Category: Television

In our household, Apple TV+ has been the streaming service we find ourselves watching in spurts. In fact, it’s relatively low price point (around five bucks a month) with an abundance of free trial offers out in Internet land, makes it perfect to start and stop and restart. It offers a much smaller array of choices than its competitors, but in some cases, the network manages to capture the quality over quantity prize.

At a get-together a few weeks ago, a friend raved about the service’s comedy Ted Lasso. She said that it was the sort of humor that my other half and I would appreciate. So, we decided to give it a try. Unbeknownst to us, during this very same timeframe, the show picked up a record haul of Emmy nominees for a debut entry. Yet, we weren’t consciously trying to be part of the bandwagon, I promise. Over the past year, we have become fans of our city’s new professional soccer team, attending several games in person. So, the timing seemed relevant for us.

The series stars Saturday Night Live veteran Jason Sudeikis as Lasso, an up-and-coming American football coach who accepts an unlikely offer to cross the Atlantic and coach a professional British soccer (aka football) team. The unassuming and likable–perhaps even to a fault–Lasso has no clue that the team’s new owner Rebecca Welton, who won the team in a bitter divorce settlement, hatched the deal as part of a grand revenge plot. Played brilliantly by Hannah Waddingham, Rebecca reasons that, since her cheating ex-husband loves his soccer franchise, AFC Richmond, more than anything else in life, he deserves to witness a painful dumpster fire of incompetence and failure.

Ted Lasso hails from America’s Heartland and offers up frequent folksy expressions, but he defies one-dimensional stereotypes. He possesses an enviable knowledge of popular culture, history, business, and a host of other topics. He has his fish out of water moments, loathing the taste of hot tea, which he dismisses as “brown water.” Yet, he remains open to learning from his adopted country and the diverse roster of players and coaches.

Lasso practices redeeming virtues of kindness and empathy, offering homemade pastries and pleasantries to his very un-chatty boss Weldon. He also makes a point to organize birthday and holiday celebrations for his team members. Yet, he isn’t above getting caught up in the emotions of the moment, admitting to heartbreak and loneliness. In one particular episode, he confesses his love for British romantic comedies, which seems fitting, as I think the show evokes the charming vibe found in Love Actually and similar movies.

Ted Lasso is now in the midst of its second season. (Unlike Netflix, Apple TV+ typically releases new episodes a week at a time, requiring a serious delay of gratification. I like the direction in which the show seems headed.

The Morning Show
The television drama about television hit the airwaves in 2019, featuring the solid star power of Jennifer Anniston, Steve Carell, and Reese Witherspoon. Season two was delayed by the pandemic and premieres September 17th.

Season one began as the hugely successful pair of morning news anchors (Alex Levy played by Anniston and Mitch Kessler played by Carell) faces the crisis of a major sexual harassment allegation against Kessler. The ramifications of possible cover-ups and enabling behaviors rock the cast and crew. Along the way, regional reporter Bradley Jackon (played by Witherspoon) finds herself plucked from obscurity to occupy the co-anchor spot vacated by the fired Kessler.

The Morning Show features compelling performances all around. The program also tackles timely questions about the dark side of celebrity and the toxic nature of today’s noisy media landscape. I look forward to seeing how things take shape in the new season.

Defending Jacob
This addictive legal thriller, based on a bestselling novel by William Landay, stars the always delightful Chris Evans as a Boston-area prosecutor and Michelle Dockery (Best known as Lady Mary Crowley on Downton Abbey) as his psychologist wife. The couple’s world turns upside down when their teenage son stands accused of murdering a classmate.

The plot twists and turns left me on the edge of my seat. The storyline navigates the bounds of parental loyalty. Are there limits to how far loving parents should go in defending their children? Does love remain unconditional in the face of nagging doubt? The series appears slated to remain a one-off miniseries, though the notion of a second season does sound enticing.

CODA
This little gem of a movie won raves on the independent film festival circuit. It’s now playing on select cinema screens, but Apple drew from its deep pockets to purchase the streaming rights. The cast, including Oscar winner Marlee Matlin, was hired with the requirement that deaf actors and actresses play all the hearing-impaired roles.

The term CODA refers to a hearing child raised by deaf adults. My other half is proficient in American Sign Language and has spent time working in the deaf culture. So watching the film with him was extra enlightening.

Set in Coastal New England, the story centers on Ruby, a hearing teen girl with deaf parents and a deaf older brother. The family operates a fishing boat and depends on Ruby for their business communication with the hearing world. Ruby’s main extra-curricular activity turns out to be choral singing. This development becomes increasingly problematic, as Ruby’s family feels shut out of a world they can’t fully experience.

Okay, I must confess that this general trajectory is a fairly standard plot element–kids following dreams that differ from parental expectations. Yet, the sincerity and attention to nuance keep things fresh. Yes, this is a tale that tugs at the heart strings, but the process to get there respects diversity in a way that breaks new ground.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Okay, I was definitely late to the party on this one. The police comedy starring Saturday Night Live alum Andy Samberg and created by Dan Goor and Michael Schur has aired for seven seasons. It began life on Fox and then shifted to NBC, though I only started watching it as an offering on Hulu.

