Welcome to my Monday newsletter! This week, I am looking at The Z-Suite and the latest episode of Severance plus thoughts on Clean Slate and Abbott Elementary!
First of all, I find the Tubi intro when you launch the app so funny. Maybe it would get tiresome if I watched Tubi a lot but I just find it funny right now. Anyway, Tubi is the home to the new sitcom The Z-Suite, starring Lauren Graham and Nico Santos as prolific advertisement executives who lose their jobs to a trio of Gen Z roustabouts. And if you think roustabout is an outdated word, wait until you see how this show tries to write for both the Gen Z characters and the older characters who don't understand them.
This is one of two generation gap comedies to come out this week, along with Clean Slate. And neither one is particularly good but I might stick with this one a little bit longer only because it's funnier. But that's not the same as saying I think it's a quality sitcom. Lauren Graham is a veteran comedic performer and Nico Santos had some great moments in Superstore. They are responsible for a lot of the comedy. The Gen Z trio (Madison Shamoun, Spencer Stevenson & Anna Bezahler) are much more irritating though I think that's more a problem with writing than performances.
And speaking of the writing, it's really hard to tell if this was written by a millennial or boomer who didn't really know what Gen Z kids are actually like or if it was written by a young millennial or Gen Z writer who doesn't know how to write for older characters (my guess is the former). I get they are going for comedy but the Gen Z characters are so, so cartoonish. So outlandish and not how any Gen Zer would actually behave in the workplace, even if they share some of the same beliefs as the characters. They are behaving like a FOX News host might think Gen Zers behave. If you want to see a comedy that actually knows how to write for two distinctly different ages and the difference between them, check out Hacks.
This was quite an interesting week for Severance. The episode took the innies out "into the world" for the first time under the guise of a work retreat that was obviously highly coordinated and controlled (like all things) by Lumon (the "world's tallest waterfall" was a really funny moment). While it was a very ambitious episode, I wasn't totally sold on if it worked for me until the end.
Your mileage may vary on how interested you are on the innie life vs. the outie life stories on this show. Of course, most would agree the best episodes are ones that effectively blend the two, like this one eventually did. But if I had to choose, I would say I'm more interested in the innie stories. I'm not sure if that puts me in the minority or not. But this episode, while it was visually stunning, had me concerned about broadening the innie world a little bit too much for my taste. I also think it was a break from form but it came after a daring and exciting cliffhanger last week that didn't really resolve and I found that disappointing.
But then we got to the end of the episode where Irving (John Turturro) called out what many fans had been speculating: that Helly (Britt Lower) was not the innie she claimed to be since she came back to the severed floor. That scene was absolutely masterful by Turturro and should put him in the Emmy conversation. Lower was great too. The tension was so high and so well crafted. It made any of my concerns about the first half of the episode not feel all that important. The wintry, remote setting only added to the moment. I was also worried that the fans were too far ahead of the creators with the Helena/Helly story so to find out in episode four that the fan theory was confirmed is a relief.
So now I'm incredibly interested to see next week. I hope it doesn't take awhile to wind up again and we can pick up where we left off this week.
SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
It's a very quiet week for premieres until the end of the week when a couple big ones arrive. On Friday, Paramount+/Showtime has the third season premiere of Yellowjackets, which will air a linear premiere on Sunday on Showtime. The drama was a buzzy hit in its first season but lost some momentum in its second that I imagine will be hard to get back. I was one of the many who were all in on the first season but I didn't even finish the second and don't plan to revisit it. But there is a third season premiere I'm extremely excited for and that's coming Sunday night with the The White Lotus returning to HBO. The acclaimed anthology series heads to Thailand for its third season with an incredible cast again. This year's group includes Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, Leslie Bibb, Parker Posey, Jason Isaacs and the returning Natasha Rothwell (from Season 1) among many others. After two brilliant seasons, I'm very excited for the third. Sunday also has the return of FOX's animated comedy Grimsburg along with a regular premiere for Family Guy (which aired the first two episodes of its 23rd season on Hulu) and The Great North (which aired a one-off episode in December). Everything on Sunday will also be competing with the big Saturday Night Live anniversary celebration.
ODDS & ENDS
- Congratulations to the Philadelphia Eagles! I am not a big Eagles fan but was very happy to see the Chiefs not get the threepeat!
- I checked a little bit of Clean Slate on Prime Video and decided it wasn't for me. For all my love of TV comedy, I've never been a fan of Norman Lear shows (the only one I like is The Jeffersons and I don't even like it that much). The late Lear did not create Clean Slate but is credited as an executive producer and it definitely comes from his school of comedy. The series stars George Wallace as a traditional, grumpy dad in Alabama who has to come to grips when his daughter (Laverne Cox) returns to town as a trans woman. Norman Lear shows were always a little too issue-driven for me and I never felt like they found their comedy authentically. This show is not super issue-driven once you get past the premise pilot and the small town Alabama setting was fun. But this is a well-trod dynamic between a conservative parent and the generation gap dynamics with their child (we've already seen it twice in 2025 alone with Shifting Gears and Going Dutch). The entire series is out if this does float your boat.
- This week's Abbott Elementary didn't really work that well for me. Besides the fact that it was centered on a Science Fair and I have bad Science Fair memories when growing up, I never think Abbott Elementary works as well when the teachers completely lose their perspective of being teachers. I get that it's for comedy and they learned their lesson in the end, but it just never seems consistent enough with their characters that multiple teachers who we know care an awful lot about all kids would dismiss them for the sake of competition. It only makes sense for Ava, not for Janine and Melissa. Nor did Barbara and Jacob's attitudes during the judging completely jive with their characters. Sitcoms always have to watch for that. The characters need to stay true.
No comments:
Post a Comment