I wasn’t sure which show that premiered Friday to use as the header image, but I decided, befitting my contrarian and oppositional-defiant position to the critical mainstream, to use the one that wasn’t the one they would all use (or are using).
We finally finished How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge), which ended in both very funny and very Alan fashion, as he confronts what are in his mind his big recent betrayals, one personal, one professional. Maybe “confront” isn’t the right word, as one thing about Alan as he’s aged is that he’s got a better sense of how you’re supposed to act around other people, even though he doesn’t really want to. That said, I’m also keeping it vague intentionally so you can see what happens for yourself, especially the very funny final sequences. Alan’s return to our TVs was most welcome.
Stumble aired its pilot Friday, and part of the reason I highlighted it is that I was pleasantly surprised and found it quite funny. I thought it might take more time to develop into its own thing, but the jokes are already pretty sharp, and the characterizations have potential. Jenn Lyon and Taran Killam as the married Courteney and Boone get the most work so far, but all the other characters at least get the traits for comedic potential seeded, and while I’m enjoying a cast I’m largely not familiar with, it does have some more notable names, like Kristen Chenoweth as Tammy, Courteney’s former assistant who takes over her old program. (Given the things I’ve seen him in, I was a bit surprised that Killam could plausibly play a football coach, but he’s good and funny in the role.)
One of Courteney’s cheerleaders is played by Ryan Pinkston, a name I had to look up but someone I found instantly recognizable from his two roles in key ’00s comedies: the shoplifting kid in Bad Santa and the College Conservatives wiener who isn’t Josh Gad or Jason Dohring in Party Down. It’s going to be a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits type of show, but a funny, promising pilot is a good start considering how long some comedies can take to find their footing.
Abbott Elementary, “No Phones” – A significant improvement over the last two weeks, not coincidentally in an episode that actually takes place at the titular school. There’s also comedy in the kids being completely fine without their phones while the adults are helpless… but also, nowadays the adults have adult responsibilities they need their phones for, so I’m not sure if there was a message here but it did get distinctly muddied if so. Still, better than the last couple episodes, if not on the level of great.
Matlock, “Mousetrap” – Olympia and Matty continue to have to work together and keep Julian, whose instincts are pretty sharp, from sniffing out that Matty is involved with the Wellbrexa sabotage. Meanwhile, Olympia’s team works on getting a man’s sentence reduced for killing his abusive foster father due to mitigating circumstances… and then discovers he may not have done it after all. “Mitigating circumstances” comes up a lot this episode, as both Matty and Olympia start wondering if the things they’ve done as part of their Wellbrexa investigation are justified. It’s a solid episode; I feel like at this point, if you’re in for the overarching story, you’re in all the way, even if the casework of the week isn’t the most legally rigorous. Also, I want to mention the Sarah plot because it is essentially the exact same as the 30 Rock plot when Kenneth’s mother and her “friend” Ron come to visit him.
Elsbeth, “Poetic Justice” – The arts are under attack! William Jackson Harper guests as the editor of a poetry journal, and his frustrations with an elderly benefactor who wants her terrible poetry published and stubbornly remains alive despite willing her estate to the journal after she dies. When he finds out she’s planning to amend her will to bequeath a different journal that will actually publish her poetry… how far will Harper’s Gary go to secure his journal’s future? Well, this is a murder-procedural show, so how far do you think? It’s also worth noting this episode as Elsbeth encounters old friend Marissa Gold (Eli’s daughter, for you Good Wife fans) and she’s managing the mayoral campaign for Alec Bloom, who is clearly supposed to be Zohran Mamdani But Not Muslim. And maybe he has Elsbeth have a spark? Or is this just a PR relationship? Further developments to come, I assume.
The Chair Company, “I won. Zoom in.” – The show escalates to new heights of madness this episode, as Ron and Mike follow a lead from one of the other unsavory characters they’ve encountered, and then discover the “Ken Tucker” listed as Red Ball CEO is actually an actor, and then track down the actor… and then uncover another scene of madness. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but it’s pretty interesting to see that Mike seems to really value his relationship with Ron at this point. I will leave you to discover just how nuts this one is– and especially that ending– for yourself.
