Welcome to a shorter Monday newsletter than the last two weeks. This week, I am looking at HBO's The Franchise and the second half of the season of Netflix's Nobody Wants This. Plus I have some thoughts on English Teacher, Only Murders in the Building and Agatha All Along.
HBO's new comedy The Franchise debuted last night. The series comes from the acclaimed trio of Jon Brown, Armando Iannucci and Sam Mendes and is a behind-the-scenes satire of a troubled franchise superhero movie. I know this series was ordered in 2022 but I'm going to guess it was kicking around for a bit before that because this feels more like a 2019 premise for a TV show when the Marvel franchise was still flying high. Now it almost feels like kicking something while its down because both Marvel and DC have sputtered in film and TV in recent years.
I'm not a big fan of superhero movies but I follow the industry enough to know the many things that have gone wrong in recent years following their huge ascent during the 2010s. It's only been one episode but so far I've gotten the sense that this more a show with a few funny moments than a cohesive vision of how to satirize this genre. When I think about the pilot, I can think of a few funny moments - the opening walkthrough, the yelling of "waterfall," the fish people getting excised. But I don't think this is a show that quite has a point of view yet.
Part of the reason is the pilot seemed more about finding jokes than developing characters so I didn't get the sense that this could be the next great workplace comedy. There is a strong cast here and they had some funny moments, particularly Himesh Patel and Billy Magnussen. But there wasn't a lot of time for character development when they wanted to make sure they got to do their bits. Ianucci's Veep is one of my TV blind spots so I don't know how much this jives with his tenor (and he's also not the creator here, just an executive producer). But I don't get the sense this will get much better or worse. I think this is the tone its going for so I'll have to decide if I'm on board.
After watching four episodes of Nobody Wants This in time for last week's review, I finished the rest of the ten episode first season this week. There's still a lot to love about this show after watching the whole first season: Kristen Bell and Adam Brody are just dynamite. Justine Lupe, who was already strong in the first couple episodes, only got better. And both Timothy Simons and especially Jackie Tohn grew on me during the season (side note on Tohn: I really like that the show gives her a sweet relationship with her daughter so she's not a complete antagonist).
I think my biggest complaint about this show is that it is sort of stuck in no man's land as far as length. I'm not talking about individual episode length. Those all fall in the 20-30 minute range, thank God because very few comedies should ever go past 30 minutes (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is a rare exception). I'm talking about season length. Romantic comedies struggle in a 10 episode season I think. If it was a two hour movie, it could have a beginning, middle and end. If it was a longer season (15-20 episodes), they could play up the supporting characters more and spread the beats of the romance out more. But at ten 20-25 minute episodes, it felt like every episode had to get a lot accomplished and the show didn't have enough time to breathe. But that's more of a complaint about shorter seasons in general. I want shorter episodes and longer season for shows I like. And I really like this. I'm excited to see a second season, which seems likely given the success this show seems to be having.
SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
This week's scripted premieres kick off with the final season premiere of Superman & Lois on The CW. The show is one of the few left from the old era of The CW and will be coming to an end. On Tuesday night, FOX has the second season premiere of anthology drama Accused, which did not air at all last season. Tuesday also has the second season premiere of The Irrational on NBC. Neither show made much of an impact during their first seasons. Wednesday has one of broadcast's most anticipated premieres with the fourth season premiere of Abbott Elementary on ABC. On Thursday, Peacock has the premiere of the horror thriller Teacup starring Yvonne Strahovski. It will air two episodes a week through Halloween. Thursday also has the fourth season premiere of Netflix's Outer Banks, one of those shows that never gets into awards conversations but is one of Netflix's bigger hits. On Friday, Apple TV+ debuts its star-studded limited series Disclaimer from Alfonso Cuaron. The series has had mixed to positive reviews since its festival debut last month. Finally, the week finishes off with the start of the CBS premiere week and the second season premiere of last year's new hit Tracker and the fifth season premiere of The Equalizer.
ODDS & ENDS
- I didn't love the fifth episode of English Teacher (with the field trip) but it was back in form for the sixth episode. There was a standout guest performance from Jenn Lyon as parent Linda Harrison. Anyone who has ever worked in education knows these kinds of parents, but English Teacher let the character be more than a caricature. I also think the scenes in the classroom are turning into the English Teacher version of the town halls in Parks and Recreation or the conference room meetings in The Office. The show just does a magnificent job of finding really funny moments for both the students and star Brian Jordan Alvarez. Sometimes they add to the story and sometimes they're just funny lines but I always look forward to those scenes.
- I think this week's episode of Only Murders in the Building was the best in quite a long time. The show has had diminishing returns for me culminating in a third season that almost made me not want to watch the fourth season. But I think this season has gotten better as it has gone along and this week's episode was inventive and quite thrilling. It makes me excited for the rest of the season.
- I am not sure what to make of Agatha All Along. I like that each episode takes on a different style (the third episode was in a Big Little Lies-type house while the fourth put them in a 70s Fleetwood Mac recording studio type of room). I also like the camaraderie between the cast members and I think Kathryn Hahn is so wonderful in this. But it's the supernatural elements that just aren't working for me and I just find myself caring so little about the overarching plots for each character. I recognize some of that may be due to my Marvel ignorance. But it's sort of like WandaVision, where I like the style and form more than the content.
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