Captain's Log
The TV calendar is filling up quickly. Let's run it down together
Busy personal weekend ahead, so this might be a short run-through…
The Lowdown – Well, we weren’t that far behind, but since we didn’t start it when it premiered, it still counts. FX’s latest foray into the neo-noir crime drama is created by Sterlin Harjo (Reservation Dogs). Set in Tulsa, The Lowdown stars Ethan Hawke as Lee Raybon, local used bookstore owner / citizen journalist (based on the real Lee Roy Chapman). Lee’s muckraking ends up crossing up some local neo-Nazis and a wealthy family, whose “eccentric” black sheep (Tim Blake Nelson), commits suicide and instigates the story, and whose brother is running for governor (Kyle McLachlan). Lee thinks there might be a connection between the two, and prodded by the suspicions of some of the colorful locals, that Nelson’s Dale Washberg may not have killed himself.
He’s also a divorced dad who’s really bad with money and keeping his life together, as his dogged pursuit of the truth tends to neglect those things. It also makes him somewhat self-righteous, which makes this an ideal combination of Ethan Hawke roles: possessed white savior (The Good Lord Bird) and pretentious writer (take your pick).
I don’t know if that joke is as funny as I thought it was, but so far, we’ve got some good mystery plotting that already has some real stakes and twists, plus great local color and characters. There are so many recognizable actors here! Michael Hitchcock as the gay antiques dealer. Keith David as a private eye. Jeanne Tripplehorn as Dale’s widow. Kaniehtiio Horn as Lee’s ex-wife. Actors from roles possibly only I will recognize (Abbie Cobb*, best known to me as Kimantha from Suburgatory). Actors from roles possibly only you will recognize (Ryan Kiera Armstrong, most recently from Skeleton Crew, as Lee’s daughter). Scott Shepherd and Dale Dickey, as (separately) people you likely do not want to fuck with, for separate reasons. Plus a load of guest stars in smaller roles.
(* – My friend we watched with said she looked like Jennie Garth, and then I looked it up, and she played Jennie Garth in The Unauthorized Beverly Hills, 90210 Story. He also noticed that John Doe, the one from X, guested in the third episode.)
Anyway, pretty cool and fun so far, lots of style and color, good performances, quite funny at points, and intriguing mystery. Certainly belongs on any neo-noir fan’s list.
Okay, one last note: The fourth episode features a song that appeared on last year’s countdown, JD McPherson’s “Sunshine Getaway”!
Okay, two last notes: The Washbergs and associates keep calling Keith David’s Marty “Chubs,” and I’m pretty sure, with his kangol hats and general fashion sense, that they gave him the nickname because of Carl Weathers’ character in Happy Gilmore. I expect that to be confirmed by the end of the season.
Chad Powers – decided to check this out, and have watched two episodes. The premise is good, and the show so far is… fine. I’m kinda interested as to where it goes, but so far it hasn’t really elevated itself beyond the premise. The character who plays the school mascot is probably the most interesting so far, who decides to help “Chad” Mrs. Doubtfire his way onto the South Georgia football team for… mostly not noble reasons, but at least he’s honest about them. Getting Steve Zahn as the head coach makes it a pretty strong cast, but so far, the characters still seem fairly stock for the most part. Hopefully we’ll get more depth and comedy to them soon.
Let’s lead off with a few season premieres…
How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge) kicked off Friday on the BBC with the first episode. Alan’s latest project involves him bravely making a documentary about mental health, a subject no one is willing to tackle in the UK right now, and certainly not because he thinks it will raise his profile, be a means for him to settle petty scores, or allow him to dodge actually dealing with his mental health. Of course this was kicked off by an incident where Alan is just trying to save face for a public/professional embarrassment. Of course his attempts to reconcile with Simon (Tim Key, back from the last two series and also recently in The Paper) just reinforce the problems between them (and with Alan, specifically). It didn’t kill me like the best of Alan’s work does (well, a few moments did), but for a first episode of a new series, I can see the groundwork being laid for some good comedy, and there’s also plenty of the typical asinine Alan shit. Being older and marginally wiser, and making more effort to seem with the times, can’t hide who he really is. I’m having fun so far, and I can’t decide if I’m overselling it because it’s Alan, or underselling it because Alan is still so consistently one of the funniest comic creations around, even in his second act as the older Alan (spurred by Rob and Neil Gibbons joining the writing team).
