I've noticed a trend in the TV viewing here at the Fortress of Ineptitude in that much of what I watch is based on something else. Spin offs (Young Shelfon from Big Bang Theory), reboots (Quantum Leap, Night Court), established franchises (Mandalorian from Star Wars, Picard from Star Trek) and the ever present based on a comic book (Superman & Lois, Doom Patrol, Lucifer, Sandman).
Today's Tuesday TV Touchbase will focus on some TV shows that are not in any of those categories listed above.
First up is Lucky Hank, a new series on AMC starring Bob Odenkirk. I was late to the party for his acclaimed turn in Better Call Saul so I figured this was a chance to get in on the ground floor of a Bob Odenkirk project.
Odenkirk is Hank Devereaux Jr, head of the English department at Railton College, a mid level northeastern liberal arts school. When he isn't besieged by the various petty grievances from the department’s low-achieving staff, Hank is fighting against himself.
Besides dwelling in the shadow of his more widely known and esteemed father, Hank is also haunted by his one decently received book and that was decades ago and he hasn't written another.
Hank seems himself as mediocre talent who could be so much more if he wasn't in his own way. For example, there's Hank’s rant about the mediocrity of a pretentious and awful writing student, the university and himself that goes viral. Hank may not be happy at Railton but damn it, what else does he have? And he's at risk of losing even this vine of mediocrity he clings to.
Hank Devereaux Jr has both a large ego and an insecurity complex equal in size which makes him not the most likeable character to watch but Bob Odenkirk makes this schmuck fun to watch and also endearing somehow.
And Odenkirk isn't doing all the heavy lifting alone. Lucky Hank has a strong supporting cast with their own quirky personalities and problems. I think I'm willing to give this series a chance for the rest of it's first season.
Next up is the animated series Digman! on Comedy Central. Co-created by and starring Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), this series is set in a world were archaeologists (known as "arkies") are celebrities. Rip Digman is the former top dog arkie in the world until an expedition goes sideways with the death of his wife Bella and the betrayal by his assistant Zane.
Rip is constantly outplayed by Zane who is now the leading arky in the world and Rip takes on the occasional gig to keep the lights on but otherwise is someone deeply damaged by the traumas of death and betrayal. Yes, the show is a comedy.
The best moments come from Scooper, Rip's best pal and pilot who has an almost dog like devotion to do whatever Rip needs him to do. The sequence where Scooper needs to steal a gondola in Venice but first has to go to gondola school plays out as a 1 minute note for note summary of the plot of Top Gun while Rip stands patiently knee deep in canal water waiting to be rescued.
Samberg employs his Nic Cage impersonation for Rip Digman's voice which can wear a bit thin. Samberg's "Inside the Cage" segments on Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" were always very funny but Samberg as Cage for three minutes is more tolerable than 20 minutes of Samberg as Cage. With luck, Samberg will learn to modulate his Nic Cage performance to something more endurable.
I'm sampling episodes of Digman! as I run into them on Comedy Central. It's not a great series but it's better than bad and it elicits some genuine laughs from me.
Next up is a show that is not new but Andrea and I only recently discovered it thanks to our daughter Randie. Launched in 2019, Game Changer is a game show where players....
Well, we don't know what they do.
And they don't know what they're gonna do.
Each episode has a different premise and isn't explained to the players at all. The only way to learn the game is to play the game. One episode was just making noises based on words that popped up on a screen. Another episode the players had to guess if certain prizes were available back stage, keeping in mind if certain things have actually been invented or are the prizes within the show's very slim budget. Another episode is a murder mystery; is the killer one of the production staff or one of the players? It's a silly concept. Some episodes kind of fall flat but others are uproariously funny. Game Changer is available on the streaming service Dropout.
Cunk on Earth is a British mockumentary television series on Netflix starring Diane Morgan as Philomena Cunk, a staggeringly stupid investigative reporter who travels around the world. Cunks sits down for interviews actual real life experts about history, religion and art, experts who seem ill prepared for the astonishingly ill-informed person before them.
Cunk pronounces the word "Bible" as "bibble".
Philomena Cunk delivers her clueless observations with a deadpan tone. And sometimes Cunk can be wickedly if unintentionally incisive.
Like "America was called the land of the free which must have been quite a shock for the slaves who lived there."
Each episode manages to insert a few minutes of Technotronic’s hit “Pump Up the Jam" for... reasons.
Cunk on Earth is quite a collection of absurdist humor. And if nothing else, it's just fun to say the name "Philomena Cunk,
Next week's Touchbase looks back at the season finale of Quantum Leap which Andrea and I saw a few weeks back.
After that, I'll post about the series finale of Star Trek Picard. And soon, Andrea and I will have finished Lucifer and I'll have some thoughts about that.
Also the first episodes of the final season of Marvelous Mrs, Maisel will be dropping this week so I imagine I will have something to say about that.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.
No comments:
Post a Comment