there's a contingent who believes everything post Dreamland episodes has been gold return-to-former-Archer-glory whereas it definitely fell into an overly-familiar hitting-the-same-beats-over-and-over again pattern for me and I was very very ready to bid adieu to Archer but I ended up liking this season a lot more than I expected
a change in dynamics—Lana grappling with taking Mallory's job and all the moral landmines that entails, Archer grappling with aging and a new younger (/better?) agent to bounce off of and trade barbs with really rejuvenated the show for me while Amber Nash's voice acting for Pam remains top-notch and elevates any dialogue she gets no matter how run-of-the-mill—so much so I actually wish there was another season to see this new dynamic further take hold and grow. not perfect (it was very obvious in the bribe episode where that would go and I wish it got to the ending much sooner in the episode and have Lana play moral mental gymnastics with herself in the remainder of the episode to justify continuing Mallory's bribes) but much fresher than it had been for seasons. the ending felt a bit abrupt (I assume they got word of cancellation late in production because it was very much not setting up for that) but man, this is a show that's been on for nearly half my life and it's a little weird that it's just over and done with now
totally get why this wouldn't be to people's taste (especially if they were expecting a lighter, fun, spandex-clad nostalgic throwback-to-the-80s comedy with a dash of female-entrepreneur-get-it-done-grit-and-perseverance uplift) but this for me is the most underrated show of 2021. 1st episode didn't blow me away (I left underwhelmed but there was enough there for me to return to at a later point in time) but eventually I came back to the show and grew to like it more with each episode
this is dark. very dark. the emphasis is on the first word in dark comedy which will turn a lot of people off (especially since Apple TV+'s signature comedy being the feelgood uplifting Ted Lasso might lead some to expect the streamer's comedies to hew more towards that tone). not only that, but it often deals with its dark themes and material with a flippant comedic tone which might only exacerbate how offputting some people find the show and it absolutely does not shy away from keeping the edges rough, not making the main character's ED any more palatable for a general viewing audience (though not graphic) nor making her very sympathetic, it's not easy to watch a character suffering from a disease and still outright dislike that character (most portrayals of characters with physical/mental diseases are often shown as root for-able or having some kind of character growth towards likeability). likeable characters are few and far in between here, but characters don't need to be likeable, they need to be interesting and every one here is watchable (even the husband who can be a bit one note at times so it's probably my residual liking for comedian Rory Scovel to make his dbag character as tolerable as he is)
who doesn't love Rose Byrne, been a fan since Damages and in addition to the expectedly good acting from her, her voiceovers are also killer, imbuing a lot of snark/derision/judgment/etc etc in her line readings (she can out act some people with just her voice). Bunny & Tyler are also great and totally watchable and while there's not enough Paul Sparks (esp in the first half) when he shows up he's also expectedly solid
not gonna be everyone's cup of tea and i get the aversion from some but glad it got renewed for a second season as the darkness of the material and the tone in which it handles the material is very much my cuppa and i'm here for Rose Byrne in lead roles
What a mixed bag of a season. This started out strong like the show knew it had something to prove after the past few seasons of GoT, the first two episodes were much stronger than the lukewarm reviews gave it credit for.
And then came multiple episodes that were generally still quite good but with a significantly dumb moment at the end (Daemon running through a hail of arrows not getting hit till the very end with only a superficial shoulder wound; everything at the royal wedding (figuring out Criston's banging the princess because he's staring at her too much? at her wedding? when he's her bodyguard? instead of holding onto that information immediately going up to Criston to confront him with it. Criston just losing it and beating a dude to a pulp and nobody stopping him. Alicent finding him RIGHT when he's about to seppuku himself); Lady Laena going from being in the throes of a painful childbirth then disappearing the moment 2 out of 5 people in a room turn their back on her and managing to walk all the damn way to her dragon and putting several hundred yards between her and Daemon when she had just spent hours trying to push a bowling ball through her vagina).
