Welcome to my Monday newsletter! Today, I will be looking at the new season of American Horror Story, the rest of the season of The Other Black Girl, FOX's seminal 2000s drama The OC and more!
I STARTED DOWN THE "AMERICAN HORROR STORY" ROAD AGAIN
My history with American Horror Story is pretty consistent. I've started quite a few of the seasons over the years but never finished a season or really even came close. The closest I ever got to finishing a season was the original edition, Murder House. I watched probably about half of that season mainly because of Connie Britton. Most of the others I bail after one episode. I think it very often is Ryan Murphy his worst instincts. There is an amazing cast but it's way too campy. There is an interesting premise and strong production values but a narrative mess.
So of course I decided to try out the newest edition, Delicate, which premiered this past Wednesday on FX. The 12th edition of the anthology series is pregnancy themed with some Rosemary's Baby elements. It features a reliable cast including Emma Roberts, Matt Czurchy and Michaela Jae Rodriguez, but the cast also includes Kim Kardashian in a move that couldn't be more quintessential Ryan Murphy if it tried.
I'm probably one and done on this one like others in the franchise. There are serviceable performances from Roberts, Czurchy and Denis O'Hare, but there's a couple glaring reasons I won't be tuning back in aside from the fact that this type of show is just not for me no matter how many times I try. First up is the obvious - Kim Kardashian cannot act. She is distractingly bad. Maybe I noticed it more because of who she was, but it's not like I would have thought she was a good actress even if I had never seen her before in my life. There wasn't a single line that felt naturally delivered. The second reason was the show just didn't seem to have much of an identity. Some of the editions over the years have been very visually arresting. Maybe this one will get there but it wasn't even fun to look at while being its usually narrative disaster.
WELCOME TO "THE O.C."
The combination of less new shows to watch and some TV critics reminiscing led me to decide to check out FOX's 2000s drama The O.C. for the first time. I was in high school when the series premiered in 2003 and I had a couple friends who were very into it, but I had never seen an episode. What a mid-2000s time capsule it is, complete with the requisite All-American Rejects needle drop. I can see what makes it compelling TV though and I know the general consensus seems to be the first season is great but then it lost its way. I can see why it was an instantly appealing show. The cast is likable, the show has some soapy elements but doesn't try to go too heavy with anything in the first episode. It's a lot of world building and the pilot is very effective at accomplishing that task. I liked it enough to keep watching, at least for now.
I was also struck by the fact that this type of show doesn't really exist anymore, especially on network TV but even in general. The relationship-based dramas (Once and Again, Brothers & Sisters, Parenthood to name a few) used to be a staple of TV programming and the ones that blended teen drama with family drama like Party of Five, My So-Called Life, Freaks and Geeks, Friday Night Lights and this show are always spoken of in beloved terms. We still have some insightful teen comedies like Never Have I Ever but we don't really have a modern day equivalent of a show like The O.C. You could make an argument about This is Us, but even that had to have more of a hook with its time jumping ways. Maybe something like The Summer I Turned Pretty is closest to this but that feels much more YA than this show, which seemed to want to reach a broader demographic. Considering how many great shows used to fall under this banner (albeit many of them had to be nurtured to success), I would be very happy to see networks or streamers get back into this game.
THE REST OF "THE OTHER BLACK GIRL"
I was less enthralled with the second half of The Other Black Girl for the reasons I worried about while I was enjoying the first half. The show became much more about a conspiracy than a satire or social commentary on the workplace. I haven't read the book so I'm sure this is the story that the team behind the show always wanted to tell but the second half of the season felt like it was a different show. That could be on me because I wanted it to be something it wasn't and never planned to be, but it still was jarring. The break literally happened from episode 5 to 6. Episode five ended with a straight-up comedic moment from Brian Baumgartner that you might have seen in a sitcom while episode six ended in the way a horror show might. The "tonal mishmash" I referred to last week made this a show where the parts were better than the whole for me.
SCRIPTED SHOWS PREMIERING THIS WEEK
This week should have a ton of scripted premieres as it is the traditional premiere week so all the network favorites plus some newbies would be hitting the airwaves. But for the second time in four years, premiere week has gone kaput, this time due to the strike instead of COVID. With the WGA reaching a tentative deal last night, hopefully some of the broadcast shows will be able to be back for midseason. There's still plenty of premieres this week but they are mostly unscripted. The only network scripted premiere is NBC's The Irrational, which completed its first season before the strike began. On streaming, Prime Video has Gen V premiering on Friday. It is a spinoff of a popular series for them, The Boys, so it's probably the most anticipated show this week for many but I've never watched The Boys. On Sunday, FOX's veteran trio of The Simpsons, Bob's Burgers and Family Guy returns to join recently debuted newbie Krapopolis.
RANDOM THOUGHT TO END TODAY
This week sees the series finales of a pair of three season dramedies: Reservation Dogs on FX/Hulu and Physical on Apple TV+. Despite the glowing reviews from many TV critics, I just couldn't get into Reservation Dogs (and I watched the whole first season). I did stick with Physical but it was one of those shows that kept me interested just enough to continue. I was encouraged by the direction it was heading in for its second season but I was really uninterested in this final season. It was still a strong performance by Rose Byrne throughout.
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