14
Jan

The Best TV Performances of 2021

Best Actor in a Comedy Series
Glenn Howerton, A.P. Bio
Jack is basically Howerton’s Dennis from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but without the sexual deviance. He’s still an awful person, but a year-plus in his hometown of Toledo, Ohio, has made him kinder and gentler, but still with a knack for petty revenge schemes. In the show’s final season, his cynicism wears out his welcome with Lynnette as he realizes he still needs a lot more growth. But he just can’t help himself in out-psyching a potential new partner in the hilarious How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days riff “The Perfect Date from Hell.”

Best Actress in a Comedy Series
Jean Smart, Hacks
All hail Jean Smart, who joins Ted Danson as the greatest TV actors of all time. While she was terrific in Mare of Easttown, she’s even better here as the obscenely wealthy (she has a soda fountain in her kitchen!) and complacent comedian Deborah Vance. Desperate for love and attention, but savvier than she lets on, it’s a flawless performance. And newcomer Hannah Einbinder brings out the best in her.

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Cole Escola, Search Party
It takes a really compelling actor to create a villain this complex and still have you feel nothing but utter hatred for his character. But Escola does just that as the “evil twink” who kidnaps Dory, imprisoning her in a felt replica of her own apartment. He may be right that her friends circle was toxic, but he can’t make her see that she was the problem. He’s even more delusional than she is in thinking they can go from kidnapper/kidnapped to BFFs. But it was hilarious to watch him try, especially when he’s playing dress up in his aunt’s clothes.

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Tracey Ullman, Curb Your Enthusiasm
With apologies to the always wonderful Amy Ryan on Only Murders in the Building, no woman made me laugh harder this year than Ullman. As a late-season addition to the show, she served as a perfect foil for Larry. He dates her solely to try to get her to change a law he doesn’t like, but finds she’s more than just unpleasant: she’s a major disruptor to his whole routine. She butts heads with Leon and is perpetually horny, creating some priceless facial reactions from Larry. I could have watched her, Larry David and J.B. Smoove riff for hours.

Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series
Reservation Dogs
It’s not a surprise that veteran actors like Gary Farmer, Wes Studi and Zach McClarnon are terrific, getting to flex their comedy muscles. But the main quartet were basically all unknown, and they imbued each member with deep sadness – that manifests itself in different ways – and solid identities, even though their lives are constantly in flux. Like the show itself, a real miracle.

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13
Jan

The Best Comedy Shows and Specials of 2021

Unsurprisingly, with the world upside down for another year, there weren’t a lot of stand-up comedy specials released in 2021 (though it did pick up in December). As such, I’m expanding this category a little bit to include some of my other favorite things that made me laugh.

Bo Burnham: Inside (Netflix)
Easily the special of the year, but to call it a “revelation” would be both missing the point and revealing a lack of familiarity with Burnham’s past work. His catchy songs/emotional breakdowns are nothing new. It’s just catchier and better directed than ever. Is this heaven or a white woman’s Instagram? Neither. Just a brilliant comic mind doing what he does best.

How To with John Wilson (HBO)
The second season of this delightful series doesn’t change up the formula, but finds new depths anyways. While trying to find a way to recycle his batteries in the most environmentally friendly way, he learns of the dangers sanitation workers face daily and of how municipalities treat people they view as garbage. He also tries to find contentment while trying to find a parking spot. But most fascinatingly, he reveals his connection to a dangerous cult that tried to recruit him while he was in college.

I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (Netflix)
Somehow even more hilarious and meme-ready than its first season, Tim Robinson’s insane sketch comedy found time for disgusting meals, suicidal prank show hosts and even a bit of sweetness thanks to guest star Paul Walter Hauser.

Nate Bargatze: The Greatest Average American (Netflix)
Filmed at an outdoor venue with strict COVID protocols (and an annoying number of fly-bys from helicopters), Bargatze kicked off 2021 with a solid, clean hour that felt like a great conversation with an old friend, instead of a tightly polished performance. It was just what I needed.

