Thoughts on 5 New TV Shows

1. Fleishman Is in Trouble - *major spoilers ahead* Well, I think it's been quite a long time since I truly hated a television series *this* much. Maybe since Girls, which I did not continue watching - one of the few shows I could not stomach even with my completist compulsions, luckily this series is a mini-series so I only had to sit through 8 episodes. I was able to get through it simply because of my love for both Lizzy Caplan and Adam Brody. I will say that I did take a LOT of angry notes while watching this and sometimes it's kind of refreshing for a series to make you feel something, even if it is mostly frustration. I kind of feel like just copying and pasting my notes into this because after reading them over they are kind of hilarious, but I also sound like a crazy person so I'm going to try to rewrite it all in a more cohesive way. So, the first reason that I hate this show so much is because it's completely misogynistic. Yes, I realize that a woman wrote the book that this is based on, but facts are facts. It disguises itself as this story of different perspectives, but ultimately it's a story about a woman being a crazy bitch who abandons her children because she can't control her emotions. The male perspective is the focus for SIX of the 8 episodes, and then we're supposed to go "oooooh she's been through some shit, that's why she's like that". It's manipulative BULLSHIT that I could see through in the very first episode. But the series relies on the audience to be on his side until the switch (i.e it's relying on you to be misogynistic, as well. So...um...if you fell for it, you might want to have a look at your feelings towards women). I think it's also trying to tie together successful women with mental breakdowns - as in women are under so much pressure to "have it all", but I will just never feel bad for someone who CHOOSES a life like this (millionaires choosing to make more millions). There are societal pressures of being a working mother, sure, but the real pressure for working mothers are on the women who have to work in order to provide for their child financially. That's when the "balance" becomes mentally unhealthy. Do you know how easy it would be for this woman to just take a few months off of work? The privilege of just falling asleep on a bench in the park and losing track of time? She loses a client, but she still has a home and...millions of dollars. What am I supposed to sympathize with here? I have sympathy for mental breakdowns, obviously. I had a mini one a few years ago and it definitely would have been more terrifying if I were alone. And it did happen because of stress and a lot of bad things happening all at once (my best friend was really sick, I had a huge falling out with my mom that still hasn't fully recovered, my cat died, I witnessed a stranger almost commit suicide, a man fell through our glass window at work and it was the most amount of blood I've ever seen and I thought I witnessed his death but luckily he survived - but this caused a lot of nightmares with glass shattering and PTSD was triggered. I know most will say that 2020 was the worst year, but the end of 2019 really fucked me up). But I do think there is a difference if you have the resources to help you through it. And also if you have children - your choices are crucial, that is all I'm saying. Like I said, it's clear from the first episode that things aren't as they seem and that he's an unsupportive asshole - it's garbage that we have to wait SIX WHOLE EPISODES for that to be revealed. The second reason I hated this show so much is because of Jesse Eisenberg and Claire Danes. Just the most mis-matched couple I've seen in a while. I've liked Eisenberg in a few things, but mostly when he plays a version of himself. It does not work for me here because he's supposed to be like a hot commodity. This part is going to make me sound like a superficial bitch, but there is no world where Eisenberg is physically hot. I can understand women being attracted to him because he's smart and funny (and uh...rich and famous), but in this world on a dating app - he would not pull all of these hot women. He has the body of a 12 year old and the sex scenes are so uncomfortable to watch because uh...he looks like he has no idea what he's doing (I'M SORRY BUT IT IS TRUE!). I don't think I've ever really been a fan of Claire Danes. She's one of those actresses that just does a really great ugly cry and everyone laps it up. As I was watching this, I saw many reference episode 7 as Danes giving a phenomenal performance and I thought "I bet she does her ugly cry" and goddammit I was right. It's so ugly (and over the top) that I actually laughed out loud, though, so it had the exact opposite effect for me. I'm sure she'll probably get an Emmy nomination for it, but, I would love for her to do a project in which she doesn't rely on this ONE skill she has. Some other reasons I hate this show: The flashback scenes with the terrible wigs and the soft lighting are horrendously bad. The fact that it has a "happy" ending with her showing up at his door after they've both knowingly caused each other so much pain. The painfully slow story-telling. You get the picture. It's just awful. But here are a few good things (aside from Caplan and Brody): The one line in the whole show that resonated with me was about why men prefer younger women - "they hate us less", it really captured my attention because I actually think that's a reasonable and true reason. There is also some FIRE music in the last episode. Regina Spektor (I went to college with her) and that cover of Dancing in the Dark - an oldie but a goodie. That's all I got. 