And then the last couple of episodes were just an all-around disappointment (having now watched the season finale, that one was aces and up there with the first two episodes). Episode 9, generally the most explosive episode of the season in GoT, was a bit of a mess. Criston Cole put his hand on an old man's shoulder to push him down into his seat and the next scene is the dude slamming his head on the table so hard he dies and bleeds out? He went from standing up with his head perpendicular to the table in one scene to his head flat on the table the next. The way the scene was cut with Cole's hand on his shoulder one second to him slamming his head on the table the next, there was no indication Cole pushed hard enough nor that he did so at an awkward angle for the old man to end up that way. The worst-directed and edited scene of the series. An episode that should've felt like there was a ticking clock in the race to find Aegon and quickly crown him as the various schemers try to put their plans in action in the immediate wake of the king's death felt more like just going through the motions and checking items off a list. And then toss in every dumb thing about Rhaenys bursting through the ground with her dragon (just one of many: the doors were shown as nearly being closed on the people one moment then 20 seconds later Rhaenys flies through wide open doors??).
The wigs are also not great. Some look more natural than others (Caucasian females got the better end of the stick) but were generally risible (Matt Smith's got much better when it was shorter but his initial wig looked like shit Legolas cosplay). The one on young Laena's head can charitably be described as Great Value Elsa from Frozen knockoff.
The time jumps were also jarring. Realizing that there's a lot more meat in the story to get to, I still wish they had spent the first season on the youngest generation of actors because they deserved it, Milly Alcock knocked it out of the damn park as Rhaenyra and deserved a whole season. Throw in some actors aging up a decade while others looking like they aged up 3 years and then there's Ser Criston Cole, blessed by the gods with beautiful hair and apparently eternal youth.
HBO had made no secret about wanting GoT to run longer and had ~5 pilots in production after the series ended, they should've milked this for all it's worth and let it progress slowly even if that meant delaying some of the juiciest most dramatic parts of the story to later seasons, instead the pacing felt off and really didn't let the complicated, tumultuous relationships between characters breath and ebb and flow a bit more. It's hard enough keeping track whose child is whom in the circle that is the Targaryen family tree, it's harder still when they're played by a different actor every other episode.
James Purefoy & Dominic West is quite the downgrade from Matthews Goode & Rhys
Matthew Rhys could be giving a tour of a back alley in a city and I would want to attend. James Purefoy could get exclusive access to some newly unearthed remains of one of the 7 Wonders of the World and I'd be like eh, pass
This show has suffered significantly from the reduced screen time of Rhys (presumably due to his busy TV schedule & residence in the US) and his fleeting—albeit regular—appearances in season 3 make this a step down from season 2 which itself was a step down from season 1
There was such an easy breezy unforced watchability to season 1 that made it an appealing watch even to someone like me who doesn't drink wine and finds a lot of foodie-winey shows a bit of wankery. Rhys's playfulness took the pretentiousness down a notch and was quick to inject a bit of rapscallion humor and had a great rapport with Matthew Goode, who, without Rhys as a partner-in-crime is a lot more dull and less-effortlessly-charismatic than he had been in season 1.
Dominic West is alright, he gets a few funny lines in here and there but it really feels like everyone involved tried too hard to have funny one-liners and they just aren't as effortlessly funny as Rhys (their delivery actually often feels very effortful & scripted) and makes it all the more annoying to see them trying so hard.