Smiling Friends – “Silly Samuel” is a good return to form, guesting Conner O’Malley as the titular character. He looks like the kind of cartoon creation that would be called “Silly Samuel.” He wants to be taken seriously. Pim and Charlie’s efforts on this front prove difficult. (That could probably apply to any episode.) Meanwhile, Allan helps Mr. Boss get the building through an inspection. That’s kind of a slight B-plot, but it collides with the A-plot in very satisfying fashion. Nothing mind-blowing, but the season 3 premiere is a good representative example of the show.
Abbott Elementary kicked off season 5 last Wednesday with “Team Building,” a faculty event before the season proper starts. And it’s a solid episode of Abbott Elementary. Which speaks to the kind of show it is– it isn’t ever going to reach the higher tier for me since it’s the kind of show that usually goes for being cute and heartwarming over being funny. And this was definitely more of that, but well-executed, with some funny bits throughout.
And in continuing shows, let’s start with Beavis and Butt-Head, which gives us “Too Big to Fail,” an episode where old Beavis and Butt-Head decide they can’t be evicted if Butt-Head gets too fat to leave the apartment. In the second segment, Mr. Anderson asks the boys to watch his metal detector while he gets a beer, and the two of course get up to mayhem with it. And we get a brief interstitial, “Swipe Right with Mr. Van Driessen,” which portrays his dating life as “the most eligible vegan bachelor in Highland.” And… well, to be honest, this one is pretty predictable, but they keep it brief and it’s still good for a laugh. Good episode; I was particularly impressed by how “Metal Detector” could have just as easily fit into the original run.
Bob’s Burgers gives us… “‘Til Death Do Us Art,” which, I guess is fine. I didn’t laugh much, but I also probably would’ve told Gayle to fuck off a long time ago, instead of constantly bending over to enable her delusions and lies and rudeness at my expense. Maybe I was just in a bad mood, or maybe I have better boundaries than Linda and Bob (and have had to fight hard for them). Or maybe there weren’t enough actual jokes in this one.
Only Murders in the Building is one we’re fortunate to get at 10 PM Monday nights. “Silver Alert” largely follows our trio’s attempt to clandestinely dig into the billionaires, as well as a return from the mayor, and another clue (that some astute viewers pieced together already) into what may be the motive for the murders. It also gives us a nice scene of the trio remembering their importance to one another (in a particularly funny and specific way), as well as a brief guest appearance by Dylan Baker and Becky Ann Baker (whom I only just learned in my research for this episode are husband and wife, and have been for 35 years!).
High Potential brings us a story of a 911 call that ends up linking two murders 25 years apart, and ultimately centering around a Suge Knight-type figure. This one reinforces something I mentioned last week that helps elevate this show above the standard procedural: the pace. A lot of events are packed into each episode without feeling like the plot is skipping anything; that makes it feel like our time is not being wasted, too. It isn’t really the kind of show that elevates above the formula into art, but it gives the formula enough pace, twists, and interesting characterization to make it a consistently engaging weekly watch.
And we finished English Teacher. The show is still pretty much just as funny as it was in season 1. I am going to try to forget I ever heard the phrase “load twins.”
We haven’t seen more of the new season of Futurama yet. But to be honest, that puts us at eleven shows right now, with five coming to the airwaves in the next week… If I don’t fall behind, I should get some kind of award.
