I needed to get my votes in yesterday for one of the voting bodies I’m on the nominating committee for. I need to remember the futility of that, because that form makes no sense, has predetermined choices to choose from (even in a nominating committee stage), and just some baffling choices. One series was in Drama, but all its actors were listed in Comedy. Another series which I gave a nomination to, none of the actors were on the page. Not a single performer from its acclaimed season. Yes, I have ONE other slot, but then I have to ask myself, is everyone else using their one write in slot for the same name? Or are they more likely checking boxes? So I tried to get into a lot of fresh shows yesterday, and it didn’t really end up paying off. But, I felt even more well rounded.
TV Shows Watched: The Burroughs: S1E2 (Netflix) with audio description, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed: S1E1 (Apple) with audio description, Off Campus: S1E1 (Amazon) with audio description, The miniature Wife: S1E2 (Peacock) with audio description, Half Man: S1E3 (HBO MAX) with audio description, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert: Finale (Paramount Plus) no audio description
The Burroughs- This show is fantastic. Two episodes in and I’m rapidly moving this up the charts of my favorite things from the last year of TV. I can’t wait to see how the mystery unfolds. They had this in Drama Series, like it might have a second season, but then again they had Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen in Limited, and I’d swear I read Netflix was submitting that in Drama as well. So, who knows. And the great debate? This time I clearly heard Geena Davis. Must have been something in my ear the first episode.
Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed- Tatiana Maslany stars in this thriller where shit gets real pretty fast at the end. She’s divorced, in a shared custody situation with her husband (Jake Johnson), presumably wealthier and in a different position than her. But, she’s been paying for time with a Cam Boy online, and things go sour when she watches him get attacked, and from there, it only gets worse. The audio description here was pretty solid, especially with that creepy ending.
Off Campus- Last May, Amazon dropped overcompensating, and now they have another college set series with a cast coming of age, or adulting, whatever. We follow a few different characters, but it appears two are leads. One girl is a music major whose scholarship is revoked mid-semester for no discernible reason other than the college just didn’t want to have that scholarship. I’m fairly certain that’s not how that works, as you pay tuition up front at the beginning. Classes aren’t paid for weekly, so her scholarship woudl have already kicked in for that semester and she’d be worried about next semester? Anyway, the other lead is on the college’s hockey team, and he’s been scouted, so the pressure is on. He also hates his dad, is behind in his classes, and needs some tutoring. There’s also a pop song contest here that could keep our girl in school, and she has a huge crush on a singer/songwriter. The show is fine. It is definitely more of a drama than a comedy.
The Miniature Wife- It’s a fun premise, silly, not executed as well as it could have been. Elizabeth Banks seems down for whatever, but as she gnaws on things that are human sized, I think about her tiny body, and what the dosage would be for her at her size. It’s cute to see her gnaw on a giant Tylenol, but if the pill is bigger than she is, probably too much drug content. Also, she eats some normal size chocolate, for which her body wouldn’t be able to process. So, it’s cute, but not necessarily clever. The show is also described by She-Ra, the ambiguous narrator behind many other shows.
Half Man- The series continues to be extremely uncomfortable, and dark in tone. Trying to vote for this was difficult, because they put Gad in lead, Bell in supporting, and told the two young actors playing their counterparts to fuck right off. I think the HBO series will submit Bell and Gad in lead, and leave the younger versions open to be nominated in supporting. That is my guess.
The Final Late Show With Stephen Colbert- Sadly, no audio description, but one of those things you’ll remember having seen. I remember seeing the last Tonight Show with Jay Leno (before he moved into prime time to fuck over Conan), and I saw the last Conan. Hell, I’ve seen the series finale to Newhart, and I never watched the damn show. This is easily one of the Top 10 moments of any pop culture thing that will happen across film/TV/stage/music/etc. of the year. Not just because it was Colbert, but because it was the end of The ALte Show. CBS didn’t just cancel Colbert and replace him with someone more friendly, they got out of late night altogether, and to watch Colbert have to acknowledge that, standing in the Ed Sullivan theater, is one of the most profound examples of what is wrong with the times we live in. This isn’t just a referendum on liberal comedians, but showing what happens when television becomes too corporate, lacks ingenuity, and forgets where it came from. Someone else should have been afforded a chance to run out of the Ed Sullivan theater. People who want to own a film distribution company or a television channel should be required to know the history of the landscape into which they step. For a lot of people, it isn’t business, it’s personal, it’s comforting, to see legacies live on. I’m less troubled by the cancellation of Colbert, and more troubled by the decision to pull out of the whole variety gig, which helped to put CBS on the map. The other hosts all showed up, as the Jimmy’s ran reruns instead of competing in the timeslot. Sad day indeed.