Fattorini also, even if he doesn't mean to, is very much the model of a pretentious wine snob which played well with Rhys, coming off as a wise teacher to Rhys's unruly student, but without Rhys he comes across very wooden. Fattorini should stick to selecting wines and not pursue a television career, lacks an interesting screen presence. His and Amelia's bantering voiceovers feel very very forced and scripted. In most season 3 episodes, Fattorini gets 1-2 (usually 2) extended segments where he explores various wines from different countries, the information is generally interesting and the segments competently produced, but I kept finding my mind wandering, Fattorini just doesn't have a compelling screen presence. I don't question his bone fides as a wine expert but a TV career is not something he should set his sights on, at least not as a primary figure, only as a secondary supporting player
Watched this season on 1.25x and at times 1.5x or 2x
First season was an 8.5/9. This was so bad, 3.5-4, and that's being generous. Poor writing. Poor directing (Jeri's awkward dance in her apartment early on). Poor editing (was it necessary to play the entirety of 'I Want Your Cray Cray'? Would playing 1 minute as opposed to 3 minutes not have the same effect but cut out some filler? Very indicative of the editing of the season as whole, scenes play for way too damn long, scenes that already smack you over the head with very superficial dialogue)
Didn't care for scenes with Malcolm. Didn't care for scenes with Trish (who becomes increasingly annoying and one-note). Didn't care for scenes with Jeri. Really ruined Jeri's character (outside of a classic Jeri move in episode 12). Really disrespected Simpson's character. I would've hated the character of Alisa a lot more if it weren't in the hands of Janet McTeer. Likewise, Krysten Ritter is the only thing keeping me from completely feeling like season 2's Jessica is a mere shadow of the complexity and snark of season 1. It's hard to tell whether I hated s2 of Daredevil or s2 of Jessica Jones more, but they've had the same effect: I feel nothing, maybe relief even, that Netflix has cancelled a lot of the Marvel shows over the past two weeks and the remaining shows might not be long for this world when their committed upcoming seasons are finished.
One of the biggest season 1-to-season 2 drops I've experienced. It was torture forcing myself through the season.
gosh I've done it again and written a damn essay
Sophomore Slump
I went into season 1 knowing little-to-nothing about the show and naturally had no expectations and was quickly won over with the show proving itself to have such an ease of likeability and watchability
I went into season 2 hyped but felt less gripped by the show as it wore on and really only watched the last couple episodes due to being a completist. It's not bad, definitely not, but it lost that charm and spark that made season 1 so easily likeable and so easy to be absorbed in the show when watching. Instead, it felt like a bullet point of plot points that was translated into dialogue; I mean, that's how most shows probably operate but it really felt like just plot points to check off to move the pieces around the chess board.
The acting is never bad and if Sam Reid loses half a step as Dale Jennings (granted with much higher expectations following the first season and Interview with the Vampire), he's still solid if not as consistently magnetic as the first season and Anna Torv is never not watchable. The supporting cast continues to be solid (I'll always appreciate Lindsay going from 0-to-pissed off within seconds and yelling with force that feels like the windows should be shaking)
All the new additions feel like one-off single-season guest stars and very much feel like plot points in human form to move the main characters' stories and thus it's hard to feel very attached or care about any of them though the actors acquit themselves well enough (Philippa Northeast (is that really her last name?) in particular takes a well-trodden trope (druggie daughter!) and makes it far more bearable than if it had been in a lesser actress's hands and I very much appreciate Charlie Tate as attractive mustachio'd guy #2 on the show after Cute Tim the cameraman with a sexy 'stache comes back in the back half of the season).
While I eventually cottoned on to the opposites-attract romance between Noelene and Rob in season 1, the chemistry between the two worked so well I didn't mind. The show really didn't know what to do with them in season 2. While the post-will-they-won't-they phase usually sends characters into boredom for the audience to watch, some shows over-correct by immediately adding in romantic melodrama after the will-they-won't-they question is answered (season 2 of Swedish drama Love Me wrecked every relationship it had spent season 1 painstakingly and naturally putting together for no reason other than jus' 'cause); while Newsreader never quite does that it does tug and pull at the frayed edges of their relationship...just 'cause? We get flashes of what made them work so well: the Black Monday episode where Noelene is quick to realize the youth of many of the bankers/stockbrokers means most of them have never experienced such a severe financial crisis in their life/professional life and Rob jumps onto that insight as they pull aside stockbrokers and ask questions tailored to that line of thinking...it's magic to watch! Rob and Noelene playing off each other as professionals then developing into something deeper worked great and you really see how they could become an item through mutual respect for each other as professionals, too much of that is lacking in season 2 that just sort of weakly centered around a career woman vs future wife/mom tension, it's not a new storyline and it's not one that feels particularly fresh as done here through no fault of the actors.