Well, after going to see the Onion’s Jeffrey Epstein: Bad Pedophile last night, I had to watch that all-time classic in the genre, Brass Eye‘s “Paedogeddon.” It’s honestly remarkable this was made in 2001; it feels astoundingly prescient. I mean, pranking the real UK celebrities and MPs is very funny, but if the Jimmy Savile stories had come out 20 years before his death instead of immediately after, I imagine the bus tour is the kind of thing he would have ended up doing. Honestly, there’s a strong-case that this is the single best stand-alone episode of TV made this century.
I… guess we technically ended English Teacher on Hulu even though apparently it’s still got new episodes coming up on FX? I don’t know what’s going on there with the release scheduling. I guess they’re trying to blow through it and move on, too.
We’ve got a lot coming up in just a two-day period. Sunday, HBO premieres The Chair Company, the latest show starring Tim Robinson and created by Robinson and Zach Kanin. That same night, CBS is running sneak previews of Matlock and Elsbeth before kicking off the season proper in their usual Thursday-night time slots. And in sitcom news, on Monday, CBS premieres DMV, and Hulu will release the final season of Solar Opposites.
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 Two, Episode Twenty, “As You Were”
This is another episode that’s simultaneously loosely plotted and yet weirdly tight – there’s the runner of Frank having a hernia that the characters treat and the overall concept of a break in the fighting that’s rapidly interrupted by bombing (from their own side, naturally). Otherwise, there are a lot of familiar riffs on old ideas, like Klinger talking to Mulcahey about his desire to flee the army. This made me think of how the writing of this show very strongly matches the situation of the characters; the show famously is about ‘meatball’ surgery, where they churn out patients very fast in the hopes of holding them together until they get some real medicine; the implication is that they do old techniques very fast.
Similarly, this show has a lot of scenes they fall back on to fill out an episode; Frank and Margaret talking to each other, Klinger trying to talk his way out of the army, Hawkeye and Trapper’s pranks. Sometimes these are used to get them to new situations, but for the most part, this is about them reacting somewhat predictably to new situations (one could say the main difference between M*A*S*H and Always Sunny is that this show has a slightly wider imagination and more complex situation).
I was also struck by the basic element of joy in this show, when Henry leads a sex ed class and even he can’t really take it seriously (and, indeed, they applaud him at the end for even trying).
“Where did you get those costumes?”
“What costumes?”
“How’d you like a swift kiss in the mouth?” Hawkeye is amazing at flirting.
How Are You? It’s Alan, episode 2 – very good again, I enjoyed Alan accidentally getting drunk at the book group and disregarding the results of his stress test on Lynn because they didn’t meet his expectations.
Seinfeld, “The Boyfriend” – ooh a double-length episode with an intro from Jerry saying it’s his personal favourite! Not sure I agree with that high praise but it is a good one, even the stand-up bits are a little funnier than usual. I always enjoy it when they use the internal-monologue device (“I’m Keith Hernandez!”) and George’s unemployment battle was pretty hilarious. The JFK parody stuff is good too, and although I haven’t actually seen JFK I understand Wayne Knight plays the same role in both which is pretty funny.
“And you want to be my latex salesman” is a top five moment on the show, maybe number one. A man has been thoroughly debased in his failure and the response is to kick him while he’s down, magnificent. They milk the live audience so well too.
Huh, episode 2 is out already? I thought they were being released on Fridays.
The whole thing dropped at once on the BBC streaming service, but I kinda want to portion it out a bit rather than binging.
*runs to computer* Well, I’ll be damned.
The Practice, “Love and Honor” – The love part is Bobby and Lindsay kissing after agreeing it’s over and never will be. It’s not very interesting. The honor part is Jimmy successfully convincing a jury that defense attorneys are doing the honorable thing by using every legal means necessary to win acquittal, that this is a necessary balance against prosecutorial power. I don’t know if I believe this is true, but I do believe that the jury bought this over Tony Danza’s arguments in favor of a slander judgement. We get both Jimmy finding his footing as a trial lawyer and Michael Badalucco basically setting up his Emmy win that year.
