Category: TV Series

Genre: TV Series

Grade: B+

Notable People: Oliver Stone

Title: An Untold History of the United States

Review:  Stone is an absolutely brilliant filmmaker and no less so a documentarian. This 2012- twelve-part series is well worth watching given the times we have lived through for the last four years-and beyond. Stone is an avowed communist and that is reflected in his negative attitude towards what he sees as US imperialism and colonialism…..and a very soft spot for all things USSR. Despite that, this is an overwhelmingly informative, extraordinarily well put together and will blow your mind. The doc picks up between the world wars and goes through the Obama administration, leaving cloud of uncertainty and doubt in its wake. It will certainly make you rethink the Kennedy assassination, Truman’s; legacy, Gorbachev and the dismantling of the USSR and the impact of the atom bomb. We watched in small doses over dinner, which may be the best way to absorb such potent material.

Genre: TV Series   

Grade: A

Notable People: Anya Taylor-Joy, Marielle Heller, Bill Camp, Moses Ingram, Created by: Scott Frank and Allan Scott

Title: The Queen’s Gambit

Review:  Riveting seven part limited series that chronicles the rise of orphaned Beth Harmon of rural Kentucky, to the top of the international chess world. Heartwarming story built on many tragedies, with a great supporting cast and wonderful filming on location in Moscow. Very cold-warrish in terms of the importance associated with the battle for chess supremacy as a symbol of world power and big gonads. Taylor-Joy is extraordinary-taking the character from lost mid adolescence to confused womanhood, and Heller is brilliant as her drunk but committed adopted mother. Absolutely hated for this one to end. And…the chess scenes…are mesmerizing.

Genre: TV Series       

Grade: A-

Notable People: Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, Julia Garner, Lisa Emery, Janet McTeer, Created by: Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams

Title: Ozark

Review:  This show is like Crack……not great for you, but hard to stop. Bateman takes on a real departure role and Linney is her usual stellar self, playing a couple up to their eyeballs in trouble with Mexican Drug Cartels and sinister lawyers- and trying to lead a normal family life whole avoiding an ever present grisly death sentence. Very snappy dialog and very complex and sometimes confusing story Ines, but hard to take your eyes away from the mayhem. Can’t imagine who is left standing at the end of this show. The Ozark setting is unusual and well filmed to capture the nuances of the area and lifestyle. Linney is a pure sociopath in sheep’s clothing and Emery as the sinister and bat shit crazy Darlene is hard to resist. You’ll need a scorecard to keep up with the casualties on this one. Fourth and last season is on the way. Harris Yulin is brilliant in season one as the curmudgeon, Buddy, who comes with their house.

Genre: TV Series        

Grade: B+

Notable People: Adam Paalson, Leanne Best, Richard Dillane, Ellise Chapell Created by: Ben Harris

Title: Young Wallander

Review:  short six-episode prequel to the popular BBC/Netflix show Wallander with the great Kenneth Branaugh. The casting of this one is good, with Paalson channeling a young Branaugh very well, and capturing his imminent stink – level depression that comes with age. Lots of foreshadowing here. Set in Stockholm, and filled with political intrigue, drugs, gangs, terrorists and the usual mayhem. Would’ t work that well as a standalone, but does a pretty good job of being a prequel. Surprisingly, no subtitles.

Genre: TV Series   

Grade: A+++

Notable People: Dominic West, Wendell Pierce, Lance Reddick, Dierdre Lovejoy, Sonja Sohn, Michel K. Williams Created by: David Simon

Title: The Wire

Review:  This phenomenal HBO show ran from 2002 to 2008…and I missed it. Like many, either the hype or the nature of the show put me off. Watched a few episodes at the time, but never got hooked, partly because I was tired of listening to all my friends in Baltimore tell me that it was the bomb. What a mistake. Pandemic comes, and I made the time; took a few shows to get the rhythm, but then it took off like no other before or since. Arguably the best show ever to be on television. Gritty, dirty, real, strangely funny at times. A set of characters unparalleled and an acting ensemble for the ages. Simon originally created this from his years reporting street corner drug work in Baltimore for the Baltimore Sun. He is just brilliant and took many of his themes and many of the key actors to his next project, Treme (another not to be missed and greatly underappreciated series). The character development in this show is probably the best ever, the dialog is riveting, cinematography magnificent……every hour goes by in a flash. A few characters will be remain indelibly etched for me forever…. especially Omar (Williams_…an all-time best). We dragged out the last season for not wanting it to end. The final season five dragged a bit in my mind, searching for a way to bring a mish mash of story lines to closure …but only minimally. This IS THE BOMB. If you watched, you know…if you didn’t, give it a shot for at least three episodes to get the flow. Does not get any better than this. Feel like I’m suffering from postpartum depression after the end.