Creator Michael Lucas wrote/co-wrote almost all of season 1's episodes while he only wrote half of them here which is probably where the assembly-line-of-plot-points feeling comes through as he delegated breaking the season outline into episodes and dialogue to others that don't capture the spirit of his writing. As the season ends, it could function as either a series or season finale depending on the ratings and whether they can wrangle Sam & Anna's in demand international schedule together.
I don't mind Dale's story line and it did feel consistent throughout the season, as he's climbed the ladder and has become a name himself, he's more willing to preserve the status quo and not rock the boat: he's more willing than Helen to do promos, he often sides with Lindsay when she wants to do a story/angle that Lindsay doesn't want/fears will be unpopular and bleed viewers, he's willing to let Gerry fall by the wayside at the end when he realizes Gerry traded stories about Dale for Gerry's self-preservation, and finally at the end when he goes Darth Dale and strikes a bargain with the gossip columnist to keep himself employed/in power and serve as her source. All of it was in the name of self-preservation now that he's the face of Channel 6's news and that storyline works (and it takes someone of Reid's caliber to really sell a line like "a news anchor is forever" or whatever it was). You could really see the LeStat in those last minutes of Dale.
tl;dr acting still good but felt more like an assembly line of plot points to check off
started off with some level of promise but fell off a cliff right quick
absolutely did not have the conviction to follow through on the time jump and everything it meant, that a high school not-couple who had an unplanned baby together would naturally drift apart, Oly giving uni a real go while balancing it with motherhood, Santi having a stable job and the life of someone doing physical labor all day, each of them pursuing their own romantic relationships while co-parenting. all of these were set up and just absolutely never developed and just forgotten about maybe 2-3 episodes in
instead, we got more extremely obnoxious young characters who were extremely annoying (who is writing the young characters?? fifty-year-olds with no perception of young people?!). Vince being part of a not-throuple and being a surrogate could've been interesting but the premise was far funnier on paper than the execution as the couple having his surrogate were some of the most annoying characters committed to paper played by actresses without an ounce of ability to survive the atrocious writing (again, who's writing these characters? someone who read a listicle of 'top 10 annoying gen z stereotypes' and decided to make characters based solely on that??). it would've been interesting to see what new friends oly makes in school but they end up bringing back a lot of old characters who allegedly have changed and matured after ~5 years but are all annoying as all get out when they come back.
it was extremely evident early on that they were gonna push oly and santi back together and their respective relationships had absolutely no meaning and nowhere to develop or deepen once that was obvious. oly's TA b/f was sort of interesting at first but the show immediately nerfed him into being some weird socially awkward dweeb. santi actually had a pretty nice g/f (Keeks) who was played by a far better and more interesting young actress than pretty much any other young actor on the show but she was thrown aside in service of the show contriving oly and santi back together. honestly if you're gonna break them up have the conviction to follow through on it for more than 5 episodes before attempting to push them back together.
their respective families have absolutely nothing to do and are given empty nothing stupid storylines throughout the season (i still love the energy Bowie brings to the show even if he was reduced to hey wanna bang no okay through season 3). the actor for Matias is just totally absent in s3 while they unfortunately kept Don around who continues to grate so much. his acting always felt out of step with the show over-playing the baffoon-y dad and he continues to just suck up oxygen in any scene he's in.
lord please cancel this show because i do not have the willpower to prevent myself from further hatewatching
While overall I'd place the second season on par with the first, there's a few things it does much better, primarily the character of Kevin, who, in season 1, was mainly framed (imo) as Dan's roommate who does some art stuff, feels a lot a lot more fleshed out as an individual in the second season, getting his own stand-alone episode (that I would love another return to in any possible future seasons). They really delve into his artistic ambitions, how others view his art, and mine a ton of great comedy from his time at the art school (and he gets the opportunity to deliver waaaaay more great one-liners ("One of those big-forehead countries") and is given more of a comedic voice than how he came off in season 1 which was sad arty dude). Kevin and Dan spent a lot more time apart this season and their characters (but especially Kevin) benefited from it (I'm reminded of how Sally's story was divorced from being Barry's girlfriend early on in season 3 of Barry and she became WAY more interesting as a character trying to juggle her career and navigating Hollywood than just "the girlfriend").
