Category: TV Series

Genre: TV Series (Paramount- 2 Seasons)

Grade: B+/B

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

Title: Yellowstone

Review: this is one absolute guilty pleasure. Kind of a modern western soap opera, but a fascinating look at big ranching power and greed in Montana. Costner remains a fine actor, and the supporting cast is very good (especially the over the top firebrand, Reilly, as the wayward daughter). The cinematography is spectacular. May not be the most highbrow (or well written) show around, but we’re more or less hooked.

Genre: TV Series- Hulu- 1 Season- subtitles (in German and French)

Grade: B+

Notable People: Vicky Krieps, Tom Wlaschiha, Thierry Fremont and Lizzy Caplan, Created by: Johannes Betz and Tony Saint

Title: Knife Creek

Review: An adaptation of Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s 1973 German novel and a remake of a 1981 film, this Hulu production is a fine retelling of the story of a brother and sister in the small coastal town of La Rochelle, on the French coast, during 1942…..the height of the Nazi occupation of France. One sibling is a radio man on a German U- boat; the other a nurse assigned to Nazi high command. A dark, brooding and brilliant portrayal of the Vichy regime and the extraordinary French resistance. A very subtle look at the tenuous relationship between the Nazis, the free French and the Vichy collaborators at the point of time when the Americans and the Russians have entered the war and the tide is clearly turning. I liked this series a lot, and thought it was only held back by the extremely odd casting of Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex) as the American leader of the French resistance. Well worth watching.

Genre: TV Series- 3 Seasons- Hulu

Grade: A

Notable People: Elizabeth Morse, Joseph Fiennes, Yvonne Strahovski, Samira Wiley, Created by: Bruce Miller

Title: The Handmaid’s Tale

Review: This is brilliant and painful TV. Way too many similarities with Nazi Germany (and our current temperature in this country) to be comfortable, but Morse is absolutely brilliant and the storylines are so convoluted and complex to be hard to track at times. Overwhelming brutality and oppression, but hard to look way from. Each season has surpassed the previous one…and apparently more yet to come. Dystopia is becoming sheik….

Genre: TV Series

Grade: A+++++++

Notable People: James Gandolfini, Lorraine Bracco, Edie Falco, Dominic Chianese, Jamie Lynn- Sigler, Steven Van Zant, Michel Imperioli, Vincent Pastore, Tony Siricco, Created by: David Chase

Title: The Sopranos-Season One (1999)

Review: When we were in Ohio last month, we had no internet or cable for ten days at our closed –up- for summer house. Found season one of The Sopranos in the cabinet to have something to watch at night…..ON VHS, no less…. Got the player up and running and were absolutely stunned at going back to this show. Had not revisited this since its original air on HBO in 1999. Loved it the first time round….But not , maron….in retrospect….holy shit….this is the best show ever produced for TV. Groundbreaking in every way. The cast is unbelievable, the writing taut and explosive, the shots behind artistic. In retrospect, the show lost some luster over time…..but oh that first season…when it was absolutely shooting for Very dark humor most of the time…Bracco as the confused and complex Dr. Melfi and the startling weekly therapy sessions with a mercurial Tony Soprano……Carmella, Christopher, Big Pussy, Silvio Dante…these we characters for the ages. The weekly guest stars were a veritable who’s who of the best Italian character actors of the time. You can’t look away foe this show. If you haven’t watched this in a while….go back and take your time….best ever…..

Genre: TV Series (HBO)

Grade: A

Notable People: Ian McShane, Timothy Olyphant, John Hawkes, Molly Parker, William Sanderson, Kim Dickens, Powers Booth, Keith Carradine, Paula Malcomson, Robin Wiegert, Brad Dourff, Created by: David Milch

