A series should not always be criticized in absolute terms but rather based on what its purpose is, especially when this is honest (and not “let’s produce a chestnut”), and if this objective is met. In this sense, there are series that, without being great wonders of television, more than meet recognizable and conventional parameters. We don’t always look for art: sometimes easy entertainment is enough.
These seven series on display are not designed for awards. Their references are noticeable because, more than standing out, they do not want to complicate the viewer’s life. And, precisely for this reason, they can be more than recommended as long as expectations are adjusted.
The Girls on the Bus, for example, is ideal for those looking for a political Grey’s Anatomy. It also has a bit of The Bold Type and even The West Wing of the White House. Journalist Amy Chozik is inspired by experiences from when she followed Hillary Clinton during her (failed) run to the White House to write a drama about four journalists on the campaign bus.
Sadie (Melissa Benoist) is the idealist who overcommits to the candidates she must cover; Grace (Carla Gugino) is an icon of political journalism, always with the best sources and exclusives that set the agenda; Kimberlyn (Christina Elmore) is black, Republican, and works for a reactionary environment where her skin color can be an obstacle to advancement; and finally, Lola (Natasha Behnam) is an activist-influencer who gained popularity after being the victim of a mass shooting.
It is a harmless series, which does not stand out for the intelligence of its scripts but for the idealism of all those involved, and where each episode is watched with extreme ease. It’s the typical case of “if it were on Netflix, you would have seen it in less than a week.”
Nick Santora, who had created the solvent action series Scorpion, adapts Lee Child’s novels with commendable honesty. Jack Reacher, who had been in the army, is now a wanderer who wanders around the United States aimlessly and, when he sees someone with a problem, he tries to help them.
Reacher offers a predictable thriller, fair performances, plots with a traditional structure and without great production fanfare. But, with an actor who is a closet like Alan Ritchson, he delivers exactly what he promises: a proper action and banger entertainment.
At the moment it already has two seasons and no one expects it to end soon: it is a smash hit for Prime Video and there are 28 novels written about Jack Reacher.
Screenwriters Robert and Michelle King wrote the role of Elsbeth Tascioni for The Good Wife: an eccentric lawyer who appeared from time to time in the series. Many, upon seeing her attitude, took her for a fool, when she simply had a different way of thinking and reaching her own conclusions. Now, after more than a decade of appearances in The Good Wife and The Good Fight, she has been written up for a series of murders.
Elsbeth (Carrie Preston) moves to New York to take control of the police department after accusations of corruption and brutality. But she, instead of being quiet and observing, she has the ability to very quickly identify the perpetrators of the murders and poke and wonder and pester until she can prove her guilt.
It is a series as naive and simple as it is nice. Among its virtues it has the killers of the week: they are always well-known television actors such as Stephen Moyer (True Blood), Retta (Parks and Recreation) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family), who can exploit their comic vision in this series of murders that tend towards comedy.
Now, if someone reads a novel with a plot that makes for a Saturday afternoon TV movie, they look for renowned actors to transform the story into a miniseries. This time, Annette Bening and Sam Neill are the respected actors who lend themselves to the adventure as Joy and Stan Delaney, a married couple with an apparently perfect life whose children go on to live a nightmare when she disappears.
Stan, the father, has a wound on his face. At first, he lies about his wife, as if she is still home when she is already missing. And, of course, the four children have to consider whether he murdered her. Or could it be that the case has to do with Savannah (Georgia Flood), a young stranger who, asking for help on the street, ended up living with her parents?
Being part of this subgenre of mysteries, Apples Never Fall is at least solvent, maintaining the pace by raising suspicions and twists, and the pieces fit together at the end of the story.
L’acadèmia, which is inspired by the F.C. Masia. Barcelona to invent the Apolo sports club and its youth teams, does not offer anything new in the youth universe. The coach of the men’s team (Marc Martínez) identifies a soccer star of humble origins (Ton Vieira) who will go on to compete for the lineup with the captain (Marc Soler), who does not dare to come out of the closet due to homophobia in the team. sport.
However, I would be lying if I said I didn’t watch the entire series in a couple of days because of the craft of the scripts. Vieira and Soler are fantastic and, as the women’s team gains presence, the confrontations and the sisterhood of the players (among whom Rita González and Mia Sala-Patau stand out) raise the level of the series. In its final stretch it even knows how to strike a chord, overcoming the predictable plots.
Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer), after a decade as a television psychiatrist (and becoming a millionaire), accepts a job at Harvard to be close to his son (Jack Cutmore-Scott), who preferred to be a firefighter rather than follow in the footsteps of his father.
The character dynamics don’t work as well as they did in the original Frasier. Some secondary characters are so flat that they are embarrassing. And, let’s face it, it’s harder for us to watch series with laughter in the background now than before.
But, considering that the character of Frasier remains intact, it is a placebo for those who watch the old Frasier on a loop in a completely understandable way.
This period series has caused me more than one disappointment. Julian Fellowes, who signed Downton Abbey, set out to write an American version: it is set in New York at the end of the 19th century when a wave of new rich businessmen shakes the foundations of high society.
The cast is infinite, but Carrie Coon and Morgan Spector stand out as the Russells, who burst into Manhattan with the most opulent mansion, and Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon as the van Rhijn sisters, who live together with the eldest looking askance at their new neighbors. .
The service is underused, written in a thick line, and the dramatic plots do not have the drama of any arc starring Lady Mary. The costumes, hairdressing and sets also don’t look as good as they should due to routine direction and boring photography. But, if we talk about satisfaction, The Golden Age goes by as well as tea at five in the afternoon with a cloud of milk.