St. Denis Medical, “Get Me in the Pot, Brother” – Another strong episode, which starts off with Joyce getting a full body scanner for the hospital for the month… and as soon as Ron says those things are a waste of time that just turn people into a bundle of anxieties, you know that’s exactly what’s going to happen to Bruce. In the other plot, Ron and Alex get into an argument about how much is appropriate to share with one’s partner, and in true Ron fashion, he decides to escalate in order to win– a plot that could be tired or annoying with lesser writing, but the way (and speed with which) the situation spirals out of hand is nuts and very funny. I think this might be the best sitcom on network TV right now? I guess there’s not a lot of competition… I only have four shows I could assign that honorific.
DMV, “Stick Shift” – So the description of the episode said “When Ceci accuses Colette of only being kind for the credit…” and I groaned because this seemed like another “trying to prove they’re not what they are” plot. Thankfully it steered away from that quickly and more became about some odd one-upsmanship between the two, as well as poor Noa getting caught in the middle. Ceci’s gotten a couple of good showcases lately, a good sign they’re rounding out the character and cast. The B-plot might have been even funnier, with Gregg pushing Barb to discipline Vic– and that’s not that surprising, because Vic is in most of the funniest plots of the show, and when he isn’t, Gregg is. A good episode that alleviated some of my concerns about the last few.
Smiling Friends, “Pim and Charlie Save Mother Nature” – As soon as I saw the title, I yelled “NATURE!” in Pim’s excited arm-waving and scribbly-eyed-swirling voice, so of course I was delighted when he did just that about fifteen seconds into the episode. The Friends go on vacation; Pim and Charlie encounter Mother Nature while cryptid-hunting, while Mr. Boss tries to get Allan to relax and enjoy himself. This one was pretty fun, possibly my favorite of the season so far.
Bob’s Burgers, “Get Her to the Zeke” – Tina can’t go to the dance with Jimmy Jr. unless she finds Zeke a date, so she sets out to do that. The girl she finds is weird. Meanwhile, Bob and the rest of the family have to set up the restaurant to keep watch on and trap a “super rat” in the alley. Pretty good even if the B-plot does bring Hugo back onto the show.
Okay… the other reason I didn’t use the other show is that I still haven’t had the chance to actually watch Pluribus. I Love LA also got put on the back burner this week. Solar Opposites continues to await us, as does Futurama and possibly Chad Powers.
I popped in my Get a Life DVDs over the weekend, even though I’m sure I’ve seen all of these and the commentaries multiple times by now. It never gets old! As far as commentaries that go off the beaten path, I recommend season 1’s “The One Where Chris and Larry Switch Lives,” because Kevin Nealon shows up for no reason at all and seems to be trying to figure out what the show is as he and David Mirkin watch the episode.
No seasons just wrapped. I did receive late-breaking word that FX canceled English Teacher, which kinda makes me wonder why they renewed it in the first place, as they seemed to give it little to no publicity and rushed out the season as quickly as possible. It’s hard not to think this has more to do with the allegation against Alvarez than with any quality or ratings concerns– unless there was a huge ratings drop-off in season two, which, again, they barely promoted and rushed out the door– which, again, makes me wonder why they renewed it in the first place.
A Man on the Inside season 2 premieres November 20. We didn’t finish season 1, so it probably won’t get covered here. That’s the only thing I have listed for the rest of the calendar year.
About the writer
Captain Nath
Born on the bayou, thriving in the mountains. Writer, gambler, comedian, singer-songwriter, bon vivant, globetrotter, and all-around Renaissance Man with perfect opinions about TV and music. Pronounced with a long A and with the H.
It's a gaming ship.
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Department of
Conversation
What did we watch?
M*A*S*H, Season Three, Episode One, “The General Flipped At Dawn”
“Nostril! I’ll know what it means.”
