Category: TV Series

Genre: TV Series   

Grade: A

Notable People: Gemma Arterton, Arsher Ali, Matthew Beard, Rupert Everett, David Threllfall, Tom Bateman, Created by: Morwenna Banks from the novel by Nick Hornby

Title:  Funny Woman

Review Brilliant series set in early 60’s Mod/Canaby street, London. Gemma Arterton Is simply luminous in the title role of a small town girl from rural north of England who wants to be more than Miss Blackpool. Woman’s lib, Gay rights, anti-censorship all in embryonic states and dealt with straight on in this this well set and very funny show with a who’s who cast of British character actors. Fantastic music, costumes, sense of the he times. Just loved this show. Can’t miss watching this one. Renewed for second season without a doubt.

Genre: TV Series    

Grade: A-/B+

Notable People: Kitty Flanagan, Kitty Zemiro, Marty Sheargold, Created by: Kitty Flanagan and Vincent Sheehan

Title:  Fisk

Review Flanagan is wonderful as a lost soul lawyer in this Australian show shoe also produced, writes and directs. Lost soul lawyer Helen Tudor- Fisk (often sounds like tuna-fish!) joins a dysfunctional brother-sister Probate law firm. Flanagan is an iconic comedian in Australia and very droll-dry funny, with some tip of the hat to Larry David’s Curb. The half hour comedy is light, airy and quite funny and her de riguer brown pants suit is worth the price of admission. Australians seem to make good TV (check out “Rake”)

Genre: TV Series                           

Grade: A++

Notable People: Ken Burns and Lynn Novak

Title: The Vietnam War

Review I’ve said before that Burns is the greatest documentarian in film history, and I would place this as his absolute masterpiece. The ten part, 20 plus hour series from 2017 narrates the sad and sordid tale of US involvement in southeast Asia, from the replacement of the French invader-hordes during the Eisenhower years and through the next four presidents. It took us 3 months of dinner watching increments to get through this- partially because of how long it takes, but mostly because of its raw power. It portrays the greatest divide in American history post-civil war- even greater than our current mayhem, and is filled with moral degradation, extraordinary lack of leadership, fear and power based lies that led to the loss of 60 thousand American lives. These were our children sent off by charlatans to fight an ideological power struggle on the other side of the world; one that was never in a million years going to be won. Burns does am amazing job of presenting all sides of this ideological debate, including many perspectives from both South and North Vietnamese warriors, as well las our own. That sense of what this decade of madness did to it warriors/participants becomes absolutely overwhelming to watch in the final episode as they look back, reflect on the impact their, and their family’s lives and ultimately build an astounding remembering wall; we wept for most of those two hours. No American should avoid watching this; if we do not learn from the mistakes of history we are doomed to repeat them. Amazing.

Genre: TV Series        

Grade: A

Notable People: Brie Larson, Lewis Pullman, Aja Naomi King, Kevin Sussman, Beau Bridges, Created by: Lee Eisenberg

Title: Lessons in Chemistry

Review A drama series starring Larson as a pregnant chemist who teaches a cooking show in the 1950s. The series explores her challenges and choices as a woman in a male-dominated field – and world. The cast is great and the post-war LA fifties focus is exceedingly well done. My friend, Ana, told this was must watch TV, and I signed up for a week long binge for free on Apple to watch it. Larson is absolutely riveting in career defining role as a total nerd/scientist lacking any social skills or any desire to be social, until she meets an equally nerdy Nobel prize type scientist, played to the hit by Pullman. The show brings out a lot of emotion and a lot of well-deserved shame about the way we treated woman as recently as the 1950s. Originally planned as clearly a one and done miniseries of the popular book- the sow has been such a surprise that season two is being considered by Apple. This is terrific show.  

Genre: TV Series      

Grade: B-

Notable People: Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Amaka Okafor, Shira Hass, Kyle Soller, Stephen Graham, Created by: Paul Tomlin

Title: Bodies

Review Absolutely bizarre mini-series in which four different detectives, in London, in four different time periods, find themselves investigating he exact same murder. I had a really hard time keeping up with the constant time switches and the believably of the primary concepts, but this show has been immensely popular on Netflix, and Jenn really liked it- so take my dinging it with a grain of salt…. I guess. The cast is good and Graham dos EVIL really well in whatever he is in. The attention to detail for the various time periods (1890s, 1941, 2023 and 2052) are nicely done. Personally, had a hard tie staying awake for much of it- but then again, not a big Sci-Fi fan.