The Super Bob Einstein Movie (HBO)
Bob Einstein tragically passed away in 2019, and he finally got a proper send-off from his friends and family. Really, you don’t need much more than warm remembrances and great clips from his appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Super Dave.

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12
Jan

The List: Top 10 ‘King of the Hill’ Episodes

The best show about life in Texas premiered 25 years ago this week. In fact, Mike Judge’s King of the Hill has aged so well that I’d basically put this as my 1b show, next to The Simpsons as 1a. Consistently sharp in its satire with a killer jokes-per-minute ratio, it also features arguably the greatest TV character of all time in Bobby Hill. This list was tough to make, given how many tremendous episodes this show produced over its 13 seasons, but here are my 10 favorites.

10. “To Sirloin with Love” (Season 13, Episode 20)
Fox didn’t treat one of its crown jewels as well as it should have in its final season. Eighteen episodes aired on a somewhat normal schedule, then this series finale aired months later alongside another Bobby-centric episode (“The Boy Can’t Help It”). Then, four unaired episodes premiered in syndication in an entirely different decade (OK, just seven months later). Despite no major events, this was the absolute perfect series finale. Hank and Bobby grow closer than ever after the latter joins the local community college’s meat grading team, identifying optimal cuts of beef. Bobby had had plenty of hobbies in the past that Hank enjoyed too, but this was the one closest to his heart.

9. “Keeping Up with Our Joneses” (Season 1, Episode 10)
Like The Simpsons, the early seasons of King of the Hill featured a limited budget and crude animation, but had extremely thoughtful and sweet episodes. When Bobby’s caught smoking, Hank tries the tough-love approach of making him smoke until he’s sick. Unfortunately, it gets Bobby hooked and activates Hank and Peggy’s desire for nicotine. Before you know it, all three are fighting for a puff. Even early on, the show mined humor from letting the Hill parents spiral when they pride themselves on being put together. Luanne also gets a chance to shine, finding a creative way for her relatives to ward off their addictions.

8. “Reborn to Be Wild” (Season 8, Episode 2)
A personal favorite. Hank gets excited when Bobby takes an interest in church and youth group, but recoils he discovers when the pastor has long hair and tattoos, shredding at the skate park and on stage. This is an episode where Hank is both wrong and right. He’s wrong to claim this version of Christianity is any less authentic than the buttoned-up version he practices, but he’s right when he shares a tender moment with Bobby in the garage, explaining that he doesn’t want faith to be just another fad for his son. (This episode also features an absolutely perfect joke: a Christian ska band called the A-Men.)

7. “Hank and the Great Glass Elevator” (Season 5, Episode 11)
The show had plenty of great guest stars, from one-offs (Brad Pitt as Boomhauer’s awful brother) to long-running additions (Tom Petty as Luanne’s husband Lucky). But for me, it’s no contest who the best was. The late great Governor Ann Richards played herself, the victim of Hank’s ill-timed mooning. Bill takes the fall (“I don’t have as far to drop,” he explains) and the two strike up a warm relationship that catches the attention of his horrid ex-wife Lenore (guest star Ellen Barkin). As in life, Richards is funny and relatable, but takes no bullshit. It would have been great if she had stuck around.

6. “Hank’s Dirty Laundry” (Season 2, Episode 17)
This episode is really the essence of Hank. When he’s accused of late fees for failing to return an adult video he didn’t rent, he stages a boycott of Arlen Video, and even does research by watching a porn marathon (with tapes provided by an anonymous friend). Most people would just pay the fine and go about their day. But only Hank would turn it into a weeks-long ordeal simply to prove he was right.

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11
Jan

The Best TV Shows of 2021 – Honorable Mentions

Animaniacs
When I saw the season premiere was rated TV-14, I figured it had to be a mistake. But then they got away with a “grab ’em by the pussy” joke, and I realized it was intentional. This second season pretty much ditched any semblance of being for kids and was all the better for it. What other show would parody Run Lola Run or Marina Abramović?

