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Reviews
Truelove (2024)
top-notch drama with surprising twists: not at all depressing
I'm disappointed but not flat out shocked at the number of reviewers here who seem to view any treatment of end of life subjects played by actual oldsters as depressing.
This isn't -- not a bit. Instead, it's a very twisty take on the subject of assisted suicide with plenty of nuance and a lot of surprises you won't see coming.
One of the biggest surprises is someone actually turned out a script about old people that isn't solely comprised of patronizing stereotypes. These folk all feel very real -- the unique distillation of their own complicated (and often compromised) lives and careers.
It's fun to watch, despite the subject matter -- more police procedural in tone and content than dark night of the soul.
Match Me Abroad (2023)
Totally Unscripted Dating Show with All the Ugly Pitfalls that Entails
All the other criticisms levelled by other reviewers are correct. Virtually all the candidates looking for romance are at least somewhat emotionally stunted, scarily narcissistic (although sub-clinically so) and xenophobic.
But that's what makes it great entertainment (if you watch it at at least 1.25 speed, avoiding the filler and repititions). These are anthropological/sociological case studies, not romances and as such they are as fascinating as they are cringe.
All of these humans have a script in their heads of what a relationship should look like as well as stereotyped, fetishized ideas of how their foreign dates look and behave. Watching them flail about and cluelessly try to impose their scripts on these (relatively) innocent strangers they just met is like watching a train-wreck.
Also, some of them grow up a little. Not nearly as neatly or completely as the show's producers would have you believe, but when they do, it's genuinely uplifting. The journey of Harold and Michaela reminds you that at least a small minority of humans are capable of growth (and that not all Americans are insufferable).
Avoidance (2022)
One-Joke Series About Weaponized Incompetence
From the first two episodes I gather the newly separated dad is supposed to be endearingly tragicomic -- a lovable loser.
No love here -- the one-note script is one scenario after another demonstrating the weaponized incompetence that forced his wife to leave and causes him to be a source of embarrassment to his young son.
It isn't all that different in conception from Everybody Loves Raymond but without the razor sharp writing and authentic characters, there is really no reason to stay tuned!
You can't hate watch because Jonathan is as passive as a slug. He doesn't manifest a molecule of passion for anything -- not even the wife he is supposedly desperate to keep. The series title is apt, though: Avoidance is his modis operandi.
It seems a surprisingly retrograde programming choice for 2022, especially for the BBC.
News flash from 1990: Weaponized incompetence and the men who employ it -- expecting their mothers, sisters and wives to trail behind them picking up the slack -- isn't the fun creator Romesh Ranganathan thinks it is.
(Especially for those mothers, sisters and wives).
Workin' Moms (2017)
SUPER SHARP SCRIPTS, FAST PLOTS, GREAT ENSEMBLE CASTING
UPDATE: SEASON 3.... writing took a dive and now sucks ... crass as Married with Children at its worst. 3/10. Can't believe how badly they ruined it. Not worth watching is writing doesn't radically improve.
PREVIOUS REVIEW FOR SEASONS 1 & 2 WAS 10 STARS: Best comedy since Veep. This is not "Girls," nor is it "Fleabag". The appeal is broader, even though the characters are similarly white and privileged. Yes there are topical issues but they are organic, not politicized. Inclusive? Not particularly, but its the networks and sponsors who are to blame for our narrow programming choices - not Katherine Reitman, who sought only to depict a small but recognizable subset of working moms in an artful, entertaining manner.
Silicon Valley: White Hat/Black Hat (2015)
...for the non-geeks out there .... funny show, particularly funny episode
... I am obsessed with Silicon Valley culture. I'm in my 50s and grew up on black & white TVs. When the 26 lb 'portable' Kaypro computer came out with its MS-DOS CP/M combination OS, well, I'd never loved an inanimate object so much, nor have I since. Unfortunately, being a tech crazy doesn't save you from being tech-impaired. I don't know why I hang around in forums I only half understand or spend money on toys I tweak till they're bricked (I always go that one tweak too far). I'm not an idiot -- I have my own areas of expertise. But like minds don't interest me. Yours do. That said, some of you are really over-thinking this show. You've heard the expression 'inside baseball," when a certain breed of fan analyzes the game to the point where it's not fun anymore (particularly to those around them?) Even I know that you can't destroy data at the server level by putting your Tequila bottle down on the delete key. So what? You don't think there were mobsters who took issue with Tony Sopranos? This isn't a documentary. This is character-driven entertainment and on those terms, there isn't a false move. It's a dream ensemble. I don't know when or if I have ever seen actors complement each other to the degree they do here and I'll bet I've seen more filmed, televised and live drama than anyone who reads this (granted, it's a stale thread so no one will read it) Were the show dreadful in every other respect, it deserves love just for Thomas Middleditch (Richard Hendricks), who was particularly fine in this episode. His plastic face reminds me of Gene Wilder's, except with Middleitch all you register is the emotion, not the performance: shock, regret, guilt, defeat -- all there and gone, in the split instant between his mis-impression that Russ gave him the orange sports car and his realization that no, Russ hadn't, Russ had suckered him again. It's a cliché, but the performers here really do inhabit their characters completely, redeeming whatever stereotypical liberties were taken by the show's creators. They get the flavor right, even if they substituted some ingredients. And of course, it's easier to define what's wrong on a show (and in life) than to fix it. Try rewriting the episode, substituting the tequila-on-the-keyboard plot-point with a data-destroying scenario that could really happen. Can you cram it into a 30-minute episode without hijacking the plot and do it in such a way that I don't have to Google to get it? The show may be set in Silicon Valley but it's made (metaphorically) in Hollywood -- if the producer doesn't know what you're talking about, you can't say 'Google is your friend.' (if anybody still says that to anyone --like I said, I'm old). PS: This particular episode was very funny. I loved the Duane SWOT Board -- made me laugh out loud.