The writers also saw how good the young actress who plays Zayna is and wisely beefed up her role whereas she felt more like a frequent recurring character in the first season. She's still young but I could see her working steadily in small/guest roles after Flatbush, then shooting an indie movie in 20 years and hitting it big when the movie explodes. A lot of young actors come off as overly-coached and overly-studied as actors and there's something really natural in how she plays Zayna though you could say that about most of the cast (I also gained more appreciation for Kareem and Drew this season).
My only critique, which I didn't notice until the last episode, was how infrequently Dan's therapist appears. She is an absolute force and absolutely kills each and every single one of her line readings even when her appearances are basically exclusively via video call.
This show has really flown under the radar and I'm not optimistic for a third season but man oh man have I cherished the 2 seasons of a show whose humor is so up my alley.
what a come down from season 1, which wasn't perfect but overall a joy and delight; season 1 felt like a well-oiled machine, smoothly delivering jokes and hijinks in an effortlessly likeable manner. in a show whose premise is that it goes wrong, you're on the look-out for things going wrong and even if you saw it from a mile away (which you didn't always), when it came it was still usually hilarious. season 2's humor feels more forced with the set-ups and payoffs forcing the characters to become increasingly annoyingly dumb or unawares and saw-it-from-a-mile-away gags feeling a bit too obvious and landing less well
one of the best and most consistently laugh-inducing parts of season 1 was Dennis's butchering of his lines, they took that trait and cranked it up to 20, turning him into a borderline imbecile.
British Beanie Feldstein Annie is still solid and always delivers, if she has a bigger role in an episode the episode is the better for it.
Improvements from season 1 include Sandra's self-satisfied pomposity (especially her smirk); definitely not a clone of Hugh Skinner Max's sheer gleefulness (pointing to the wood to make it chop in episode 1; his giddiness at forcing Chris to imitate him in episode 2); and Jonathan's lines constantly being cut/muted (a joke that should've been kept to the end). The last 2 episodes function a bit better as they try something different and cycle through different things more quickly.
If there's a season 3 here's to hoping review season 2 to fix recurring weaknesses so a potential season 3 more consistently hits the highs of season 1
5 minutes of the contestants being starstruck ("I can't believe I'm standing next to [Top Chef personality]" "Wow am I really in the Top Chef kitchen?" "Is this really happening?") and hyperventilating to and/or trying to joke around with the former Top Chef contestants followed by 10 minutes of cooking (punctured by the requisite "So how did you get into cooking?" or "So where are you from?" question prompted by their Top Chef helper to pull out biographical information for the producers to use cue the pictures of the amateur contestants as children) with some of the lamest and most contrived pre-commercial faux-cliffhangers (oh no did I not turn on the grill, after the commercial: oh nevermind it's okay) followed by 5 minutes of the judges going out of their way to be nice and pull punches and try to find one minor flaw that they bring up in the nicest way possible so it's not all just compliments (even though it practically is)
By the 3rd episode this was already feeling extremely formulaic, every episode was just copy pasted from this template x12, and watching the amateur contestants guffaw and stand there slack-jawed at the former Cheftestants got annoying and wearisome so fast.
A whole lot "I want to prove to myself that I can do this" "It would validate myself if I could say I won Top Chef" just validate yourself, why do you need a basic cable reality TV show spin-off to validate you
Almost every contestant feels like they watch way too much reality TV and have the same put-on, overly-camera-ready, overly-caffeinated type-A personality and trying too hard to spit out some reality TV bon mots that made very nearly all of them extremely off-putting and annoying to watch. Casting failed majorly. Episode 11 is probably the best of the bunch due to the relative lack of starstruck-ness among the two contestants and how they sort of just got to work without running around the kitchen screeching and screaming about the time or how unready they feel.
CONTRIVED. CONTRIVED. CONTRIVED.