Birdgirl – “Sharebear”
This spin-off of my beloved Harvey Birdman never quite hit the highs of that Hanna-Barbera riff. But this second episode came closest, as Sebben & Sebben’s new product – a cross between Teddy Ruxpin and Alexa – wreaks havoc on the world by exposing its owners’ darkest secrets. A privacy nightmare was never so funny.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine – “The Last Day”
When the show took a year off to retool to grapple with COVID and a new wave of protests against police brutality, it came back with arguably its worst episode to date. And any time an episode tried to be honest about policing, the show came to a screeching halt. But there were still plenty of funny moments and a finale that would have been perfect even without its attempts at relevance. The last heist was perfectly low stakes, even if there were some high stakes for individual characters.

Curb Your Enthusiasm – “The Mormon Advantage”
It’s easy to take Curb for granted. The last three seasons have been consistently funny, even if the seasons themselves have been inconsistent. Larry David constantly includes jokes and premises only he could get away with, and frequently delivers brilliant guest stars. Everything came together in this finale, which sees Larry stealing shoes from an exhibit at a Holocaust museum and having a showdown with Lt. Col Alexander Vindman, who repeats his own history by exposing a “quid pro quo” call between Larry and an elected official.

The Handmaid’s Tale – “The Wilderness”
I’m not gonna lie. This season was rough. June finally made it Canada but made a lot of stupid, frustrating decisions again. But at least the finale was in league with the show’s finest hours. After learning Fred will be granted immunity and allowed to live in Geneva, June strikes an off-books deal which frees some women of Gilead and leaves Fred to the ex-Handmaids, who have their bloody revenge in the woods.

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10
Jan

The Best TV Shows of 2021

I think I can be forgiven for avoiding tough dramas this year, which already had enough misery. Even the hour-long series I did watch had plenty of humor. What can I say? The year started with an attempted insurrection, but eventually got brighter. Still, with a resurgence of COVID, it’s not surprising that all I wanted to do was laugh.

10. A.P. Bio (Peacock)
With the announcement that it’s finally been canceled (for real this time), I decided to give this final season the edge over the latest seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Search Party. With one of the best ensembles on TV, the show gave each of their main cast members a chance to show off their unique talents, including a bottle episode where the students try their hand at erotica. But the secret weapon of this show has always been its enormous heart, and it was hard not to get choked up when Jack is let down once again by his deadbeat dad (guest star Bruce Campbell).
Standout episodes: “Tornado!,” “Tons of Rue,” “Love, for Lack of a Better Term”

9. The Great (Hulu)
While this season occasionally felt a bit repetitive as Catherine and Peter scheme and delay their attempts at power, no show was better at both satire and crude jokes. (It also featured the most sexually liberated characters on TV.) A late season arrival by Gillian Anderson as Catherine’s bitchy mother pushed it to another level.
Standout episodes: “Dickhead,” “A Simple Jape,” “Five Days”

8. Ted Lasso (AppleTV+)
Despite what you may have heard, this season was good, actually. I may not be fully on-board with Nate’s heel turn, but it’s not a mistake to complicate characters who seemed to move in only one direction. If you wanted all the warm fuzzies, the show provided a new classic Christmas episode. But it also delivered an extremely twisted relationship reveal early in the season and delivered a splendid homage to Martin Scorsese’s After Hours. That a show could do all this, and focus on the main character’s messy mental health journey, and still include all those dad jokes proves it still has a winning formula.
Standout episodes: “Lavender,” “Carol of the Bells,” “Beard After Hours”