Genre: TV Series      

Grade: A

Notable People: Scott Ryan, Damon Herriman, Justin Rosniak, Created by: Scott Ryan

Title: Mr. In- Between

Review Brilliantly eccentric Australian dramedy that combines utter hilarity with absolute darkness. Ryan developed and is masterful in the lead role as a tortured killer-for-hire and all around pursuer of non-legal justice remedies-but also a loving brother and father and general softie in the right circumstance. Hard to decide whether you despise him or admire him from minute to minute. He simply owns this role and what seems like fluff early on in this series becomes downright existential at times as the show evolves. The supporting cast of wackos is wonderful. Half hour show that seems much longer-but pretty intensely engaging. Sadly, ending after three great seasons.

Genre: TV Series              

Grade: B+/B

Notable People:  James Badge Dale, Joseph Mazzello, Jon Sela, Ashton Holmes, Josh Helman, Created by: Bruce McKenna

Title: The Pacific

Review This mini series is a companion piece to the highly awarded HBO 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers, but is focused on the much lesser known Pacific theater (interesting r?) of WWII. The sheer brutally of the endless battles from Iwo Jima to Okinawa through a hundred tiny and remote islands is staggering. The story is derived from the post-war books written by two of the three main characters and is generally a true story. The endless battle scenes can be bit much at times- very realistic and you feel like you are there dodging pieces of flying human flesh. The back stories are more accessible. Well done, well shot, and very informative- the utter horror of this war makes for more sympathy of why we dropped the bomb.

Genre: TV Series            

Grade: B+

Notable People:  David Oyelowo, Lauren Banks, Dennis Quaid, Donald Sutherland, Forrest Goodluck, Created by: Chad Feehan

Title: Lawmen: Bass Reeves

Review: The latest of Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone related franchise is the true story of Bass Reeves–  a former slave who became an American lawman. He was the first African-American US Marshall west of the Mississippi River and became a folk hero for his fight against ongoing post-civil war slavery practices. Sheridan is clearly the master of the modern day western and Oyelowo is compelling as the main a character, but the show felt a bit stiff and somewhat predictable. Nevertheless, the cast is sterling and the cinematography and attention to period detail is wonderful. Banks excels as the long suffering frontier wife. This is a major statement about the role of African -Americans in the settling of the West-one we have seen little of before. The “Lawmen” franchise is scheduled to continue with different historical protagonists each season- but this is one and done for Bass.

Genre: TV Series      

Grade: A+

Notable People:  Dennis Franz, David Caruso, Jimmy Smits, Ricky Schroder, Mark -Paul Gossalaar, James McDaniel, Gordon Clapp, Henry Rollins, Sharon Lawrence, Kim Delaney, Amy Brenneman, Nicholas Turturro, Charlotte Ross, Bill Brochtrup, Jacqueline Obradors, Esai Morales, Created by Steven Bochco and David Milch

Title: NYPD Blue

Review: From THE VAULT. We always a have a show that we watch while eating dinner on TV tray table several nights a week, re-creating our 50s-60s childhoods- and NYPD Blue had been it for most of the last five years-took that long to get thru 12 seasons and over 250 episodes. The show ran from 1993 thru 2005, and may genuinely be the forerunner of what the art of streaming TV has become. Brilliantly shot and conceived, dark, gritty, funny and covering a virtual landmine of social issues week after week that stand up yet today. The cast was beyond perfect; Franz so well defined as the alcoholic curmudgeon, Andy Sipowitz, that he was hard put to find another role after this one. His four partners over 12 years, Caruso, Smits, Schroder and Gossalaar were a parade of primo matches. The supporting cast of the 15^th precinct featured a who’s who of fine character actors and many of the show’s guest stars went on to great fame and fortune after the NYPD stepping stone. Captivating, hard hitting and the original must-see hour of television. If you have never watched, take the plunge. If like us, you are looking to revisit a classic, it was even better the second time around. I wept at the ending of season 12- episode 20 as Sipowitz fades away into the background. Brilliant.

Genre: TV Series                         

Grade: A

Notable People:  Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder, Created by Jen Statsky and Paul Downs

Title: Hacks

Review: Brilliantly written and conceived dark comedy about a dark mentorship formed between Deborah Vance, a legendary, and fading, Las Vegas comic, and an entitled, outcast 25-year-old comedy writer. Smart, of Designing Women fame, is flat out THE Bomb on this eccentric and sleeper of a show. Th supporting cast is great and the capture of both Vegas fade and LA posh- fake seems dead on and ridiculously funny. Alternating between great one liners and really complicated relationships , this is a unique show, well worth the half hour investments of time. The chemistry between the two mains is shockingly good.