I get that perfectly happy relationships without a care would be boring to watch for most people but fuckin' hell there's a better way to organically and naturally introduce wrinkles into the relationships without feeling like they're contriving soap opera-esque problems just to have problems. They had spent season one beautifully and authentically building these 3 central relationships and it feels like they're just assassinating shitting all over these relationships for no good reason other than dramatic plot lines
You had Clara in the season 1 finale publicly begging for Peter to love her and professing her love for him (which I had problems with because it felt like a very un-Clara way to ask/demand Peter to re-invest himself in their relationship but I digress) to becoming over-bearing to him then getting cold with him and have a brief sort-of emotional affair with a gynecologist with tattoos??
And wtf happened with Jenny, there was SO MUCH chemistry between Aron and Jenny in the first season and they finally get to get together and suddenly there's so much distance between the two? Jenny was so likeable and easy to root for as a love interest and the writing turns her into a nag and shrew in the second season out of no where??? They sort of explain it but it feels less like a plausible explanation and more like a retcon for ruining her character/erasing her personality
And there's a much better way to introduce division into Sten and Anita's relationship after they return from the cruise and have to adjust to actually living with each other in close quarters. It's totally naturally that his accounting/detailed-oriented personality would butt up against her free-spiritness, heck they could've even kept the bit with her brother wanting what's his in the will but the whole way they went about it with Anita going behind Sten's back and trying to make the audience/Sten question whether she was having an affair felt so tawdry and not at all the tone the show established in its first season. Like damn why did all these characters (who had spent a good chunk of time beautifully reciting well-written dialogue) just decide to stop fcking talking to each other and skulk around instead!?!?
There are ways to tell the stories the writers wanted to tell in season 2 using many of the same plot points without feeling so contrived, histrionic, and melodramatic
If there's another season, I'll watch with vastly lower expectations. The actors remain strong (any extended Aron-Clara scene is worth it)
Also Peter looked better with season 1's longer hair
Longtime 60 Minutes executive producer Jeff Fager stepped down right before the season began following reports of past inappropriate, overly-touchy behavior and sending what was interpreted as threatening texts to a CBS correspondent reporting on the behavior and culture of CBS executives in light of MeToo reports about CBS/CBS News executives.
You can really feel his absence in the quality of 60 Minutes stories this season. Having been a regular 60 Minutes viewer for nearly a decade, I started to feel the stodginess and old-fashionedness of the program over the past few seasons, but still thought, overall, it was good and watchable if slightly boring at times. Those problems significantly accelerated this season. The stories really needed much tighter edits, the stories repeatedly meandered and lost focus. A journalist (especially a longform television journalist) gathers a lot of information in the sometimes-months-long process of reporting on a story, being able to pick and choose which bits of information and soundbites build to a cohesive 15-minute story differentiates between an engaging story and one that feels like the journalist just took a random handful of facts, figures, and research and tossed it into a blender.
On the April 26th episode, Norah O'Donnell's questioning feels completely beige and useless, I didn't expect hard-hitting questions in what was essentially a yay patriotism look at this American company doing great things for America during the pandemic & economic catastrophe piece, but none of them were particularly insightful. The GM & Ford CEOs knows this piece would be very good PR for them for an audience of 10M. And O'Donnell, unwittingly, lobbies easy softball questions with only rudimentary insight into the goings-on of the factories repurposed to make medical equipment. While I realize the audience of 60 Minutes is a general audience (and usually much older (50+)), I can't help but feel someone who works on a specific tech/auto beat is better at covering some of these stories than the general reporters.
"If you could say anything to ______, what would you say" is one of the cliches of television journalism that needs to have died 15 years ago
In the May 31st episode, during a segment where Anderson Cooper interviewed a technician who drives the Mars rover from his one-bedroom apartment (which, admittedly, is very cool) Cooper asked to see the technician's dog. It made it into the final news package. It should have been cut.
Celebrity interviews are general terrible in general and are generally terrible on 60 Minutes. Anderson Cooper made his best attempt to hide his fawning over Joaquin Phoenix in what was essentially a 15-minute Oscar campaign ad on primetime national television.