I have always found Samberg quite funny and talented, but for several years when I would see this show advertised, it seemed like familiar territory on the surface. Yes, it does have the standard divide between by-the-book authority figures and a rebel protagonist (Samberg’s lovable bad-boy role of Detective Jake Peralta). However, there is surprising depth and nuance among the hijinks.

The precinct falls under the command of the always somber Captain Raymond Holt, played by veteran actor Andre Braugher. Holt is gay and comfortable in his identity, but he embodies the sort of rigid boundaries that keep him from interjecting his personal life into the office and vice versa.

The ensemble of characters incorporates matters of gender, race, and ethnicity. Yet, the writers manage to transcend stereotypes and expectations. We get acquainted with the everyday oddities and absurdities that make a diverse workplace interesting.

A Few Especially Interesting Documentaries
These aren’t multi-episode series selections, but I have to put in a plug for three Netflix documentaries worth checking out. First is Becoming, a behind the scenes glimpse into former First Lady Michelle Obama’s book tour that also includes surprisingly candid conversations about her life in and out of the White House. Even if you have read the book or think you know the whole story, hearing the unguarded tone seems novel.

Second is Crip Camp: A Revolution (produced by the Obamas interestingly enough), which details the history of a ground-breaking summer camp for disabled teens and young adults during the early 1970s. The camp raised eyebrows by offering radical self-empowerment rather than paternalistic charity. In the years that followed, camp attendees channeled their experience into political activism. I found the archival footage to be heartfelt and inspiring.

Third is A Secret Love, which recounts the lives of a longtime lesbian couple who began their partnership in the 1940s and shared their lives for many decades, as shame and secrecy gave way to visibility and freedom. The film also documents the special struggles faced by LGBT senior citizens, even in the era of same-sex marriage.

Happy Streaming! 

 

Tennessee has had some gloomy winter weather lately, not so much severe ice and snow, but rather a long-term blah continuation of clouds and rain. So, there have been ample blocks of time for television binges. I would like to highlight two edgy Netflix programs and an ABC sitcom by way of Hulu.

You
The psychological crime drama from prolific Hollywood producer Greg Berlanti originated as a Lifetime series, but the vibe turned out not to be a good fit for the network’s core audience. Yet, a solid cult following developed, so the show made its way to Netflix.

Penn Badgley stars as Manhattan bookstore manager Joe Goldberg. Joe maintains a clear vision of how his life should take shape, including his romantic obsession with aspiring writer and NYU graduate student Guinevere Beck. After waiting on Guinevere at his shop, Joe obsessively and methodically manages to insert himself into the young woman’s world.

Comparisons to the long-running violent cable hit Dexter may be inevitable, but Joe doesn’t set out to be a killer per se; at least homicide doesn’t overwhelm his daily thought patterns. Rather, murder becomes a natural extension of his dogged perfectionism. I am about eight episodes into the first season, and I find myself hooked by the cat and mouse suspense.

Sex Education
Socially awkward British teen Otis Milburn, played by Asa Butterfield, copes with garden variety angst and testosterone-fueled infatuation. Yet what makes his predicament unique is that his single mother, portrayed with extra spunk and sass by X-Files star Gillian Anderson, works as a sex therapist and promotes straightforward breakfast table dialogue about the birds and the bees, turning her son’s face various shades of red.

With the help of more streetwise friends, Otis, embarrassed as he may be, undertakes a covert business offering sexual information and advice to his fellow high school students. The comic antics may not seem especially groundbreaking, but the episodes manage to tackle a host of serious issues ranging from teen depression and anxiety to gender roles and family expectations. Anderson has aged with upmost grace, and it’s neat to see her in a role so different from her earlier image.

American Housewife
I am late to the party for this sitcom currently in its fourth season on ABC and also available for streaming on Hulu. On its face, it may appear pretty pedestrian. The Ottos, a middle class history professor husband and business woman/homemaker wife, find themselves fish out of water when they locate in tony Westport, Connecticut expressly for the purpose of sending their three children to a well-regarded school district. They chafe at the rampant materialism and conformity that pervade the town and corrupt their kids.

Yet, to me at least, American Housewife offers more than meets the eye. The plot points may often be pretty run-of-the-mill, but in terms of character development, I like the fact that the Ottos let their freak flags fly. Housewife Katie is a woman of size who offers a competing narrative related to body image in a gossipy carpool lane filled with perfectly sculpted and botoxed moms, and her spouse Greg spends his free time attending Revolutionary War re-enactments. Their children possess a unique series of interests and quirks–including a youngest daughter coping with obsessive-compulsive disorder–that transcend familiar caricatures.

Okay, I will admit that American Housewife has not produced a shelf full of Emmy Awards. It’s not one of those sitcoms that reinvents the small screen as we know it. Yet, for families, parents, teens, and others struggling to find self-acceptance in a cookie-cutter world, I think it’s pretty refreshing.

Until spring arrives for real, happy watching!