In case you didn’t “get” it, the title is supposed to read like Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place.
Television
The Simpsons (Disney +)
Okay, so, we watched a lot this week, so I’ll keep my Simpsons chatter short.
Marge is still a fantastic mom who is supportive and understanding of her kids. But she also does the head-shakey “Oh, that’s how he is” about Homer more often than not, and that is kind of problematic.
Also, it is weird that we’re supposed to be laughing at physical violence between a father and a son.
I don’t like that part.
I do, however, LOVE the music. The monorail episode came on, and I was bopping along.
My favorite episode (that my brain can remember) should be coming up this week.
It is the one that causes this phrase to replay in my head at least once a week:
”Don’t cry for me. I’m already dead.”
Bad Monkey (Apple TV +)
I will watch Vince Vaughn in literally anything. I even loved that shot-for-shot remake of Psycho that he starred in. He’s just fun to watch.
This show is no exception.
Bad Monkey is a love story to Key West.
Here is the premise from Wikipedia:
Andrew Yancy is a former police detective who has been reduced to conducting restaurant inspections in South Florida. A severed arm found by a tourist pulls Yancy into a world of greed and corruption that decimates the land and environment in both Florida and The Bahamas.
The cast is pretty stacked. After Vince Vaughn, Meredith Hagner was my number 2 reason for watching this show. She played Portia in Search Party, which I maintain is one of the freshest, most well-written shows I’ve watched in a decade, at least. Plus, it just might be the greatest work in escalation that I’ve ever seen.
With Portia, Meredith Hagner created a character that I should have hated. Portia was self-centered, emotional, uncaring, and screechy—someone easy to hate. But Hagner had me rooting for her the whole time.
I’m so happy to see her getting more work. She is talented as hell, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she got an Emmy nomination for Bad Monkey. (now that I have watched more, I think her part is too small, but she’s killing it.)
This show also gives me a real “Serge books” vibe. It also makes me hope that when they finally make a movie or show based on one of Tim Dorsey’s books, it’s not all crisp and shiny like this one. I don’t want fake Florida grit.
I want FX or Starz to make it so it feels like real Florida.
I have two episodes left of this show, and the story is as good as everything else.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:
Apple TV is the best value for your buck when it comes to streaming services. They have the best quality shows, which makes it easier to choose what to watch since you know anything you choose will be high quality.
High Potential (ABC or Paramount +)
ON BREAK ALREADY?! ugh.
This makes me pretty mad, and it feels like the show is being set up for failure.
Let’s think about who’s watching network TV for the most part: the olds.
And what do the olds have (for the most part)?
Bad memories. They’re gonna forget all the details about the characters and story by the time the show comes back. AFTER ONLY TWO WEEKS. I think a brand new show needs at least four weeks to establish an audience before they start fucking with it like this.
If I didn’t love Kaitlin Olson so much, *I* might even forget this show exists.
If you fuck around with the schedule of a surprisingly great show, ABC, and then you go and cancel it, I’ll never give you another chance again. I’ll just watch Abbott and be on my way.
I’ll only try Fox shows and no other networks from now on if that happens.
Maybe the CW or WB. Do they still exist?
English Teacher (FX / Hulu)
Yeah, this is not just a good show. I think I’m sliding this solidly into the category of a great show. It’s a traditional comedy with an edge that really understands the characters.
Even the kids, who might be (like I said last week) my favorite part.
The other big thing I love about this show is that, while the main character is Latino and gay, they don’t make those defining characteristics. They are part of who he is, but that’s not all he is.
Like I said, all the characters are so well-rounded and fleshed out.
I think my favorite one is the Coach? Which I am honestly surprised by.
For All Mankind (Apple TV +)
I am all done with this for now, and I am sad. I am happy, though, because I know more is coming.
Mickey and I had a big old discussion about the leaps this show will take in season 5, and I think we’ve got their number.
I believe the space friends are going to discover significant life, and season 5 will navigate that.
We’ll see.
Why don’t you also watch this show so that we can explore some season 5 theories together?
Saturday Night Live (Peacock)
Nate Bargatze is hosting again. Let’s see how this goes.
It went well.
I laughed a lot.
His monologue was spectacular.
Australian TV (Or Dropout TV)
Australian Survivor Heroes vs. Villains
The lore we have created is deep this season.
I have somehow used my powers for good and everyone has fallen in love with Simon. The best part is – once we’re done with this season we’ll watch a short video that will cause Mickey and Aubz to fall in love with Simon even more. It’s what initially softened me to him.
