The Eddy (2020)

I feel like I was a little deceived. I thought that Damien Chazelle was doing the whole series but it turns out that he only directed the first two episodes. But the marketing worked; his name drew me to this Parisian jazz drama. I didn't actually care much for the drama. But I love the jazz. I wish there was more music and less plot because the plot is messy. The characters' motivations are often fuzzy. They make irrational choices and most of them are pretty annoying. It was ultimately worth watching for the music and the great jazz memorial scene.

Mrs. America (2020)

The miniseries from FX on Hulu is quite good on the whole though some episodes in the middle are not as interesting. I think especially powerful is the Shirley Chisholm episode, helmed by an excellent Uzo Aduba. The episode speaks to the power of representation, even symbolic. Chisholm is the first woman and first African-American to make a run for president. And even if she never really stood a chance, seeing her on the stage was incredibly important. The Bella Abzug episode is also very good, helmed by Margo Martindale who tends to play politician-types, always very well; her costumes and accent and gestures are really great. What makes her episode especially powerful is the argument it makes about radical change. Ideas that may sound radical, over time, can and do move into the mainstream. The moment she realizes this while visiting Betty Friedan, known for her own brand of radicalism. Feminism, which once seen as radical, in her own lifetime, moved into the mainstream, and today (at least in the Obama era) are self-evident ideals, that a woman deserves equal pay as a man, for instance.  And then I also thought the Houston episode was very good, which takes place at the 1977 National Women's Conference. The STOP ERA women are at the Convention without their leader, and left on her own, Sarah Paulson's character in her drunkenness starts to see the light. The episode is a trip like something out of The Good Fight.

In a terrific ensemble cast, Cate Blanchett is the crown jewel as the awful Phyllis Schlafly. Even playing such a hypocritical brainwashed witch, Blanchett is typically excellent. I remember learning about Schlafly in school specifically as part of the anti-ERA movement but not as the mother of modern Republicanism. I think the series may give her a little too much credit for birthing Reaganism. Her valuable mailing list becomes the base of the modern Republican party. The irony is Reagan doesn't offer her a place in his administration, supposedly because he is already unpopular enough with female voters. However the line from Schlafly to Trumpism is much darker.

Forever (2018)

This one-off series from the co-showrunner of Master of None is a fantastic gem of a show. Over its short 8 episode arc, it morphs itself incessantly, bringing pleasant surprises every episode. My lone criticism is they could have worked on the world building a little bit more. Riverside is actually relatively fleshed out (save for the inexplicable mold) but Oceanside asks more questions than it provides answers. This does not detract from the funny script, and characteristically funny Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen, who plays essentially himself in Portlandia.

There are two noteworthy scenes/episodes of pure beauty that alone make the series worthwhile. The first is the opening of episode 1, a wordless montage, rhyming scenes from a marriage as the carousel of life passes by while Miles Davis's plays wistful trumpet in the background. The other is episode 6, a bottle episode, featuring two new characters, a bold move for a short series. The episode spans a full lifetime in just 35 minutes, fleshing out the overarching themes of the series with a new couple. Hong Chau and Jason Mitchell are both excellent in that episode. Their dialogue on realty, experience, race, and life is natural, funny, and touching, watching them fall in love at the wrong time, unfortunately it's never the right time. We watch them yearn and deny themselves the happiness that is within reach, a la Wong Kar Wai. It's a perfect episode that spurs June to take action in her life so that her "life" does not meet the same end.

Billy on the Street (2011-17)

I am not embarrassed to say that Billy on the Street is the greatest thing to ever air on TV. I'm only sorry to say that I never ran into Billy on the street, or I would even have been elated to come across Elena. I would have loved to have him yell at me for a dollar or to get quizzed in the face or to be seriously asked a rhetorical question in disgust. Billy Eichner, a Stuyvesant alum, has a unique brand of man-on-the-street comedy that is admittedly not for everyone, but I am firmly in that niche of pop culture elitists crossed with New Yorkers that don't give a shit about anything. The format is so simple yet so effective. Billy is endlessly quotable and this gem of a show makes me laugh uncontrollably. There is a Billy clip for everything. So I went back and watched seasons 2-5 on Netflix and season 1 on TruTV. Now his only new content is infrequent and digital only. Bring on more content!

Chernobyl (2019)

The HBO miniseries was remarkably prescient. In 2019, it was a warning, of the inevitable dangers that were waiting around the corner for a society built on lies and more lies. Craig Mazin and Johan Renck could not have predicted the arrival of the Coronavirus, arguably the worst global disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. "Why worry about something that isn't going to happen?" Especially when we know it is bound to happen...In 2020, the warning goes unheeded. As those in power continue to lie to each other and to the public and to themselves, the pandemic worsens. And they devalue expertise. Is Anthony Fauci our Legasov? The coal miner refusing to wear the mask is scarily accurate.

The first three episodes are frustratingly excellent, while the final two episodes are admittedly a little slow, though make science quite interesting.  The depiction of the Soviet Union in all its flaws, and styles, and bleakness is striking. I found a line in episode 4 to hit particularly close to home: "What you are proposing is that Legasov humiliate a nation that is obsessed with not being humiliated?" Donald Trump and Xi Jinping have this in common with the Soviet Union, caring only about appearances but being completely deluded as to how they are actually perceived. They are societies  that don't care about their people, ready to cut corners and silence the truth at the cost of lives. Comparisons to the Soviet Union are not complimentary.

Quick aside, I don't think Chernobyl should have won all the Emmys over When They See Us. Both express exasperated frustration in their early episodes, but Ava Duvernay's series evolves into an emotional journey that takes it to another level.