Title: Deadwood

Review: When David Milch turned his attention from Hill St. Blues and NYPD Blue in the early 2000’s, I was not that interested in a serial western. Tried it out it few times and found it to be quite strange. but this summer, we went back and watched all three seasons…and the movie completed and released fourteen years after the show ended. This is a certifiable masterpiece- a rendering of the old West unique to any before or since. Dark, dirty, pathetic, comical…and very, very gritty. An extraordinary ensemble cast led by the powerhouse McShane and the truly weird Olyphant, a lot of it is loosely based historically accurate characters in the wild and wooly days of the settling of South Dakota during the Gold Rush. Tragic, violent at times, wholly unpredictable end with a deep vein of dark humor running through it….this show is well worth devoting a month to watching. The show was unexpectedly cancelled in 2004 after the third seasons amidst a lot of controversy..…and finished without any type of ending (at the time it was supposed to be only the season ender in front of fourth season). So an ailing Mulch decided to provide a real ending with The Deadwood movie, FOURTEEN years alter…and got everyone who was still alive to come back and reprise their roles. An amazing amount of time between endings……and well worth the wait. A real gem.

Genre: TV Series (Netflix)

Grade: A-/B+

Notable People: Gad Elmalah, Matthew Del Negro, Erinn Hayes Created by: GAD

Title: Huge in France

Review: this may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I find this show uproarious. Gad (real name, real person) is a huge comedy star in France and comes to LA to try and win his unbelievably narcissistic late- teen son’s affections. He is clearly NOT huge in the US, though he readily produces a video clip on his phone show people that Gad is Huge in France. Gad seems like a cross between Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David (though more likeable than David). The premise is funny, the execution funny and the actors are funny. I laughed my way through this show’s first season.

Genre: TV series (Showtime)

Grade: A

Notable People: Damian Lewis, Paul Giamatti, Maggie Siff, David Constabile, Asia Kate Dillon Created by: Andrew Ross Sorkin

Title: Billions

Review: Created by the son of TV virtuoso, Aaron Sorkin, this show is mesmerizing- centered on the conflict between a billionaire investment company (Lewis) and a barely legal US attorney with aspirations for power and office (Giamatti). The dialog is so crisp it is hard to keep up with. The characters are larger than life, brilliant portrayals(Constabile is truly amazing- and Dillon is a revelation). sex, greed, bribes, graft, murder, manipulation galore…. and occasional flashes of humanity. This show is nonstop entertainment as it reaches the close of its current fourth season. Can’t wait for the next episode.

Genre: TV Series (Netflix)

Grade: A+

Notable People: Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Daniel Levy, Annie Murphy, Chris Elliot, Sarah Levy, Created by: Eugene and Daniel Levy

Title: Schitt’s Creek

Review: though it may not be everybody’s cup of tea, we think this is the funniest show on TV…bar none…maybe ever. The first family of Canadian comedy have their mark all over this show….and they are so funny –you start laughing before they say anything. Levy Sr. and O’Hara are comedy royalty and their children have not fallen far from the tree. Annie Murphy was born to be their daughter. Dan Levy may be the funniest person without saying anything since Jonathan Winters. The ensemble performance is astounding and the supporting cast, including the Levy daughter and the zany Elliot are amazing. The Rose family- long kingpins of the home video industry – lose their fortune to a shyster accountant and have no choice but to move to the tiny Indiana town of Schitt’s Creek and live in the ancient motel (in one ersatz suite)-since they had bought the town as a joke during their heyday. The parents still dress and act as if they are Hollywood paparazzi and the thirty something kids are overgrown stunted teenagers. Any time we watch something that is intense on TV –we end with a random episode of Schitt to mellow out. Four seasons on Netflix…give this a shot or two.

Genre: TV Series (Hulu/BBC America)

Grade: A

Notable People: Sandra Oh, Jodie Comer, Created by: Phoebe Waller Bridge

Title: Killing Eve

Review: this is one wacked out show. Oh is Eve, who works for M-6, the British intelligence Service and Comer is a crazed sociopathic serial killer for hire. .they become totally obsessed with each other and entwined in a massive love-hate relationship that leads them to chasing all over Europe. Oh is her usual excellent self….and Comer is total nut job….captures the role to a T. Their interaction is one for the ages. Finished the first season on Hulu and second season currently airing on BBC America on Sunday nights….Absolutely love this show.