After watching this season for the first time, I hated Simon with a thousand burning fires. I didn’t want him on my screen. He was mean and bad and a terrible player and a terrible person.
But Molls had me watch this one post-game video, and I saw Simon in a completely different light. Now, I see him as (I think he is) a big puppy dog that just wants to be accepted.
Simon grew up seeing masculinity presented one way, so he thought that’s how he had to go about life, even though it didn’t feel like who he really was.
I have a real soft spot for this doof. Out of all the Aussie Survivor players, I think he’s the one I’d like to see play US Survivor the most.
Paranoia (Dropout TV)
This particular DropoutTV offering features Jacki-favorite Ally Beardsley as a game show host.
What’s the game show?
There’s a group of eight (I think) people, and two of ’em get high AF and have to do tasks. Everyone else has to figure out who the high folks are. There is a snitch and a poser, to make things interesting.
Look, the game of the show isn’t that great. I like watching Ally watch her friends. This is like a party in a friend’s backyard and it just makes me feel comfortable.
Movies
Patrice: The Movie (Hulu)
Here’s the trailer for this. Watch it.
I know you probably want to go watch the documentary now, so please do that. I wont spoiler anything in my review, so it’s safe to read it first.
Patrice: The Movie might be one of the best documentaries I’ve watched in years.
It shines a light on marriage equality in the disability community in a very human way.
Patrice is magical, and how she loves her partner is as magical as she is. They deserve to be married without losing their medical insurance or lessening their monetary benefits.
This is something that is not only affecting the younger disabled community, but also the elderly. I watched it happen in real-time with my ceramics teacher, Nadga when she got married for the very first time last year – at 78 years old!
Her hubby is on disability, and when they got married, his benefits were reduced by over 1k per month. As this documentary shows, the money disabled folks receive to survive is barely enough to begin with.
And yes, that sounds harsh, but the government doesn’t give disabled folks enough money to live on – only just get by. And if they try to go out and earn more money themselves, there is a very low limit to what they can earn before losing benefits.
Worse than that, fundraising efforts like GoFundMe or similar are often counted as income, further reducing benefits… and making it hard for folks to get ahead.
Patrice and the people she surrounds herself with are not only surviving but also living, and it’s beautiful to watch.
My favorite person in the film was Patrice’s friend, Elizabeth. I mean, aside from Patrice herself, of course.
Elizabeth is autistic, and she is extremely vulnerable in this documentary. She lets herself be filmed while she goes through system dysregulation – we see the ramp up, the height of it, the coping mechanisms she uses to get out of it, and the aftermath.
Normally, the aftermath of a meltdown or shutdown can be very lonely. Sometimes, during a meltdown or a shutdown, you do things that might hurt others, making it hard to reach back out to them or spend time with them again for a while. That is not what Elizabeth experienced in this movie.
Patrice is a great, understanding friend. That’s all I can say without being a spoiler. I love her.
After taking us through her period of dysregulation, Elizabeth uses her coping skills, like taking off her shoes and pacing around in various places through the rest of the doc… including the office of a politician.
It was refreshing to see.
The whole documentary is refreshing, tbh.
One more thing before I let you watch this yourself: the reenactment scenes are magical. Patrice herself art-directed the sets for these scenes, and I love them all.
And I love her.
Let me know how this movie makes you feel when you watch it.
Casa Bonita Mi Amor (Paramount Plus)
So the South Park bros bought the old Casa Bonita. It shut down during the pandemic, and the fear was that it would be lost forever.
Trey and Matt couldn’t let that happen.
This was ANOTHER great documentary. Between this and Patrice: The Movie (see above), I had wet cheeks for quite some time. These docs were EMOTIONAL, y’all.
I loved watching other creatives bring a project to life. Seeing how they dealt with struggles and conflicts was inspiring, but it also made me sad because they actually had the money to deal with stuff like that.
We went to Casa Bonita when we went to Colorado with KPerks in 2019. The food was crap, but it was a fun experience.
I definitely want to go back to check it out after all the changes they’ve made for sure.
Have you been to Casa Bonita? Will you ever go, do you think?
Babes (Hulu)
This was fine. I feel that the script was stronger than the film itself. There were a few small moments where this felt preachy, but then I sat with myself and realized something.
It’s not preachy, I’m just not comfortable with folks being gentle and accepting with each other. So, I still have some work to do.
It was less “shock humor” than I expected and had a a lot more heart. I did get allergies a few times, even.
I love Michelle Buteau and think she has a long career ahead of her.
