For many years, my wife and I spent most of our evenings attending press screenings of new and upcoming films. That was our routine, and while I didn’t disdain television I rarely had time to watch it, let alone get hooked on a series.
But things change. I no longer edit my annual Movie Guide, and I don’t work for a TV show that impels me to see almost every new theatrical release. The Covid lockdown may have been the ultimate reason I started watching more television…and liking it. My wife and daughter have always been TV junkies and will happily binge away for hours. I never imagined myself saying that I couldn’t name a feature this year that I anticipated with the same fervor I felt about the new season of The Bear.
I recently received a press release announcing the second season of a half-hour comedy series on Apple+ called Platonic, starring and executive produced by Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne. I felt foolish because I didn’t know there had been a first season. My wife and I started with Season One, Episode One and now we are telling all our friends. How could we have not known about one of the smartest, most original comedies on television?
Platonic explores the complicated relationship between a man and woman who rekindle their friendship, even though she’s happily married and raising three kids. It was created, directed and co-written by Nick Stoller and Francesca Delbanco. Stoller is a graduate of the Judd Apatow school of comedy and has worked with his two stars before, but they are in peak form here—spontaneous and very funny. Byrne is a disarmingly fearless comedienne and Rogen is perfect as her highly neurotic pal
Another bright comedy (with dramatic undertones) is Stick!, created by Jason Keller for Apple+. Owen Wilson stars in a perfect Owen Wilson role, a onetime golf phenom who vanished after a public meltdown. He comes back on the scene when he spots a teenage boy who reminds him of his younger self and determines to make him a champion. Stick! covers some familiar ground but does it with sincerity and a first-rate cast, including newcomer Peter Dager and Marc Maron, who is carving out a niche for himself as a likeable and versatile character actor. And unlike some streaming shows, it doesn’t seem padded out to fill its ten installments.
My wife and I feel a sense of victory because we haven’t had the same luck with the last few hour-long series we tried out. Investing hours in a sullen, doggedly unhappy drama like Untamed (with Eric Bana and Sam Neill) made me wish I had read a good book instead. Dan Fogelman’s self-serious science-fiction series Paradise started out so strong, I couldn’t believe how poorly it ended, after ten full hours. There’s another season in the works! I won’t be watching.
I’ve marveled at the sheer audacity of The Bear, which just concluded its fourth season with a finale that actually makes sense. I don’t know how relatively young writer-director Christopher Storer got Fox to give him the freedom he enjoyed from the first moment of this show to the last, but I’m awfully glad he did. I’m almost sorry there is another season ahead, as the saga wraps up so neatly with its final episode.
The same is true for Hacks, which defied the odds and got better with each season. I hope The Studio can make the same claim. Seth Rogen plays another neurotic goofball who somehow is running a movie studio. I haven’t laughed out loud so much since Veep. The series is played as farce, at a fever pitch, and everyone, from the supporting cast to such unlikely guest stars as Martin Scorsese and Zoe Kravitz are on the same page. (I actually was disappointed with Episode One, but Episode Two won me over and now I can’t wait for Season Two.) I also love the conceit of a Hollywood studio designed in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright.
So yes, I’m still going to the movies, but I find my priorities are shifting as television—in all its forms—has so much quality entertainment to offer.
