Welcome to my Monday newsletter! This week, I am giving a brief Oscars recap plus thoughts on Running Point, The White Lotus, Toxic Town, Paradise, Grosse Pointe Garden Society and Severance!
The Oscars were on Sunday night and it was a huge night for Anora, which won five awards including Best Picture and an upset win for Best Actress for Mikey Madison (shout out Better Things!). I thought Anora was a deserving Best Picture winner of the five nominees I saw, and, as much as it would have been a great moment for Demi Moore to win Best Actress, that award was well-deserved by Madison. I'm also over the Adrian Brody acceptance speeches but sad there won't be anymore from Kieran Culkin for a bit. And I'm happy that Emilia Perez is out of our lives (it went from what seemed like a lock for International Film to losing to I'm Still Here even though it still won two awards).
As for the telecast itself, I thought Conan O'Brien was a game host but there were some real clunky musical moments (Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were strong but yikes at the James Bond sequence and the Queen Latifah number, while fun, felt entirely unnecessary over three hours into the telecast). For predictions, I went 16/23, just above last year's 15/23 result. The worst part of the evening? Hulu glitches. Finally airing on a streamer, Hulu really messed it up. I didn't have the problems at the beginning of the telecast that many did but it did cut off before the final two awards of the night, which was super annoying.
Netflix debuted the new comedy Running Point on Thursday. The series stars Kate Hudson as a new owner of the fictional Los Angeles Waves NBA team (a.k.a. the Lakers without permission to call them the Lakers). She gets the job from her brother, Cam (Justin Theroux in a recurring role) after a drug-fueled meltdown. She has to navigate being a brand new owner with her other two brothers (Drew Tarver & Scott MacArthur) vying for power, a new brother they didn't know about (Fabrizio Guido) and an eccentric group of personalities within the locker room.
The show has been billed as Ted Lasso meets Winning Time and I guess that's not a horrible description. I was very much not sold on the show in the first episode but I've now watched four and I'm warming up to it. I think Hudson is solid and her relationships with her brothers are getting better and better (though I think the show still isn't quite using Drew Tarver to his full ability after seeing him in The Other Two). I really enjoyed the fourth episode which featured Andy Favreau, Jim O'Heir and Utkarsh Ambudkar as rival owners.
The show is a pretty breezy comedy and it's one of those shows where I'm willing to give it a season to find itself. If it gets renewed for a second season, then I'll make a decision if I'm in long term. Like most streaming comedies, it could stand to have better editing and get it down to a tight, broadcast sitcom length. Too many streaming comedies just don't use sharp enough scissors and feel a little long.
It's interesting, I will occasionally knock a show like Severance for not always advancing the plot much. And here we are with the third episode of The White Lotus and not much has changed for any major character, aside from Jason Isaac's Timothy. There's been very little plot in the first three episodes of the third season of The White Lotus, the dynamics between the characters are pretty much the same as when the guest arrived in the first half of the first episode. And yet, I have no complaints and am completely enraptured with the third season. I can't really compare it to the first two yet because I have to see how it all unfolds, but I am really enjoying it.
The reason I'm enjoying it despite the slow story pacing is twofold: Mike White's writing and the performances. Mike White is a master at laying the groundwork so even though things haven't changed much, there is so much tension everywhere. Every character seems ready to tip into chaos in one way or another and it's going to feel so much more earned because of the work White is doing in these early episodes. If it was a brand new show, I might be concerned at the pacing. But I'm not at all here because he knows what he's doing.
And the performances are just as spectacular as ever. Natasha Rothwell finally got a chance to shine this week when she confronted Greg/Gary (Jon Gries). Walton Goggins and Aimee Lou Wood were probably the stars of the episode. Patrick Schwarzenegger is possibly one of the biggest jerk characters in TV history and I'm endlessly engrossed with the "three blondes." Their discussion of contemporary politics was one of the first times I can remember The White Lotus outright setting itself in the current era even as it always has relevant themes to our times.
SCRIPTED PREMIERES THIS WEEK
There's a couple big premieres this week. After the unceremonious end to the Netflix Marvel shows, they are creeping back into the world with Daredevil: Born Again premiering on Disney+ on Tuesday. The show has been in development for forever and could help spark a much needed reset for Marvel TV. On Thursday, Hulu has the premiere of the comedy Deli Boys, which hasn't gotten much traction yet but could be a hidden gem. Also premiering on Thursday is the Kevin Hart animated comedy Lil' Kev on BET+. On Friday, Starz has the fourth season premiere of Power Book III: Raising Kanan, which has already been renewed for a fifth season. Finally, Sunday has the return of The Righteous Gemstones on HBO for a fourth and final season. The show has its army of fans (including me) but has never broken into awards conversations. Also returning on Sunday is Dark Winds for a third season on AMC. That's another show that has critical love but no awards attention. I haven't watched the first two seasons of this show but it has already been renewed for a fourth.
ODDS & ENDS
- I watched the first episode of Toxic Town and was definitely intrigued. I'll probably watch the remaining three episodes at some point but just didn't have time this week. It seems like a harrowing story and tough watch but it's well-done and has good performances. Maybe I'll give longer thoughts at a later date. In a weak year for Limited Series, this could be a contender.
- I've been tough on Paradise in its first several weeks but I'll admit that this week's episode was pretty engrossing. It doesn't forgive all the sins of the first six episodes but it was a harrowing hour that flashed back to when the world basically ended. The episode was a very tense hour that I thought very effectively presented what could happen if something like this happened in real life. It sadly doesn't feel as much of a fantasy as it might have years ago and I thought the scenes in the White House in particular were full of great dramatic moments. If Paradise could be more like this, I would be much more in on the show.
- I don't really have enough to write a full post on Grosse Pointe Garden Society. I thought the show was a little bit interesting but mostly disappointing. It's one of those shows that wants to be campy but doesn't lean fully enough into being campy. I'm going to probably give it one more episode but if it doesn't grab me, I'll be out.
- I wish I had more time to write some more thoughts on Severance but it's just a busy time and I didn't get the time to really put my thoughts about the latest episode into writing. I know many are lauding the episode. I feel like this whole season I've been more interested in Severance than enjoying it and that was true again with the seventh, very meaty episode. There are tons of thoughts on this show all over the internet so there's plenty of places to read about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment