Welcome to my Monday newsletter! This week, I am looking at The Four Seasons plus the finales of The Righteous Gemstones, Good American Family. St. Denis Medical and the latest episode of Your Friends and Neighbors. Also, I am looking at the Emmy race for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and continuing my Top 25 Shows Since 2000 with #21.
THE FOUR SEASONS
Netflix released its adaptation of The Four Seasons this past week and I actually watched all eight episodes in just four days. It was an easy binge and with two episodes for each season, structured in a way that I could easily watch two episodes a day since its Thursday premiere so, since I've seen the whole season, SPOILERS AHEAD for those of you who still plan to watch.
On the whole, I really enjoyed this show. I liked that it came from the Tina Fey factory but didn't have the joke a minute feel of 30 Rock or Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt among others. While I like things about those shows, they are a little too joke-centric for me and so I appreciated the gentler tone that still had plenty of humor. I thought the cast was uniformly excellent. Tina Fey was charming and interesting. Will Forte was never a favorite of mine on Saturday Night Live but I really liked him here. I thought Steve Carell was strong as he usually is and there were some great moments from Kerri Kenney-Silver and Erika Henningsen. I was less sold on the Colman Domingo and Marco Calvani plot but they were not without their charms, especially Domingo. I thought the structure of the series and the very distinctive seasons were a fun way to explore the characters.
All the way through, the show had perhaps a few more cliffhangers than a slice of life comedy needed and then it had a surprising twist when (SPOILER AGAIN) Carell's character was killed off at the end of the penultimate episode. While I certainly understand that death can be something a friend group has to navigate, this did not feel like the right vehicle for that type of moment. The show then still wanted to be the lighthearted rom-com it had been all the way through and it continued that through the finale, albeit with some more poignant moments. I felt like this show had a lot of topics to explore but death and grieving was not necessarily one of the ones they needed to hit. I also think Carell's story was the most interesting plot of the season and it could have easily continued into a potential second season. It felt a little bit like an "OMG" twist for a show that was otherwise content to give a leisurely stroll through middle age relationships. And I just don't think that was needed. So I enjoyed the first season but, should there be a second season, I'm a little less enthused about that.
The Righteous Gemstones (Series Finale)
The Righteous Gemstones came to an end after four seasons. This show was a pandemic discovery for me in the long days of having not too much to do but I've kept up with it ever since. I felt like the first and third seasons outshined the second and fourth season with the third season finale really feeling like a series finale. I wasn't as into the season arc this season but there were still some truly hilarious moments. I thought the finale was absurd enough to work for the show but I didn't think it was an all time great finale in part because of my general disinterest in the season-long arc.
But if there's anything to remember about The Righteous Gemstones, it's two performances: Walton Goggins and Edi Patterson. Before Fallout and before The White Lotus and before his upcoming SNL hosting gig, Goggins crushed it from the beginning on Gemstones as Uncle Baby Billy, a truly unique and outrageous TV character. His final season story, while funny, seemed disconnected often from the rest of the cast (which may have been due to filming commitments with Lotus). But Goggins gave it his all as he always does. And as for Patterson, she was a true revelation here. Her line readings rival Matt Berry from What We Do in the Shadows for funniest interpretations of lines and she was a comedic genius who only got better as the series went on.
I'm not incredibly sad this is coming to an end, but it was a fun show to watch that never got the awards attention that it deserved, at least in certain categories.
St. Denis Medical (Season Finale)
St. Denis Medical wrapped up its first season this past week. I think it was an uneven first season but the bones are there to be a great workplace comedy and it continued to find its voice as the season went on. I definitely felt more invested in the characters by the end of the season but it hasn't yet made the leap into firing on all cylinders the way some other great workplace comedies did. I am definitely looking forward to the second season though.
Good American Family (Finale)
I noted recently that Good American Family is the furthest I've been from critical consensus in quite awhile. Critics pretty much dismissed the show but I found it to be very captivating and a story worth telling. Maybe it helped the whole way that I didn't really know the Natalia Grace story. But I found it to be well-acted and well-paced. I didn't think the finale was as strong as some other installments, particularly the fifth episode when it flipped the perspective. But I still think this is one of the strongest "true crime" limited series we've had and I wish it got more respect.
Your Friends & Neighbors
I'm continuing to watch Your Friends & Neighbors but not really enjoy it. The show feels like an AI version of a prestige drama. I know it's not but it feels that way. The cast is great but none of them are really doing great in this, even Jon Hamm. I feel like part of the problem is that Hamm's character is supposedly stealing to keep up his lifestyle, but he doesn't seem to have any interest in keeping up that lifestyle in any other part of his life, considering he seems repelled by his social circles at all times. Why devolve into thievery to continue a life you're not even happy in? It's not true just with Hamm's character. I feel like the actions are not matching the personalities in this show.
THE EMMY RACE for SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES
The Supporting Actor in a Drama Series race is competitive although not as competitive as the Actress race thanks to less huge players in The White Lotus. That doesn't mean The White Lotus is not without its contenders. Leading the charge is Walton Goggins and Jason Isaacs. Goggins is a lock to get nominated and Isaacs is very likely as well. Next up on Lotus would probably be either Sam Rockwell or Patrick Schwarzenegger. Rockwell had a lot of buzz when he first appeared partway through the season, but that seemed to fade a bit. Schwarzenegger is right in the mix but not nearly as much of a lock as Goggins and Isaacs. Less likely from Lotus is Sam Nivola and Thayne Thapthimthong. The other shows that's a major player in this category is Severance with 2022 nominee John Turturro as well as Tramell Tillman very likely to get in with less of a chance for Zach Cherry and another nominee from the first season, Christopher Walken. There is only one 2024 nominee who is eligible and that is Jack Lowden for Slow Horses. He certainly seems to have a good chance to get back in even with tougher competition. Speaking of Slow Horses, Jonathan Pryce was nominated as a Guest Actor last year but has to move to Supporting this year. It'll be tougher for him to get into this category. The only other former nominees eligible are O-T Fagbenle, Max Minghella and Bradley Whitford for The Handmaid's Tale. All were nominees when Handmaid's was much more of a cultural touchstone than it is now so they seem unlikely to return. The Last of Us is about to introduce Jeffrey Wright to the show and he seems likely to be a contender though it's not clear just how big his role is in the second season. The Last of Us also has Young Manzino and Gabriel Luna eligible but I don't see it happening for either one of them. Among new contenders, Patrick Ball has a decent chance of getting in for The Pitt with a much smaller chance for Gerran Howell while the response to Paradise was mixed but many praised the performance of James Marsden. Fans of Industry have tried to get Ken Leung in to no avail for awhile now and I don't see that changing. Finally, The Perfect Couple was moved to Drama Series just this past week so while I thought Liev Schreiber had a great chance to get in when it was in Limited Series, I feel much less confident about his chances in Drama.
Projected Nominees (ranked by likelihood of a nomination):
1. Walton Goggins, The White Lotus
2. John Turturro, Severance
3. Jason Isaacs, The White Lotus
4. Tramell Tillman, Severance
5. Jack Lowden, Slow Horses
6. Patrick Schwarzenegger, The White Lotus
7. Patrick Ball, The Pitt
Just Missing:
8. Jeffrey Wright, The Last of Us
9. Sam Rockwell, The White Lotus
10. Zach Cherry, Severance
#21 - THE PITT (Max, 2025-Present)
The newest entry on the list, I struggled a lot with where to put The Pitt. On one hand, it's only been one season and other shows that were lower on the list (How I Met Your Mother) or not on the list at all (Ted Lasso) had brilliant first seasons before limping along in later seasons. On the other hand, there are limited series still to come on this list that had less episodes than the first season of The Pitt. So I ultimately decided it belonged on the list for its incredible freshman run, but it needs to follow that up with more greatness (which I have no doubt it will) to move up the list. I'm sure I'll have more to write about The Pitt when I get to my awards. But I'll just say for now that I've rarely been so invested in a group of characters in a TV show. The realism and the performances, led by the incomparable Noah Wyle, made this a breakout hit and revitalized the medical genre.
COMING UP
There's a few premieres this week alongside many finales. On Tuesday, BET has the latest seasons of the long-running House of Payne and Assisted Living. Thursday is the busiest day for premieres led by the second season premiere of Poker Face on Peacock. The acclaimed show has been off the air since 2023 and will air six episodes in this Emmy season and six in June & July (next Emmy season). Also premiering Thursday is the new young adult drama Forever, based on the Judy Blume book, on Netflix and the third season of Criminal Minds: Evolution on Paramount+.
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