Going out (sometimes) means losing faith in humanity. It is the man who has the music from his cell phone blaring on public transport, that girl who doesn’t even say hello when entering the store, the payroll that may not reflect the effort invested in the work, the pile of rubbish around the containers, a friendship that cracks or that scooter that almost runs over the child.
It is on days like these, when you sit on the sofa like a dead weight, that you need more than ever a television series that allows you to regain hope in the human being. Because brainy dramas and sterile entertainment can not only live: we need (sometimes) to caress our hearts, accompany us, show us that goodness that we have trouble finding when we go out.
Carolyn Strauss, director and producer of HBO, believed that Bridget Everett, a cabaret artist, actress and comedian, had talent in abundance, and she sought out two writers for her, Hannah Bos and Paul Thureen, to create a series with which she would feel comfortable and where display all your talent. The work in question, Somebody Somewhere, is a comedy with emotion on the surface for baring the soul of its characters, minimizing the artifice of society, and presenting a pristine friendship: the one between Sam (Bridget Everett) and Joel (Jeff Hiller), who find themselves in the most boring job possible in a dead town where those on the fringes must create community.
It is a song to friendship, community and also a cry against superficiality. HBO Max is broadcasting the second season and, for now, it maintains the level and that ability to make the viewer want to be a better person and more empathetic.
They think of authorial comedy, the best of the best, and Girls by Lena Dunham are often mentioned as a precursor, Fleabag by Phoebe Waller-Bridge as an indisputable reference, and the media often forget about this Please like me by Josh Thomas. In it, Josh plays Josh, a quirky guy, who laughs at his own insecurities, a friend of his friends and constantly worried about the mental health of his mother, who constantly struggles with depression.
Who said that you couldn’t reconcile a casual coming out of the closet, reflections on mental health and an environment to which you would want to belong? The comedian Hannah Gadsby, by the way, entered as a secondary character from the second season.
It cannot be seen in these parts and, in a way, its inclusion on the list is a way of asking the platforms to do the favor of getting their act together and bringing it. Poker face, ironies of life, is a happy place where there is a murder in each and every one of the episodes. It could be described as an updated cross between Colombo and Murder, She Wrote. The viewer is told about the crime, who is the perpetrator, and then it’s time to see how Charlie Cale, played by Natasha Lyonne, who has the gift of instantly detecting lies, solves the case. Just like with Jessica Fletcher, a dead body is bound to turn up anywhere Charlie steps foot.
So how does Poker face fit into happy place standards? In Charlie’s philosophy of a calm life, who does not tear his hair out for having to be on the run constantly (a circumstance that is explained in the pilot) or having to take precarious jobs to survive, and in his moral compass: he solves homicides because It is the right thing to do, because he feels the need to do good, because wherever he goes he enjoys the humanity of the people he meets. And to top it off, it’s an outstanding series that manages to deliver a classic loving classic television.
Alice Oseman decided to adapt her comic about two high school boys who start a friendship without knowing exactly where it’s going, and the first season turned out great. It is the story of Nick (Kit Connor), popular, and Charlie (Joe Locke), more traumatized by having been discriminated against for his masculinity, but it does not move along a path of romantic teen drama, predictable and full of toxic attitudes.
It is tender, plural and, as much as it can be labeled queer or LGTBQ , it should be mandatory viewing for all young people: it is a portrait of how to be honest, how to deal with emotions, of trying to care for others. people around us. Hearstopper is, in short, a beauty that will premiere its second season in August.
The word sorority became fashionable with the latest feminist wave, but whoever is looking for a series that reflects it should watch The Golden Girls. Dorothy (Bea Arthur), Rose (Betty White), Blanche (Rue McClanahan) and Sophia (Estelle Getty) butt each other, judge Blanche’s ability to sleep with men, they may call Rose a fool, but at the end of the day they support each other and face old age together without their respective husbands. Seven seasons of laughter with a creator, Susan Harris, ahead of her time from a format as traditional as the sitcom with a live audience.
In the Arconia building in Manhattan there may be murders. The quarrels between neighbors are deep and, when they meet, the discrepancies are the order of the day. But it also has an element deeply in its favor: the way in which Charles (Steve Martin), Mabel (Selena Gomez) and Oliver (Martin Short), with the excuse of investigating the crimes together and producing a podcast, find support for get out of the sadness implicit in their lonely existences.
For those of you who haven’t checked it out yet, you should know that Meryl Streep, Jesse Williams, Grace Park and Paul Rudd will be joining Season 3 because who wouldn’t want to be in Just Murders in the Building?
The third season of Ted Lasso, which is on the air, is being a downturn. It has to be said. But we must also recognize a job well done so far: a sports comedy where a coach, Jason Sudeikis’ Ted Lasso, has no idea about football but does master the art of bringing out the best in people. His optimism, when well written, is contagious, both among the characters who go on to display his heart and feelings, and among a captive audience. And it is that so much optimism could be interpreted as ridiculous, shameful, an excuse to get comedy and jokes out of there, but Ted Lasso prefers to recognize it as the virtue that it is.