7. Hacks (HBO Max)
My favorite binge of the year. What could have easily been 10 episodes of Boomer-vs.-Millennial fish-in-a-barrel jokes instead proved to be far more interesting for both Deborah (the great Jean Smart) and Ava (astonishing newcomer Hannah Einbinder). Both were richly drawn, and often wrong (and often unwilling to correct themselves). But both grew as comedians and people by season’s end. But the show also found time to give itself over to its equally compelling side characters, including Deborah’s manager Marcus (Carl Clemons-Hopkins) and daughter DJ (Kaitlin Olson).
Standout episodes: “D’Jewelry,” “Falling,” “I Think She Will”

6. What We Do in the Shadows (FX)
Part of me wonders if this was intended to be the last season, and a late renewal forced a rewrite of its odd finale. We’ll probably never know, but this was still a riotously funny season. There wasn’t a funnier half-hour of television than “The Casino,” which ditched the normal opening credits for depressing B-roll of Atlantic City and only got funnier from there. “Bazinga is the war cry of Sheldon,” a newly Big Bang Theory-obsessed Nandor states. Nandor actually became the focus of the season, stuck in a malaise after another failed relationship. Whether he was dancing in spandex or pretending to be hibernating while other vampires fondled him, Kayvan Novak never gave less than his all.
Standout episodes: “The Casino,” “The Wellness Center,” “A Farewell”

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9
Jan

TV Recap: Jan. 2-8, 2022

Decided to change up my brief TV reviews for this year. Instead of grading every single episode of TV week-to-week, I’m hoping to go a bit longer on shows at their premieres and finales, digging in a little deeper than a sentence or two (time permitting). Hope you appreciate the difference.

NEW SHOWS
Abbott Elementary – Pilot episode (A-) / series premiere
“Light Bulb” (A)
The best network sitcom since Happy Endings, this clever project from Quinta Brunson still has a couple characters to develop (her white liberal work husband for one), but it’s already smart, thoughtful and hilarious.

BINGEING
The X-Files – Season 10 (B- average)
A solid return until an absolutely baffling finale. In fact, it’s so bad it calls into question the entire project. But we’ll always have “Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster” and Mulder tripping balls at a honky-tonk in Texas.

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8
Jan

Oscar Picks: January 2022

BEST PICTURE
Being the Ricardos
Belfast
CODA
Don’t Look Up
Drive My Car
Dune
Licorice Pizza
The Lost Daughter
The Power of the Dog
West Side Story

Falling off: House of Gucci, Nightmare Alley, The Tragedy of Macbeth
Rising star: Spider-Man: No Way Home

The skinny: Three stylish films from master directors look to be shoved aside in favor of more streaming films, which is not exactly an exciting proposition. But it also means Drive My Car, one of the year’s truly great films, has also found room. I suppose that’s a fair trade. But I’m not encouraged by the full-court press to get Spider-Man: No Way Home, the year’s one true blockbuster, to sneak into the Best Picture race. To quote Don Draper, “That’s what the money is for!”

BEST DIRECTOR
Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car
Denis Villeneuve, Dune
Paul Thomas Anderson, Licorice Pizza
Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Steven Spielberg, West Side Story

Falling off: Guillermo del Toro, Joel Coen
Rising star: Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter

The skinny: It would be very hard to quibble with this line-up, especially since it doesn’t include Adam McKay. But Netflix’s other late awards push could see it overtake the film in its total nominations. Gyllenhaal is basically a lock to win the Directors Guild’s Best First-Time Feature Film award, but it’s hard to know who she would edge out.

BEST ACTOR
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog
Peter Dinklage, Cyrano
Andrew Garfield, Tick Tick Boom
Will Smith, King Richard
Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth

Falling off: None
Rising star: Clifton Collins Jr, Jockey

The skinny: I wouldn’t call this a weak year for the category, but there isn’t a single late-breaking gentleman that seems like he could find his way in here. Jockey has gotten some strong reviews, but once again Sony Pictures Classics is in charge. That didn’t matter when there was a movie as big as The Father, but this might just be too small for a respected character actor to find himself in the big race.

