Which TV Shows Should You Be Watching? There's Too Many To Count
#166: TV Shows, "Cyrano," "Father of the Bride" "West Side Story"
Edition 166:
Hey movie lovers!
As always, you can find a podcast version of this newsletter on Apple or Spotify. Thank you so much for listening and spreading the word!
In this week’s newsletter: There’s too many TV shows . In this week’s “Trailer Watch,” what the heck are Jesse Plemons, Lily Collins and Jason Segel up to?
The Unconquerable TV Landscape
When “True Detective” premiered on HBO in 2014, it was a revelation. The idea of seeing movie stars like Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson on the small screen, telling one story across eight parts, was unheard of. When it created the same kind of cultural impact of a blockbuster movie, the phenomenon became a watershed moment for the entertainment industry.
And so the limited event series was born. Over the next half dozen years it boomed to the point where saying “all the good movies are TV shows” can only earn the response, “yeah, duh.” Last April, I listed nine miniseries that were basically some of the best movies of the past decade, just extended and cut into episodic form.
However, the year 2022 will test that hypothesis. Not because TV shows have gotten worse, or movies have on the whole gotten any better (Lord knows they haven’t).
It’s simply that we’ve exceeded the TV storytelling saturation point.
If a great limited series falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
Below is a quick list of shows which aired new episodes in just the last month, each of which would’ve almost certainly been a two-hour feature film in the pre-”True Detective” era, and each of which deserve the individual attention of a wide distribution theatrical release for the reasons I will lay out.
So let’s play a game. How many of the shows below have you watched an episode of? How many of the shows below have you even heard of?
Super Pumped (Showtime): The story of Uber founder Travis Kalanik from the creators of “Billions” starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kyle Chandler and Uma Thurman.
Severance (AppleTV+): A sci-fi miniseries directed entirely by Ben Stiller, where employees of a company cannot access the memories of outside work while at work, and visa versa, starring Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, Christopher Walken and John Turturro.
1883 (Paramount+): A spin-off of the most popular show on television, “Yellowstone,” with the same creator, Taylor Sheridan. Plus the star power of Sam Elliot, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.
The Dropout (Hulu): From the creator of “New Girl,” Amanda Seyfried is Elizabeth Holmes, founder of the fraudulent health startup Theranos, which just went through a very highly-publicized trial.
Pam and Tommy (Hulu): The story of the Pam Anderson-Tommy Lee sex tape with big talent: Lily James, Sebastian Stan, Seth Rogan, Nick Offerman.
Winning Time (HBO Max): The backstory of the Los Angeles Lakers dynasty of the 1980s, produced by Adam McKay (Anchorman, The Big Short, Don’t Look Up) and depicting celebs no less famous than Magic Johnson, Jack Nicholson, Pat Riley, Richard Pryor and Larry Bird.
jeen-yuhs: The Kanye Trilogy (Netflix): A three-part documentary about the incredible rise and bizarre life of Kanye West, with hundreds of hours of never-before-seen, behind-the-scenes footage.
Joe vs. Carole (Peacock): Yep, it’s a narrativized account of the “Tiger King” story, with SNL star Kate McKinnon as Carole Baskin.
Station Eleven (HBO Max): A critical darling set in a post-apocalyptic world with emotional, interlocking stories. This show is going to clean up at next year’s Emmy Awards.
Yellow Jackets (Showtime): The surprise phenomenon of the year, about a female soccer team whose plane crashes in the forest and they go full-on “Lord of the Flies.” Another critical hit that’ll win whatever awards “Station Eleven” leaves behind.
Inventing Anna (Netflix): The pulpy, true crime story of a young woman who scams her way into the circles of NYC’s rich and powerful, starring Julia Garner (of “Ozark” fame) and show-run by Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Bridgerton) — literally one of the most powerful producers on the planet right now.
I didn’t include recurring shows which debuted or returned in the past month — these entries were designed as more traditional TV, and would’ve been TV shows even 10 years ago:
“Euphoria” (likely the current cultural TV title belt-holder), “Reacher” (a big hit), “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (S3 of a big hit), Space Force (S2, Steve Carrell, John Malkovich and a stacked cast), “The After Party” (stacked cast), “Our Flag Means Death” (from Oscar-nom Taika Waiti), “Wheel of Time” and “Foundation” (enormously expensive sci-fi shows). I’m certain I’ve forgotten some.
Which of these shows are worth watching? I mean, all of them. But you can’t.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, could keep up with all of those — not even if it was your full time job (the full-time TV reviewers who I read and listen to on podcasts admit as much).
And though I realize economic models are what they are, and incentives now preside with grabbing and capturing viewers’ attention for the most amount of time possible, my point is this. The pendulum has swung way too far.
