This post covers all the shows I’ve been watching lately or am excited about watching.
When I set out to write this week’s post, I intended to provide an in-depth review of a recent show that left a lasting impression. However, reviewing a series based on the real-life murder of a 14-year-old proved challenging as a parent of a child the same age. While I could endure watching Under the Bridge and extensively analyzing it, writing about it proved too emotionally taxing. But then something magical happened and my brain landed on the idea of highlighting a few notable shows I’ve been watching recently, of which this is just one in a list of good ones.
Let’s Discuss
What shows are you watching and/or excited about?
Do you ever experience mental and emotional fatigue with a show? Any categories of shows you can’t watch based on this?
Shows I’m Watching:
😂 Emotionally-Charged Dramedy
Hacks, Season 3 [Trailer] is the show’s best season ever. Back in 2021, in the show’s first season, I wrote in praise of the show:
I didn’t coin the term “Jeanaissance” to refer to the second career coming of Jean Smart, but damn, I wish I had. Jean Smart is having the career of her life at the moment.
Smart has proved that my “at the moment” comment was shortsighted. Since then, she has gone on to win awards such as the Golden Globes, SAG, and an Emmy, to name a few, for her role as the inimitable Deborah Vance, an older, uninspired comedian with a Las Vegas show, who is coasting and appears to be on her way out. That is until she is paired with an awkward, Gen Z comedy writer, Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) brought in to breathe new life into her work and give her the necessary push to get back to being funny again. The chemistry these two share is palpable. Additionally, there is no dead weight in the ensemble. The show’s charming, relatable, equally funny actors, like Paul Downs (also a writer) and Megan Stalter, balance out some of the more fraught drama inherent in the mother-child connection between Deborah and Ava.
I’ve currently watched episodes 1-6.
Standout episode: Episode 4 “Join The Club” - There’s pickleball and Helen Hunt involved.
👮🏽♀️Emotionally-Charged Crime Drama
Under the Bridge [Trailer] is a single-season crime drama based on the Rebecca Godfrey book of the same name. Its subject matter is dark - a 14-year-old Indian girl goes missing in a small town in British Columbia in 1997, only for it to be later revealed that she was brutally beaten and murdered by her peers. The beatings alone, the coroner mentions, were enough to kill her. The girl’s name is Reena Virk and if this sounds familiar, it’s because Godfrey’s book is based on the real-life disappearance and murder of Virk.
The series stars Lily Gladstone as a local police officer and Riley Keough as Godfrey, investigating the case through their respective lenses. The show provides a chilling look into the hidden world of the young perpetrators - a group of kids who aspire to be in a gang emulate “thug” culture and glorify gangster life. One of the girls considers John Gotti aka “The Dapper Don,” a well-known criminal convicted of multiple murders, racketeering, illegal gambling, extortion, obstruction of justice, etc. to be her role model. They lack any adult supervision or care and it all feels a bit too “Lord of the Flies.” Although their horrific acts may prompt condemnation of the attackers/murderers as irredeemable, particularly in one case, the show presents a contrasting perspective that explores the complexities and duality of their circumstances. It begs us to examine the role of choice in demonstrating mercy and finding redemption after so much inexplicable loss.
😂 A Not-So-Easily Forgotten Gem of an Emotionally-Charged Comedy
Am I Being Unreasonable? [Trailer] is a much-watch series that packs a punch. Fans of Dead to Me and plots involving gal pal misadventures in adulting with serious consequences will enjoy this one.
Per my initial review:
The opening scene shows Nic (Daisy May Cooper) and a fun-loving, if not rather immature man-child, who may be a friend, but he may also be more than a friend, waiting for a train out in the snow together. We later find out that this man’s name is Alex and they are having an affair.
The rapport at the train stop is light and easy. Nic and Alex exchange quick-witted, playful jabs and engage in some silliness that feels a tad immature for middle-aged adults, but I can suspend disbelief here as it’s unclear if this relationship is in its Honeymoon phase or what their deal is. What I can say without a doubt is that only someone in love with Alex or incredibly inebriated could find it funny when Alex urinates outside in public, drawing an X with his pee and then proudly explains in painstaking detail to Nic, who listens attentively, how he was able to arrive at the fait accompli. Regardless, the two are laughing and enjoying one another’s company. Within a minute, things get much darker.