Famously, this is the one where Harry Morgan shows up pre-Potter, and it’s hilarious how he’s basically Potter but turned in a different direction – he has just as many anecdotes and funny sayings, he’s just a) crazy b) racist and c) entirely internal. There’s a fantastic shot where Henry is begging him not to move the unit, and Morgan is simply staring ahead in a dead-eyed frown while Henry is behind him. He’s less a person and more a force of nature bludgeoning his way through a scene.
It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Season Seventeen, “Overage-Drinking: A National Concern”
Finally getting around to finishing this season.
“Oh, shit! This is classic Tammy.”
“Jesus Christ, you know we can hear you?”
“Human females?”
“Focus Dee, stop.”
“That smell. Has Dennis been here? I feel intimidated and aroused.”
“Thought you were taking a shit.”
The characters projecting their own issues onto Tammy and Trey is classic Always Sunny.
“I do have to take a shit for real.”
“Not me.”
“They take the dick and I don’t know what they do with it.”
“You have an office? That in itself is a mysterious twist.”
“This is thrilling! What is this?”
“It was gross, but not for the reasons you’re probably thinking.”
“I gotta bang Trey Jr!”
“Why?”
“Because – we’re doing a thing and I gotta win!”
“Got it. 6969. Every time, man.”
“It took a sexual turn! That’s kind of interesting.”
“How in god’s name did Dennis do this?!”
“You win.”
“It wasn’t… a win/lose thing.”
“We moved on from this, as a society!”
Winter in Sokcho – watched on MUBI, and it kind of feels like the platonic ideal of a MUBI film. An out-of-season Korean tourist town gets shaken up in extremely low-key ways by the visit of a celebrated French author!? Nothing really happens!? The food looks good!? I wouldn’t have minded a little more of something going on, but it delivers on melancholy yearning and snowy cinematography and there are some well-done animated interludes that link in to the author’s ink drawings (he’s often shown sketching but never writing, interestingly).
I owe like three months of movie posts, one of which is last night’s viewing, the 2005 Pride and Prejudice. I haven’t read the book since college, but I thought this was a very good adaptation, with an absurdly stacked cast in hindsight (and well cast, too), and thankfully made by someone who understands that, despite her reputation among people who only know her through cultural osmosis, Jane Austen can be very funny.
As with Anna Karenina, I like the little changes Wright adds to the text like Charles Bingley openly giggling at Darcy and Elizabeth’s exchanges and the camera shifting like Hitchcock when Darcy and his sister see Elizabeth watching them.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, “And So Died Riabouchinska” – More later as usual, but a weird one enlivened by the actors.
The Practice, “Oz” – Not as in the HBO show, but as in Bobby’s mentor, Raymond Oz (James Whitmore), on trial for the murder of his wife, and defending himself. This one almost entirely belonged to Whitmore, who makes Oz’s mood swings and switches from senile to Boston’s greatest trial lawyer believable. His guest star Emmy for this was quite well deserved. We also get more about Richard Bay, who is both openly attracted to Helen and far more of a pit bull than she is; and Bobby desperately trying to use Judge Kittelson’s renewed affair with Jimmy as a reason to recuse herself and get a mistrial. Jimmy is pissed, rightfully.
Frasier, “Motor Skills” – Embarrassed by not knowing how to fix a car while on a double date, the brothers resolved to take a class on auto repair, hate every second of it, almost quit, decide that would let down Daphne and Martin, and then coast through the rest of the class and act like sullen teens. Everything about this was dumb, not funny, and our of character. Well, maybe a little out of character since previously Frasier and Niles were upset they could not fix a toilet. But this just makes them look like idiots. Meanwhile, Martin helps Roz with her new puppy and tries to take over, and this at least had a cute dog. The instructor who had to suffer the brothers is played by Dave “Gruber”Allen, who I remember from the original Comedy Channel’s “The Higgins Boys and Gruber.” I suspect no one but me remembers that.
I never watched the show, but I absolutely remember The Higgins Boys and Gruber as a Thing. And I’ve seen them pop up in quite a few things since.