If anything from that top list would’ve been made into a movie over the past month, it would’ve been the movie of the year so far. For the amount of money used to create and then market these miniseries in an incredibly crowded landscape, you could fund a movie as counter-programming in what would end up being a relatively low-risk proposition. Especially at this point of the calendar, a polished small budget studio film could dominate the conversation without needing to have awards aspirations.
Even if the box office model is broken — it may not be, as Uncharted is at $231 million worldwide and might reach that symbolic $100 million domestic threshold — event-izing a streaming-only movie could land differently with audiences.
Speaking to my own consumer habits, I can get intimidated by the time commitment of a four to 10 hour miniseries if I’m not sure it’s going to be good, or I watch a pilot episode and then decide the rest of the project isn’t worth my time.
The beauty of a movie is its scarcity, a single two-hour experience that serves me beginning, middle and end. And as for word-of-mouth buzz, there’s more freedom to talk with friends who have either seen it or they haven’t, rather than the delicate dance of “wait have you seen the part where…” and then ending the conversation as to avoid spoilers.
Perhaps I’m overly optimistic, or simply wish-casting what I want to have happen. I am, after all, just a guy with a movies newsletter.
But after watching a lot of pilot episodes in preparation for this newsletter, I can say for certain that most of these shows could use for some heavy editing and a more focused story.
So hey, if you’re going to make shows that are basically watered down movies, why not just make movies that would be better anyways?
Something New
Cyrano (Theaters): I really like Joe Wright’s movies, because I always know kinda what I’m going to get — melodrama, visual flair, and extremely British sensibilities. His quintessential directorial effort is Pride & Prejudice, though Atonement and Anna Karenina don’t fall far from the tree.
On paper, nothing could fit his European style more than the story of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” a 19th century French play about a man with a giant nose who doesn’t feel good enough for the woman he loves.
But this movie is an adaptation of the 2018 American stage production, which turned the classic story into a musical using the moody rock stylings of contemporary band The National. Much of that cast stayed on, and here the three lead roles are played by Americans: Peter Dinklage, Kelvin Harrison Jr. and Haley Bennett (though perhaps the last one is less of a surprise since Bennett and Wright are romantically attached).
It’s a project that simply doesn’t fit its director. Wright, who maintains his impeccable visual style here, seemed entirely out of his element during early stages of the movie calling for whimsical action or light-hearted folly. It finds its footing in the supreme tragedy of the story, but fails to develop any of its characters to the point that they can be empathized with.
The unforgivable sin for any musical is when viewers feel the unshakable urge to groan any time a scene transitions into song. In that regard, this was the highest score on my eye roll meter since Dear Evan Hansen, compounded by the fact that there are really only three or four song refrains which appear to be repeated several times throughout the movie.
I won’t turn my back on Wright, and let the record show that I’m a HUGE fan of Harrison Jr., the best part of this movie, but this effort was disappointing and can safely be avoided.
Something Old
Father of the Bride (1991): Speaking of TV shows that should be movies, it’s important to point out the trend that successful movies of the past are being remade now as TV shows…up to and including White Man Can’t Jump. Not that this Steve Martin sentimental comedy is some sort of sacred text — it’s a remake of a 1950 movie starring Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett and Elizabeth Taylor, and would go on to spawn a sequel of its own in 1995.
But Martin has really never been better than as a father surprised by his daughter’s pregnancy, only to stumble into a surprise pregnancy of his own with wife Diane Keaton. Flanked by Martin Short and a young Kieran Culkin, it’s funny and cute in that very specific way that makes you want to hug your parents, or children, or both. The TV reboot couldn’t possibly live up.
Something to Stream
West Side Story (HBO Max): I’ve been in a habit of letting you all know when the best movies of last year finally hit streaming, because they pretty much flopped at the box office across the board. Well ding ding!
I wrote in my full review back in December that Steven Spielberg somehow managed to improve on the 10-time Oscar-winning original in every single way, creating a vibrant and energetic playground that more than holds its own against Steven Sondheim’s towering music. I ranked as my No. 4 movie of last year! It’s fantastic, and you should really check it out, even if you don’t normally like musicals.
Trailer Watch: Bullet Train
All I really need to say is Brad Pitt, on a train, in an action comedy. But you go ahead and throw Bee Gees’ “Stayin’ Alive” in the background? Yeah, I’m going to watch it.
Director David Leitch knows a thing or two about the genre (Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2, Hobbs & Shaw) and he’s assembled a pretty awesome ensemble: Brian Tyree Henry (finally in a movie worth of his talents!), Sandra Bullock, Zazie Beetz, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Joey King, Michael Shannon, Hiroyuki Sanada and…Bad Bunny?!
From the trailer, it looks like everyone above is a killer, one way or another, and they’re all trying to get this briefcase while wisecracking and jaw-cracking each other. It’s a movie that’s having as much fun as anything I’ve seen in the past year, and I can’t wait.