🎭 True Crime-Esque Comedy Thriller
Bodkin, Season 1 [Trailer] boldly goes where no show about a true crime podcast has gone before. Ireland. To, West Cork, to be specific. This show is not as entertaining as Only Murders in the Building (Hulu) or Based on a True Story (Peacock), but Netflix’s horse in the race, Bodkin, an Obamas-produced true crime podcast dramedy, is not too shabby either, especially given the gorgeous locale and that Irish brogue.
SNL and The Last Man on Earth alum Will Forte stars as one leg of the three-legged journo table trekking to the town of Bodkin, to crack the case on what happened to three civilians who disappeared over 20 years ago during the Samhain (pronunciation: Sow-un) festival. Overall, the story is convoluted, bumpy, and utterly ridiculous at times, but borderline entertaining enough to make it worth it. For those with an aversion to hearing the word “f*ck” (and that’s me as I can’t even write it out here), this show might be hard to deal with. The word “f*ck” is mentioned as often as I say, “um” which is a lot. Nonetheless, it was an easy binge for me. For Station Eleven fans [I am one], the actor that played the memorable Clark, David Wilmot is in this. He’s fantastic.
📚 A Documentary About a Show that Made Bibliophiles out of Kids
Butterfly in the Sky [Trailer] I don’t watch a ton of documentaries which is why you rarely see me write about them. However, Butterfly in the Sky is the exception.
As a child of the 80s, Reading Rainbow had a profound impact on my interest in stories. Not reading books, mind you, that came later, but hearing the voices of actors of the day read in loud, theatrical voices (James Earl Jones comes to mind) children’s stories that made me feel proud to be a kid. If big, important adults (and actors, at that) could spare their time to read to kids for public broadcasting and with such gusto then that meant we were a kinda big deal.
Levar Burton served as our trusted guide on our reading adventures, taking us into exotic places (e.g. a jungle, space) chasing after that elusive butterfly in the sky, and its catchy theme song. The 2022 documentary was recently released on Netflix and is a beautiful tribute to the show with interviews from former child readers and the show’s production staff, as well as a BTS on how a show like this ever got made and lasted almost 30 years.
Let’s Discuss
What shows are you watching?
Have you seen any of these shows - If so, which ones?
Butterfly in the Sky is the ultimate earworm. As such, I’m including it here. I dare you not to click on it.
The Community of Beth Watchers (/Incredible Reviewers) Weighs In:
- has been on my case about watching Shogun, a modern adaptation of the James Clavell historical drama classic about military rulers in Japan set in the 1600s. I watched the first episode and had to look up the history of Japan in the context of the Portuguese and when English settlers arrived there so it’s already teaching me something.
Rob writes on movies and films and should not be mistaken with the lead singer from Matchbox 20 (also Rob Thomas) who is responsible for the buzzkill song, Push, which was the Kens’ anthem in the Barbie movie last year but was originally a song from 1997.
Oh wow. I caught my breath at your opening paragraph. Years ago, I got called by an audiobook producer to narrate a best selling book called "The Surgeon". It was about a serial killer who prayed on rape victims. My daughter was 6 years old. I knew I could not be in the world of this book for 3 weeks and keep my sanity, so I said "No thanks", and shared the reason why. It was my very first offer of an audiobook...and I had to turn it down. But the next day he came back with an Alice Munro short story collection. And I resonate with Kristin DeMarr's "Bodkin" recommendation. It took me awhile to get into it - but then, I was hooked!
Always enjoy your watching and just-watched lists! I haven't seen most of all of them! Now that I have a TV again (I was trying to find the same one, or one that would fit the same mount on my wall...alas, I had no luck with that, hence the couple of weeks of TVlessness.).
I'm watching One Day, which I think you recommended a while back and it's one of those shows that I really liked the first couple of episodes and each subsequent one a little less. The acting is excellent, it's the script that I'm finding lacking.
We just watched "The Greatest Night in Pop" about the making of We Are the World and I really enjoyed it. Amazing archival footage. Seeing Michael Jackson in the studio working out the details of the song, Stevie Wonder derailing the recording by trying to get a Swahili verse added, screwing Sheila E., Bob Dylan looking extremely awkward....all gold.
And we watched The Contestant (HULU). It was tough to watch, as it was one of the cruelest "reality" TV moments in history. But endlessly fascinating regardless to see the lengths producers will go for ratings.