Genre: TV Series                 

Grade: B+

Notable People: Kevin Costner, Cole Hauser, Wes Bentley, Kelly Reilly, Luke Grimes, Created by: Taylor Sheridan

Title: Yellowstone

Review:  Guilty Pleasure……the writing and acting is moderately well done (at best), the plots sometimes a bit farfetched and Costner is a surreal archetype…..BUT……I love this show. The ensemble –family cast is quite good together, all the actors seem genuinely western, the cinematography is way beyond most TV, there are occasional clear lines between good and evil and Hauser’s performance as Rip, the ranch foreman with a rod way up his ass, is worth the price of admission…. not to mention the way out of control Reilly as hard- as- nails daughter, Beth. And then there is the scenery……Wow…. let’s all move to Montana. The third season was actually more captivating than the fist two, and the ending was quite the shocker. Coming back for number four. If you can still stand watching commercials, this is worth the effort.

Genre: TV Series 

Grade: B+

Notable People: Anna Friel, Ray Panthaki, Aaron Mccusker, Amanda Burton Created by: Nicola Larder, Hans Rosenfeldt

Title: Marcella

Review:  this is one strange show. Over three seasons, Marcella has transformed from a slightly intense, overzealous London cop to an absolute madwoman. She is nuts-multiple personalities, borderline, schizoid…you name it…. but dedicated to laying herself on the line in penultimate dangerous situations. A not- to- be -messed with woman avenger. The show is a maze of plot that is hard to keep up with at times, and the support characters are a bit stereotypical, but Friel saves the whole shebang with an over the top performance not to be missed. So intense and dark it is hard to watch it on consecutive nights…. but fascinating just the same.

Genre: TV Series

Grade: B+

Notable People: Shira Haas Israel, Amit Rahav, Jeff Wilbusch, Alex Reid, Created by: Anna Winger

Title: Unorthodox

Review:  Whoa, mama……Zain Gisent…. the little girl has Chutzpah…. A six-part mini-series about an ultra-orthodox young Jewish Woman, in the heart of the Williamsburg enclave, who tries to get away from the prescriptive, rule-bound and male dominated culture (to The Reich, of all places). It is not all that easy to watch- was personally painful to me at times despite the extraordinary spirit shown by Esty (Haas Israel in a memorable performance). If you don’t know much about this culture, this will be eye- opening. A lot happens in the four one hour episodes, and the ending was a bit of a surprise. It took me a month to watch all four episodes (no binging on this one), but I was glad I did…and was also glad to be done. It’s not Indiana Jones.

Genre: TV Series 

Grade: NR

Notable People: Roger Burton, Peri Gilpin, Various Five sisters, Created by: Maria Burton, Ursula Burton, Jennifer Burton, Gabrielle C. Burton, Charity Burton

Title: The Old Guy

Review:  A seven-part video series on You Tube created by my pal Gabrielle Burton and her four sisters, who have bene making impressive Indie films for years. The episodes are all between three and six minutes and quite entertaining, as they look at aging and the place of the aged in our culture. Their dad, and the star, is a real TV actor from the 50s and 60s, and is quite the resurgent find. I did not rate this due to the nature of the short film structure, but I highly enjoyed this, and commend to you for watching with your morning coffee, for short exercise stints or right after sex.

Genre: TV Series   

Grade: A-

Notable People: Zoe Kazan, Morgan Spector, Winona Ryder, John Turturro,  Created by: David Simon and Ed Burns

Title: The Plot Against America

Review:  Extraordinarily well done revisionist history mini- series in which Charles Lindbergh and his anti-Semitic crazies defeat FDR and keep America from entering into the second world war, relinquishing Europe to Hitler and turning the Us into a semi-fascist state. From a wonderful Philip Roth novel and developed for TV by the pair who brought us “The Wire” and “Treme”. Very well acted with a frightening element of commonalty with our current environment. Brilliant sets, costumes, music and ambiance. Ryder and Turturro are the definition of desperate naiveté and very solid work form Kazan and Spector. Well worth the six-episode watch