2. The Last of Us - So, I don't dislike this show, but I'm not really understanding all of the overwhelming love for it. I've never played the game (I've never been a gamer. Even as a kid I would play Nintendo at my cousin's house, but I never owned any game consoles and never wanted them. I think I had enough entertainment with books and tv). I went into this extremely blind - I didn't even know it was about zombies until after the first episode aired. So far, it hasn't really done anything new - it feels a little bit like The Walking Dead but somehow slower. I've only watched the first 3 episodes, and I'm definitely going to keep watching but it's all just sort of baffling. I love Pedro Pascal (and I feel like I was there before everyone else. I remember talking about him in Narcos and everyone was like "who?"), but, and this is a big BUT, I really can't stand Bella Ramsey. I remember the casting announcement and as soon as I realized it was the girl from Game of Thrones, I was like UGH. I thought I would give her a chance, but I watched that movie by Lena Dunham recently (I can't remember the name of it) and she was even worse that I remembered. There are just so many talented young actresses out there, I don't get it. It's definitely not the first time I've hated a beloved actor/actress so I'll just throw her on the pile (of Claire Danes, Julia Garner, Timothee Chamalet/Chalamet, Adam Driver, there's many, many more I can't think of right now). HOWEVER, I was thrilled to find out that Anna Torv is in this!!! She's one of my favorites. Although *spoiler* I guess she's probably not in many future episodes (I'll hopefully be placated with the appearance of another favorite - Melanie Lynskey). I find it fascinating how many people are singing praises for the third episode, as if it's some sort of revelation. It's an incredibly slow episode about a couple that are given very little depth. I could not tell you one thing about Frank and the only thing I can tell you about Bill is that he's a survivalist (my husband is too. Literally, he's intent on surviving the apocalypse - he builds his own radios and has space food in our basement along with a hydroponic garden. He's recently even acquired some solar panels that will be strong enough to run our coffee machine because he thinks that I'll have the will to live if I can have my coffee. He is wrong. If there is an apocalypse type event I do not want to survive it). I just don't have any reason to care about these characters? They seemed like they lived a pretty boring and lonely life together, and dying together is fairly logical. I'm not gonna cry about it. 

3. Mayfair Witches - You can probably guess why I started watching this show: Alexandra Daddario. It's weird that I never even heard of this show until it was announced that it was picked up for a second season??? This is what I'm talking about with there being waaaay too many options for television nowadays. It feels like an odd complaint but I think that's why everything keeps getting canceled. Half the time when people are complaining about a show being canceled too quickly I have never even heard of the show they are talking about. It's so hard to keep up with everything - especially because I used to rely on Entertainment Weekly for such information. I miss that magazine so much. Anyway, I thought well, at least with this show, we already know there will be more...so in theory...it should be good? It's not, unfortunately. It's not really bad or anything, just very uninteresting. I've never been much into witch stuff though (even though I've been known to have my own witchy powers...*ahem*). I'm on the 4th episode, and I just feel like nothing that interesting has happened. She's just learning about her history and that she is, in fact, a witch, but....so what? I need more of a plot than that. Daddario is just stunning though. I could probably watch her read a phone book and be mesmerized. I also really, really like Jack Huston, but he's kind of below his talent in this. I'm sad to say that if it doesn't get better in the next few episodes, this might be a show that I cut from my watch schedule. It's pretty rare for me to do that, but, again, there's just so many other options out there. 

4. George & Tammy - I liked this mini-series quite a bit. Perhaps it's because of the two lead actors - Jessica Chastain (on a side note: I'm so excited that I got tickets to see her in A Doll's House on Broadway in April. She's one of my favorites) and Michael Shannon. Just two of the best working actors out there. But also I think it's because I knew practically nothing about Tammy Wynette or George Jones. I couldn't even name a song before watching this. I'm obviously not a country music fan. Once I heard her sing, I realized quickly she's famous for "Stand by Your Man", which is a beautiful song with some disturbing lyrics (although one of my all-time favorite love songs is "I'll Stand by You" which essentially says the same thing, but isn't about an abusive/cheating man. At least I don't think it is??? Don't correct me if I'm wrong). It's weird for Chastain to play perhaps the two most famous "Tammys" within the span of a year, but she does a fantastic job in both. Wynette has a very distinct voice and Chastain absolutely perfects it. I love that they both do their own singing - it always feels more natural in terms of acting then when they have them lip-sync. I just think it's just very interesting to watch a biopic about someone you know nothing about because it was all BRAND NEW INFORMATION and I had zero expectations for what was going to be included and excluded within their story. I tried really hard to not Wikipedia stuff while watching (but failed a few times - I was just checking to make sure it was factual!). Tammy really led a sad life in the spotlight - treated just awfully by the men in her life and the music industry. I was also fascinated by George's part of the story, especially towards the end when he starts randomly talking in a duck voice and NOBODY put him in a mental facility? The things men get away with...

5. Accused - I like the idea of this series - especially as an anthology of episodes with the them being a story about the "accused" party of a crime. However, I think that they are trying to show a grey area of these situations, as a way to create empathy for the "other" perspective, and so far (I've watched the first 3 episodes), they are...not grey. The first episode focuses on the father of a teenager who killed himself and several of his peers in a school shooting, starring Michael Chiklis. It's a very relevant story to current times, in America, and there is always a discussion on how much the parents are to blame. It often depends on the individual situations, in my opinion. In this case that they present, though, both of the parents are absolutely to blame, but absolutely the father because he funded his plan! He makes excuses at first, even though he knows that something isn't right with his son ("he refuses to talk to a therapist", "he hasn't committed a crime so the police can't do anything"), but that's just all bullshit. He should have definitely spoken to both police and doctors. His son is a minor and has very little legal rights. And then he believes his son has changed and wants to take a trip? If he had gotten help, then any psychologist/therapist would have told him that this is a common tactic that is used (suicidal people do this to. They will do their best to convince everyone that they are fine. It's like one of the biggest signs). The second episode is...uh...wait? I don't actually even remember the second episode and I *just* watched it last week so that's a problem, eh? Anyway, the third one stars Rachel Bilson, and she is the biggest reason I even wanted to watch this show. I adore her and miss her. I would love for her to hit it big with something soon. She has really great comedic timing if someone can utilize her correctly. She's not that great in this and it's clear from the beginning how this story is going to end. The story is told from the perspective of a teenager who thinks that Bilson's character killed his mother, so he STABS HER. He could have just calmed down and collected evidence the right way. Vigilante violence is still illegal? So, therefore he should still be charged of a crime. Case closed. Not grey. It's all just so stupid so far. I would love to be engrossed in a new primetime drama, but they all suck now.