zoey has been going through a tough time personally. Her father passed away at the end of Season 1. (Though due to flashbacks, I think we’ll be seeing Peter Gallagher again.) She stayed away from the office for six weeks, and it seemed like her ‘problem’ had disappeared. Then she returned to the office. Cue the ‘Hello, Dolly’ number.

In addition, Zoey has found out that she has received a promotion to run the ‘fourth floor’ that she worked at the entire first season. She spent much of the second season premiere denying that responsibility, but finally she decided to accept it. And given how well she seemed to finally handle the frat boys operation along with adding three new female coders is a subtle plug at #MeToo that this show is good at.  She’s also been dealing with the fact that her sister-in-law has given birth and that the entire family is trying to slowly move away from her father’s long illness. Indeed, her mother Maggie has spent so much time dealing with it that she suddenly doesn’t know what to do with herself. And after a year of going back and forth, she and Max finally hooked up last night in one of the most wonderful romantic scenes I’ve seen in a far long time. Apart from dealing with a cliché of them finding a time and place to have sex, when they finally found the time and place, it was lovely and fulfilling and, dare I say, funny in a way I haven’t seen on any platform in years, maybe decades. It wasn’t just that Max tried to stop spoiling the mood in one of the funniest moments I’ve seen; it’s that when his inner feelings came out in song, Zoey did  something remarkable and did a duet. This was sweet and really seemed to solidify things in a way that so many other shows can’t. Oh, and the fact that it took place in her childhood bedroom. Hilarious.

Now there are many who might say the musical show was dead after Glee. But Zoey’s works, because the numbers aren’t there just for performance (although let it be said right that everybody on this show from Alex Newell’s busting out with blues to Alice Lee’s number of Poison can sing and dance with the best of them). The numbers are there for a point. Zoey may not like her gift, but this insight into people’s souls explains things in a way that a thirty second monologue wouldn’t. They’re funny and moving and entertaining. This is a method that has not really been tried before and while Zoey finds it awkward, it’s hard not to be entertained when a bunch of coders go into a rousing chorus of “They Did a Bad, Bad Thing.”

I don’t know how a show this original, daring and above all, entertaining managed to end up getting greenlit, much less on a broadcast channel. But Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist is one of those series that people like me delight in for the true wonder of the medium. And in an era of darkness everywhere, it is exactly the kind of show we need right now. I hope there’s some way that Lauren Graham ends up returning to it quickly, but apart from that, I have not a single criticism. Wherever this show lands and whatever happens to Zoey, I will follow it. Because it’s not just her playlist that is extraordinary.

My score: 5 stars.

Alex Trebek's Final Jeopardy: More Than The End of An Era

 

Last Friday, Jeopardy aired. Alex Trebek wished everybody a Merry Christmas (the shows are taped two months in advanced and the last week has been delayed) He greeted the three contestants, bantered with them about holding on to books, read the categories, was calm and polite, and went about his business as he had for the last several months – and indeed, as he had for the last thirty six years. He congratulated Jim Gilligan on winning $24,401 and then told everybody: “See you next time.”

The big difference was when the credits rolled. The next minute showed Alex Trebek in several wonderful moments over the years of the show – making the contestants laugh, coming out in costume, introducing his children, announcing winners, and finally a montage of his saying “Good Night.” This is how Jeopardy chose to say goodbye to an icon and a legend, a man who seemed to do nothing big at his job and yet for exactly that reason would become one of television’s greatest forces.

It’s been very difficulty watching the show the last two months. Even in this world of division and lockdown, even as he suffered from pancreatic cancer,  Jeopardy and Alex Trebek were something you can count on. Of course, Jeopardy still will be there, but Trebek won’t. By now, all but the oldest among us have forgotten that the show did exist in a format without him in the 1960s and 70s or that Trebek actually hosted a number of game shows, including Classic Concentration and High Rollers. Jeopardy has been Alex Trebek for so long, it seems impossible to imagine it existing without him.