BEST ACTRESS
Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
Lady Gaga, House of Gucci
Alana Haim, Licorice Pizza
Nicole Kidman, Being the Ricardos
Kristen Stewart, Spencer

Falling off: Frances McDormand
Rising star: Penélope Cruz, Parallel Mothers

The skinny: Frances McDormand as Lady Macbeth would seem like a slam dunk. But The Tragedy of Macbeth having almost no traction pushes her aside, even though she’s clearly among the best performers. So Alana Haim has a grand coronation, richly deserved. And while there are no foreign-language performances here (a real shame, considering how many great ones there are), Penélope Cruz is right on the precipice.

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3
Jan

What I Watched This Week: 26 Dec 2021

NEW SHOWS
Curb Your Enthusiasm – “The Mormon Advantage” (A) / season finale
Everything comes together in a marvelous finale that weaves together all this season’s plot threads, while somehow introducing Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman to the proceedings in a hilarious way. But the show also has perhaps its riskiest bit of comedy to date, with Larry stealing shoes from an exhibit at a Holocaust museum. Only he could get away with that.

How To with John Wilson – “How to Be Spontaneous” (B+) / season finale
This season ends on perhaps its weakest episode to date. But that just speaks to how wonderful this show is that it doesn’t really feel all that disappointing.

CURRENT SHOWS
How To with John Wilson – “How to Remember Your Dreams” (A-)
Another delightful journey, though it doesn’t take as many surreal detours as you might think.

BINGEING
The Great – Season 2 (A- average)
Though at times it felt a little repetitive, the show continued to be as funny as ever, while adding deeper levels of emotional complexity to all its characters, even Peter.

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1
Jan

Streaming Picks: January 2022

For the new year, I decided to change up my format a bit. Instead of just cataloguing all the new arrivals on all the streaming services, I’m tailoring this to focus on things I’ve seen – or in the case of new seasons of TV, shows I’ve enjoyed in the past – that I can wholeheartedly recommend. This will likely mean a lot more movies and a lot fewer TV shows, but that will match my own goals for 2022.

FILMS
Top Pick
Phantom Thread – Netflix 1/16
Paul Thomas Anderson’s fucked-up relationship drama is his most romantic movie and his most lush. Daniel Day-Lewis went out on a high note, and he’s equally matched by Vicky Krieps and Lesley Manville. The Oscar-winning costume design is among the best of the decade.