The X-Files, “Piper Maru”
Hey, everyone, my X-Files Blu-rays finally arrived!
Finally jumping back into the flow of the show with a mytharc episode setting up the black oil, which I know of thanks to seeing mytharc collection DVDs in Wal-Mart many years ago. I no longer expect any of this to go anywhere, which obviously weakens the experience, but with that caveat in mind, this is a solid episode that feels surprisingly well-paced for being an obvious “part one.” The oil effect in the eyes is a good, creepy visual touch, and it’s hard to hit upon a more simultaneously visceral and existential terror than radiation. We also get the return of Krycek, so we have Mulder dealing with his father’s murderer in the same episode that Scully deals with her sister’s unsolved murder.
Skinner’s subplot is the part of this that worked best for me, possibly because it feels like it has the most traditional dramatic structure, possibly because I’m just happy to see Skinner getting more to do. He has to be the face of the decision to effectively shelf the investigation into Scully’s sister’s murder, bearing the brunt of her heartbreak and anger on that, but he’s pushing so hard at it behind the scenes that he gets first threatened and then shot to get him to back off. I like how well all this uses Skinner’s character–his specific position in the middle of a hierarchy, his drive to protect his agents, his inability to sit by for long when someone’s being treated unfairly–to press him into a dire situation.
Just here for the Skinner praise, as I lost interest in the show in part because the arc can’t go anywhere by nature, but he’s a super well-realized dramatic character.
Between Skinner and Vic Mackey, I’m starting to think that the best way to juice a story is to focus on a character in the middle of a hierarchy.
Between Skinner and Vic Mackey there are about 1.5 total follicles.
That’s true. Maybe the real lesson here is that bald men have inherent dramatic potential. They’re powerhouses of storytelling.
They have to generate their charisma alone, without follicle power!
Gianmarco Soresi at The Punch Line! He was actually even funnier than I expected and also didn’t do much crowd work, despite being popular for this on the socials (in part because he is genuinely good at it, using his charm and off the cuff delivery to really engage with people). Also a good opener though I can’t remember his last name…sorry Ty. I blame the passionfruit frozen margaritas (24 bucks for a double! 24!)
Wooo, live comedy!
Only Murders in the Building seems extremely trivial this season, even though I still enjoy it while it’s on (and I got some big laughs this episode). It’s just hard to see any stakes.
Really have to give The Lowdown a shot, I like pretty much all of the things you mentioned, including neo-noir and Ethan Hawke in loser/impassioned mode. I’ll report back on the first episode tomorrow.
I’m thinking I’ll start fitting one of these in every Monday along with my Mr. Show viewing. I’ve been meaning to watch it since I first saw the previews.
It’s good! Although part of me thinks you should spend that time on three Mr. Shows until you’re done.
I’ve been watching it, and it’s pretty fun. It’s kind of what you’d get mixing The Big Lebowski with Justified.
You had my curiosity…
It’s a pretty good description! I’ll second it.
Year of the Month update!
Here’s a primer on some of the movies, albums, books and TV we’ll be covering for 1973 in October!
TBD: Patrick Mio Llaguno – The Long Goodbye
Oct. 14th: Bridgett Taylor: Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road
Oct. 15th: Lauren James: Working
Oct. 16th: John Bruni: Shotgun Willie/Sweet Revenge
Oct. 22nd: Lauren James: The Wicker Man
Oct. 20th: Sam Scott: János Vitéz
Oct. 26th: Ben Hohenstatt: Mind Games
Oct. 29th: Lauren James: Don’t Look Now
And this November, you can write about any of these movies, albums, books, et al from 2018!
Nov. 10th: Bridgett Taylor: Aquaman
Nov. 12th: Ben Hohenstatt: Bark Your Head Off, Dog
Nov. 24th: Sam Scott: Ice Cream Man