Yet I am certain that Trebek wanted the show to outlast him. When he was first diagnosed in March of last year,  one of the first things he must’ve considered was: “Someone must replace me.” He made jovial suggestions of people like Regis Philbin and Betty White and would say he had to live because of his contract running until 2024 but Alex took everything seriously. There has to have been a discussion – several, in fact – of who would be the person who would go on to replace him. As it is, several guest hosts are going to be trying on his mantle the next few weeks – among them, Ken Jennings, who joined the staff of Jeopardy’s writers this season, Katie Couric and George Stephanopoulos. There have also been petitions for more unlikely candidates, like LeVar Burton, whose virtues I put forth in an article a few weeks ago. And I imagine there are a few champions from the show’s past who could do a job – I’d advocate for all-time money winner Brad Rutter, who is in the entertainment business and has hosted his fair share of quiz shows.

Of course many people, some of them close friends, wonder if Jeopardy can survive the loss of Trebek at all. This is a difficult question to answer. But somehow I have faith that it can withstand the loss of the man who was at the helm. Because I believe at it’s core, the series is more than about one man. It has always been more about the exceptional men and woman who have appeared over thirty six, those who have become celebrities themselves because of Jeopardy. It will take a lot of work – to paraphrase Jefferson that person will “succeed him, no one can replace him.”  Trebek would’ve been the first to say the show must go on. And I really believe it will.

Ted Danson's Bacl and Tina Fey's Got Him: Mr. Mayor Review

 

As I’ve mentioned on numerous occasions, one of the nicer side effects of Peak TV has been watching Ted Danson completely reinvent himself. From the cutthroat industrialist on Damages to the beacon of goodness on Fargo to his incredible work as Michael on the just completed The Good Place, he has revealed more depths than you could’ve imagined. So it would seem that seeing him take the title role on NBC’s new comedy series Mr. Mayor playing a wealthy conservative who becomes the mayor of Los Angeles in the work of that comic masterminds Tina Fey and Robert Carlock (who brought us the incredible 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) would be an instant classic. And it’s not…yet.

To be sure, all of the elements that made Carlock’s and Fey’s earlier works are there. The series starts with what appears to be one of those classic walk and talk scenes from The West Wing which is instantly popped when the Mayor says: “You do know I’m lost, right?” and his staff immediately corrects him. Neil Bremer seems as deluded as so many of the character’s of Fey’s work especially as we see how he became Mayor in the first place. And the writers, who mined some of their biggest laughs about the flaws of New York in previous series, have a lot of fun popping all of the ‘diversity’ and politically correct ideas that have come up in the last decade, particularly in California. Roger Ebert’s rule about funny names not being funny doesn’t quite apply here characters are named Jayden Kwapis. Mikaela Shaw and Arpi Meskimen.  Fey also gets to jab the political scene very well: when one character mentions that Bremer keeps saying he got 68 % of the vote, one fires back: “He got 68% of the eight percent who voted. Don’t tell him that” and his chief of staff admitted she only took the job to increase her Instagram following – she never expected him to win.

Bremer is supremely ill-fitted to the job and he doesn’t seem to like all of the photo ops he has to keep doing.  Danson is very good at doing the comic bits, but unlike his past several roles, he seems more ill-at ease than he instantly has. The best performances on the series to this date come from two female characters. The first is Mikaela, the twenty something social media chief of staff. Played by Vella Lovell, who was responsible for so many hysterical deadpan moments on Crazy Ex- Girlfriend, she is the perfect match for so much of the humor.

But by far the best performer on this series is Holly Hunter as the ultra liberal councilwoman Arpi Meskimen, who can’t utter a sentence without sounding like everything the right thinks the left really is. The difference is, she’s organized, very crafty and far cagier to the political scene that Bremer is, and she is very capable of outmaneuvering anyone who tries to get her in way. She also has the ability with the worst kind of acronyms for her plans: her name for a plan to stop planes from flying over certain neighborhoods is PPPORN. Hunter has been a slightly lesser discovery of the Golden Age, though she’s given excellent performances on Saving Grace and most recently on Succession, but in this performance she once again demonstrates the gift for comedy she had in so many movies when she was getting started.

The early episodes of Mr. Mayor are very hit or miss. The dialogue has a lot of the throwaway jokes that Fey and her ilk were so good at on their earlier shows, but this time they have so many there’s a good chance you’ll miss a lot of them. And it still hasn’t decided how seriously it wants to take its personal relationships – Bremer’s relationship with his teenage daughter was interesting in the pilot, but ignored in the next one. But for once, I’m not going to make a final judgment this quick. It is funny, and if it’s not perfect yet, well I remember how erratic the early episodes of 30 Rock were, and that turned out pretty well for everyone.

My score: 3.5 stars.