Television
The Simpsons (Disney +)
My favorite episode that I can remember was this week, and it held up.
I even felt myself getting all teary at Barney’s film. He was the winner.
Like Martin, I have a lot of thoughts about Barney, too. It’s wild what my memory remembered about all these characters.
Mostly the bad stuff.
Like, did you remember that Principal Skinner was a Vietnam Vet? I just remember his as Bart’s foil.
The depth of these charcters is fantastic and I can only assume that we’re going deeper. We’re 7 seasons into a 35-season journey.
Such Brave Girls (Hulu)
I watched this at the recommendation of my friend Sam. She hosts the Samantics Podcast and the conspiracy theory juggernaut “Ya Heard About That One?” We have very similar taste in TV.
Sam is the reason I fell in love with Mae Martin, who helped me put the way my brain feels into words better than anyone else. Sam and I were having a “Lisa Kudrow Off,” where we each talked about a Lisa Kudrow performance we loved, each insisting ours was her best role ever.
My entry was The Comeback, a very ridiculous short-lived show on HBO that I have rewatched quite a bit. If you don’t like uncomfortable awkwardness, do not watch it. If you love, like, Curb Your Enthusiasm or anything Nathan Fielder has ever done, please watch it… and tell me so that I have an excuse to rewatch it.
Sam’s entry was Feel Good, a Netflix show about a comedian that blew my brain out of the water. It has two seasons, and they are short and some of the best television I’d never heard of.
So, I trust Sam’s opinion. While I was falling in love with How to Die Alone, I messaged her telling her about it.
She told me about Such Brave Girls.
Here’s the professional description:
Raucous, gross-out sitcom `Such Brave Girls’, created by sisters Kat Sadler and Lizzie Davidson, sees a single mother and her two daughters attempt to piece their chaotic lives back together after their husband and father leaves. Starring Louise Brealey as mother Deb and co-creators Sadler and Davidson as her two daughters, the show offers an honest and humorous account of dysfunctional family life defined by poor judgement and dangerously low self-esteem.
Gross out is going far… or else I have a high tolerance for being grossed out. Watch this and let me know which one it is please.
This is so fun and so real. The dialogue is so natural. The characters are fully fleshed out. And the sisters obviously trust each other so much – they work incredibly well together.
The mom is hysterical.
I’ll be done with this show by the end of this week.
This show is wonderful. It’s biting comedy in the best way.
I’ll be watching the careers of BOTH of these sisters.
Shrinking (AppleTV+)
I watched the first season of this show when I was deep in the pits of last year, so I barely remember anything about it except for a very warm feeling.
I rewatched it again over the weekend, since Season 2 has begun and I’ve been enjoying watching TV week to week and talking about it.
Oh, I’m so glad I rewatched this season, cause this is so much more than a warm feeling. Shrinking is excellent.
It’s warm. It’s clever. Harrison Ford plays an age-appropriate character wonderfully. It’s thoughtful. Jason Segel is gentle. Jessica Williams is my newest talent crush. The music is good. Lukita Maxwell as Alice, the daughter is a FORCE and I will be watching her career from here on out. Everyone’s acting is so nuanced, you can tell they truly know and understand the characters they are playing.
The two that are best at this are Luke Tennie as Sean and Christa Miller as Liz – they both play such complicated characters that would be easy to hate, but I do not. They are perfectly plated.
As is Ted McGinley’s Derek, who is seemingly impossible to hate.
The relationships are complicated and real and shows how even though most difficult people are wholly loved. I think that’s important to see because so few people know how to wholly love and accept difficult folks – they’ve never seen an example, do they don’t know how to do it themselves.
I learn a lot from shows like this… and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I feel like they make me a better person.
High Potential (ABC or Paramount +)
Solid guest star for the third week in Madeline Zima, who you might recognize from Californication or The Nanny when she was a wee one.
I can’t believe I am watching and enjoying a procedural drama. It’s a testament to this show.
Get it, ABC.
English Teacher (FX / Hulu)
Goddamn, this was a wonderful season-ender. It brought me mad joy to see this done as well as it was.
Plus, it guest-starred an InstaGay from The Other Two.
SNL (Peacock)
I was so happy to see a Please Don’t Destroy short, and it made me laugh. I love the way those boys’ brains work.
This was a solid episode – for me, the standout moment was new cast member Emil Wakim’s Weekend Update segment. It was well-written and very ballsy.
Also, Michael Keaton was too actor-y.
It made me feel weird to see Alec Baldwin in the cold open too. I felt like a cast member (Michael Longfellow, plz. He’s criminally underused this season) could have done just as well. Just unneccessary.
Australian TV (Or Dropout TV)
Australian Survivor Heroes vs. Villains
No Simon this week. Aubz is on the road again.
Gastronauts (Dropout TV)
This show is so fun. I already love food shows – Top Chef was by far my favorite, but I also loved the original Iron Chef and will keep on watching The Great British Baking Show as many seasons as Paul Hollywood is there.
I also love improv comedy and quick brains. Gastronauts combines all three.
Here is the description from the professionals:
Culinary masterminds compete in a series of challenges created by the most unhinged comedians.
I will tell you one of the challenges from the first episodes, given to the chefs by Brennan Lee Mulligan.
“Make a heavy dish.”
All three dishes looked tasty as hell, but that didn’t matter because the heaviest won regardless.
Movies
Inside Out 2 (Disney Plus)
Embarrassment made me feel warm and fuzzy. So did the movie. In the beginning, it was exactly what I expected. Then, in the end, it kept becoming less and less of what it should be.
All of the voice-over performances were wonderful, especially Maya Hawke as Anxiety. Twas quite relatable.