I looked it up, and almost everyone who was a host on the original Comedy Channel has had some degree of success. (Also somehow forgot that Jon Stewart was part of that era.)
Now I do have some very fuzzy memories of at least the existence of Short Attention Span Theater.
Oz sounds like the forerunner for Denny Crane, also Boston’s greatest trial lawyer struggling with dementia/being a right wing lunatic.
Started The Lowdown and while some of the dialogue these first two episodes sounds sometimes like it’s trying too hard to be Lansdale or Elmore Leonard, the sort of Southern fried noir writing many know and love, this is already a really fun show. Hawke has aged into an actor you can hang out with every week, his character Lee somewhere between the Dude and his John Brown, and you have a murderer’s row of great players here, including Kyle MacLachlan, Jeanne Tripplehorne, Scott Shepherd*, Tim Blake Nelson as the deceased center of the mystery, and the honorable Keith David. Great endings for both episodes too.
*now the scariest actor in crime fiction, the way he merely looks at people is terrifying.
Getting back on that one this week.
From a few days ago:
The Brutalist — This was a movie I enjoyed while it was on, but it’s less than the sum of its parts. I didn’t ever really feel the length, but at the same time there’s nothing in here that needed to be three and a half fours long. And the movie tried to be subtle about stuff, but it didn’t manage it. All the main conflicts were ladled on with a trowel, but then major events which seemed like they should have led to developments of character and plot weren’t followed up on, and many characters were cartoonish. And then after all that, the climax is ambiguous. Literary fiction developed this anathema to endings 20 years ago and I’ve always thought it was a cop-out. And now I’ve noticed prestige cinema has begun to import this trend, and it works even less well on film. I can kind of see what they were going for, just skimming the highlights and letting the audience fill in the details (I love it when QT does it). But if that’s your plan, get it done in 140 minutes at most.
I see people suggest that this is meant as a defense of art in the face of crass considerations, but actually I will give the movie more credit than that. Because they make Tóth a real prick, and even as we understand and empathize with his trauma, we also empathize with the people who have to deal with him professionally. And it’s smart to base the movie on Brutalism as a style, which is both majestic and also obnoxious and challenging. D.C. has a ton of Brutalist architecture just outside the main tourist areas, and I love it, but it is bracing.
The cast is all very good (except Alwyn as young Harry). Brody is great, as is Felicity Jones, who never showed me much in the few other things I’ve seen her in. And I liked Raffey Cassidy lack of affect as the traumatized Zsófia and how she develops the character as the film progresses.
I don’t know. If this was just meant as an entertainment, I found it entertaining. Even highly so. It certainly seemed like they were trying to convey some insights about the human condition, though. And those were thoroughly bungled even as they kept the experience an enjoyable one.
The Prowler – A minor noir classic but with some flaws. Van Heflin is a bad cop who doesn’t want to be a cop. He becomes obsessed with Evelyn Keyes, the wife of an all-night DJ, after she reports seeing a prowler. Helflin has dreams of owning a motel in Vegas. He sees his payday when he discovers the DJ’s will, a whopping sixty-two thousand dollars. Heflin sets up Keyes’ husband, “mistaking” him for the prowler and killing him by “accident”.
Heflin is great playing a bad cop; he’s a disgusting, manipulative slob. Keyes is also very good as the woman who fears she married a murderer. But I had a hard time imagining her marrying this guy to begin with, she’s kind of dumb the way she falls for Heflin, that’s on the writing. It happens very quick and easy. She hates Heflin for killing her husband then comes running back to him in what feels like five minutes. To be clear, she marries the man who killed her husband and nobody in town is suspicious. When the couple discover they are having a baby, then they worry with the timing of the pregnancy that could raise suspicion. The third act has them hiding out in a ghost town in the desert playing house, really strange. It’s got some great photography going from the dark black night of the city to bright sunny desert. Keyes finally sees the light through Heflin’s manipulation and wants out. I still thought this was very good if a little more implausible than most noir is already. What’s interesting is that the original prowler is never caught. He’s still out there in his own movie.