Additional Shout Outs
“High Maintenance” (Season 3)
Created by ex-husband and wife team Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld (miraculously, they’ve stayed together as a creative pair, even after their marriage dissolved after Season 1), HBO’s weed delivery dealer show “High Maintenance” is arguably not what it once was: supremely fantastic in its web series form and Season 1, but it’s still pretty great. Remember that arresting, show-stopping episode of “Master Of None” where it abandoned all the main characters, instead looking to underseen, unrepresented and underappreciated New Yorkers instead? “High Maintenance” is somewhat like that, taking an unnamed weed delivery guy (Sinclair) and plopping in the houses of random people all over Brooklyn, often getting to know their existential pains, worries, and heartaches with the weed dude weaving in and out of the show. Granted, “High Maintenance” has somewhat changed and sort of focused more on the weed guy himself, but it’s still funny, observationally sharp, and bizarrely surreal at times, especially in the show’s more cinematically psychedelic moments and interludes. Always featuring a terrific soundtrack, great guests like Amy Ryan and directors like indie up-and-comer Eliza Hittman, “High Maintenance” might not be firing on all cylinders at the moment, at least compared the high of what was (arguably hard to sustain), but it’s certainly a terrific show worthy of your time and attention. – RP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWXJLzCGc30
“Catch 22” (Mini-Series)
Adapting Joseph Heller’s scathing wartime satire “Catch-22” for television was always going to a fool’s errand at best and downright impossible at worst. Mike Nichols gave it a try with his spirited but uneven starring cinematic reworking (starring none other than Alan Arkin) and even he didn’t totally stick the landing. Enter George Clooney and Grant Heslov, two men responsible for films as varying in quality as the Oscar-nominated “Good Night and Good Luck” and, um, “Suburbicon.” With the assistance of writers Luke Davies and “Animal Kingdom” director David Michôd – who tried his hand at a different kind of political lampooning with 2017’s broad black comedy “War Machine” – Clooney and Heslov have managed to translate Heller’s incendiary and exacting literary vision to the small screen with a surprising degree of success. Even when “Catch-22” isn’t perfect, its failures are kind of fascinating – it’s the kind of show that’s interesting even when it’s not firing on all cylinders. That said, Clooney and Heslov navigate the novel’s tightrope-walk between disparate tones – despair, anger, screwball absurdity, hangout comedy, and more – with an enviable degree of finesse. What’s more is that they’ve found quite a leading man in the form of Chris Abbott, a shockingly versatile and long-overlooked actor who is finally enjoying a well-deserved lead role. Abbott plays John “Yo-Yo” Yossarian, an Air Force bombardier who is less concerned with doing right by his country than he is with… not dying. Abbott leads an outstanding ensemble, standouts including the remarkable Daniel David Stewart as burgeoning capitalist Milo Minderbinder, Kyle Chandler as the bloodthirsty Colonel Cathcart, and Lewis Pullman as stammering fussbucket Major Major Major. Though it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, “Catch-22” is an appropriately fractured satire for our contentious times, and one of the more purely ambitious shows of 2019. – NL [Our Review]
“Easy” (Season 3)
For three straight seasons now, Joe Swanberg’s Chicago-set comedy “Easy” has been one of the most relaxed and naturalistic comedies on television. The Netflix-produced anthology series is known for a loose, intentionally meandering tone not entirely dissimilar from Swanberg features such as “Drinking Buddies” or “Digging for Fire.” And yet, what makes “Easy” arguably the director’s most satisfying collective work to date is the totality of its vision. Swanberg has always been interested in people first and foremost. Like his fellow mumblecore practitioners the Duplass Brothers, he’s a humanist interested in the foibles of everyday folks, and the shaggy-dog misunderstandings they often get mixed up in. What’s most impressive about “Easy” in its third season is the unassuming scope of its narrative tapestry. We’ve spent a great deal of time with the urban strivers of this winsome, winning show, and we’ve come to love them deeply as a result. It’s this sense of long-game durability that distinguishes “Easy” from other, tonally analogous character-driven comedies like “Love,” “Master of None” and the sadly short-lived “Togetherness.” “Easy” Season 3 picks up with some of our favorite characters from seasons past: controversial artist Jacob Malco (an astounding Marc Maron, flexing his dramatic muscles), who gets his own #MeToo comeuppance in the season’s most devastating and dramatically nuanced episode, swinging middle-aged couple Andi and Kyle (Elizabeth Reaser and Michael Chernus), perpetually lovelorn babysitter Annie (the lovely Kate Micucci) and budding beer maestro and professional man-child Jeff (Dave Franco). The show also introduces some marvelous new characters in its final season, including an amateur detective who’s curious about the world of BDSM (the imminently watchable and fabulously named Nicky Excitement) and a charismatic, fast-talking street vendor named Scrap (newcomer Kali Scrap, who could probably hold down a series of his own, provided anyone wanted to give him a chance). “Easy” ends on a note of fond, wistful reminiscence, suggesting lamentation for lost years in addition to a sliver of reluctant hope for whatever may lie ahead. It’s a shame this show has to end, but we were lucky to spend the time with these characters that we did – sexual hang-ups, S&M parties, and all. – NL
Honorable Mention and Upcoming
It would be probably unfair to add some upcoming shows to the list that we’ve seen, but not the entire runs. That said “Big Little Lies” Season 2, directed by Andrea Arnold and featuring Meryl Streep is utterly terrific so far; Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Too Old To Die Young” is an intriguing mix of David Lynch-isms (specifically “Wild At Heart” and “Twin Peaks”) so far and show that we’ve seen bits of like “Euphoria,” “Righteous Gemstones” and “The Loudest Voice” all look very shades of good and things we’re going to watch in full. Lastly, keep in mind we gave a shout out to “Deadwood: The Movie” which aired on HBO, but we included on our Best Films of 2019… So Far list. Same with “Leaving Neverland” which aired on HBO chaptered up like a movie, but premieres at Sundance in the shape of a film (and it’s also going to be contending at the Oscars as a movie, FYI) That’s the year as we see it so far. Weigh in with your thoughts and picks and see if you agree.