Other Recommendations
10 Cloverfield Lane – Paramount+ 1/1
127 Hours – Prime 1/1
The Bear – Peacock 1/1
Big Fish – Netflix 1/1
Bowfinger – Peacock 1/1
Braveheart – Netflix 1/1
Capote – HBO Max 1/1
Chicken Run – Peacock 1/1
Cop Land – HBO Max 1/1
Crazy Heart – Prime 1/1
Dawn of the Dead (2004) – Peacock 1/1
The Descendants – Prime 1/1
The Descent – Peacock 1/1
Devil in a Blue Dress – Paramount+ 1/1
Die Hard – Peacock 1/1
Die Hard 2 – Peacock 1/1
Don’t Think Twice – Peacock 1/1
Escape Plan – Peacock 1/1
Eve’s Bayou – Prime 1/1
The Eyes of Tammy Faye – HBO Max 1/1
Fast & Furious 6 – HBO Max 1/1
Fast Times at Ridgemont High – Peacock 1/1
Fatal Attraction – HBO Max 1/1
Footloose (1984) – Paramount+ 1/1
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) – Netflix 1/1
Gone Baby Gone – HBO Max 1/1
Good Will Hunting – Peacock 1/1
Gremlins – Netflix 1/1
Hell or High Water – Netflix 1/1
Hellboy II: The Golden Army – Peacock 1/1
Hobo with a Shotgun – HBO Max 1/1
I Love You, Man – Netflix 1/1
The Intouchables – Prime 1/1
Josie and the Pussycats – Peacock 1/1
The Karate Kid (1984) – Peacock 1/1
Kick-Ass – Prime 1/1
The Last Five Years – HBO Max 1/1
The Last of the Mohicans – Paramount+ 1/1
The Little Stranger – Peacock 1/1
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World – Paramount+ 1/1
The Matrix Reloaded – Peacock 1/1
The Matrix Revolutions – Peacock 1/1
Memento – HBO Max 1/1
Midnight in Paris – Netflix 1/1
Mission: Impossible – Prime 1/1
Mission: Impossible II – Prime 1/1
Mission: Impossible III – Prime 1/1
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol – Prime 1/1
Moulin Rouge! – Paramount+ 1/1
Mystery Team – Prime 1/1
Napoleon Dynamite – Prime 1/1
The NeverEnding Story – Netflix 1/1
The Nutty Professor (1996) – Peacock 1/1
Once – Prime 1/1
Panic Room – Paramount+ 1/1
The Patriot – Netflix 1/1
Planes, Trains and Automobiles – Paramount+ 1/1
Predator – Prime 1/1
The Prestige – Prime 1/1
The Prince of Egypt – Peacock 1/1
Public Enemies – Peacock 1/1
Ray – Peacock 1/1
The Replacements – Peacock 1/1
Salt – Peacock 1/1
Saving Private Ryan – Prime 1/1
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – Peacock 1/1
Scream – Peacock 1/1
Scream 2 – Peacock 1/1
Seabiscuit – Peacock 1/1
Selena – Peacock 1/1
Selma – Peacock 1/1
Shrek – Peacock 1/1
Shrek 2 – Peacock 1/1
Something’s Gotta Give – Prime 1/1
Super Troopers – Prime 1/1
Taxi Driver – Netflix 1/1
Terminator 2: Judgment Day – Netflix 1/1
The Town – Netflix 1/1
True Grit (2010) – Netflix 1/1
Uncle Buck – Peacock 1/1
Unstoppable – Peacock 1/1
The Village – Prime 1/1
The Wedding Singer – Netflix 1/1
What About Bob? – Paramount+ 1/1
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape – Paramount+ 1/1
Winter’s Bone – Peacock 1/1
X-Men: First Class – Disney+ 1/1
The Cabin in the Woods – Peacock 1/3
The Sandlot – Disney+ 1/7
Malignant – HBO Max 1/27

NEW SHOWS
Top Pick
Search Party (Season 5) – HBO Max 1/7
The show has gone in a different direction every season, but somehow managed to be thematically consistent, focusing on the destructive narcissism of Dory (Alia Shawkat). This new season introduces Jeff Goldblum, who harnesses that mental disorder into a powerful new cult (no, seriously).

Other Recommendations
Ozark (Season 4, Part 1) – Netflix 1/21

OLD SHOWS & SPECIALS
Top Pick
ER (Complete Series) – HBO Max 1/14
While it was a much bigger deal when it hit Hulu a couple years ago (because it had never streamed before), the show now resides on the service of its parent company, where you can make it feel like Must See TV again by pairing it with Friends.

Other Recommendations
Patrice O’Neal: Killing Is Easy – Paramount+ 1/19

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27
Dec

What I Watched This Week: 19 Dec 2021

NEW SHOWS
Curb Your Enthusiasm – “Igor, Gregor & Timor” (B+)
Bill Hader shows up for some Russian-flavored shenanigans as we churn towards the finale. In a word, “shplendid.”

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
“Dee Sings in a Bog” (B+)
“The Gang Carries a Corpse up a Mountain” (A) / season finale
A surprisingly emotional end to an inconsistent but often very funny season.

BINGEING
Seinfeld – Season 3 (A- average)
The show absolutely knows what it is, and continues to perfect its rhythm. It’s hard to beat “The Boyfriend” or the 1-2-3 of “The Library,” “The Parking Garage” and “The Café.”

The X-Files – Season 9 (B- average)
What a dusty fart of an ending to a show that started show strongly. A few decent episodes can’t make up for a show that had no idea how to keep going after the loss of David Duchovny.

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