Ted Lasso (2020-23)

Between CODA and Ted Lasso, Apple TV+ took over Hollywood. Ted Lasso became a reason to get Apple, at a time of death and destruction in COVID, people actively sought out the positive feel-good show about being kind and belonging amidst a sport Americans couldn't care less about. That's actually its other success--Ted Lasso has made soccer fans out of Americans who knew as little as Coach Lasso when he first arrived at Richmond. I suppose the other reason people flocked to Ted Lasso is because people were really invested at the time in Jason Sudeikis's divorce from Olivia Wilde. Ted Lasso has also made stars of its cast that was virtually unknown in the US, Hannah Waddingham and Bret Goldstein now in high demand. Amazingly, Goldstein was originally hired as a writer on the show and lucked his way into the role. 

Season 1 is really strong and funny. Season 2 takes the show in an entirely different direction. It does a decent job at pivoting from the relentless optimism to the depression hidden underneath the facade. It's a bit of a downer but it's an important message to normalize therapy and show an admirable non-toxic masculine figure. It is quite bold though to go against precisely what made the show so popular in Season 1. Season 3 I thought was just OK.  My biggest problem with the series is its treatment of Nate, played by Nick Mohammed. He is the only Asian character, and is portrayed stereotypically timid. He is the hidden genius who can't ask out the hostess at his favorite restaurant. But what you see in those restaurant scenes has nothing to do with sweet Nate's characterization because you're so distracted by the hostess's blatant racism. She refuses to seat Nate and his family at the table in the window. It has nothing to do with him being timid and everything to do with blatant prejudice. And yet he still wants her! Despite the disdain with which she treats him. And eventually he gets her. He also has this story arc where he becomes evil. Or maybe was always evil deep down. Either way, I didn't like making the only Asian character evil.The show otherwise does well to recognize homophobia and racism towards Black characters.

Romeo and Juliet (American Ballet Theater)

As far as story ballets go, the story can't be too complicated otherwise the plot has to be very well known. Dance just can't convey complex plot clearly. Fortunately, Romeo and Juliet is well known. I was able to follow this a lot better than Like Water For Chocolate. It runs nearly three hours, and I recognized only the five minutes of Prokofiev's Montagues and Capulets. That's one of the best sequences of the ballet. There were probably 40 dancers up on stage. I think that's the most impressive thing...synchronization. Kind of odd to me though is that the corp doesn't get to bow. The leads get their applause at the end. You would think that the company would get to come out together and bow like in a play, but they did not. Personally, I don't like that. They should all get their moment of recognition. Special shoutout to Mercutio.

Hamlet (The Public Theater) (2023)

In 2019, Kenny Leon staged a brilliant production of Much Ado About Nothing in the park. This year, he returns to the Delacorte (for one final season before it closes for 18 months of renovations) with Hamlet. Though the plays have nothing to do with each other, he stages it in the same affluent black suburb of alternate Atlanta, one in which Stacey Abrams ran for president in 2020. But this time, the Abrams banner is broken, the palatial estate is crooked, the American flag is at an angle, the car in a puddle, and at center stage a casket draped in an American flag. The set and costumes are fabulous. The Queen Gertrude is dressed in African regalia.  Like in "Much Ado", the cast is predominantly black and they infuse the play with hip-hop and gospel music. 

Ato Blankson-Wood is very good as the eponymous Hamlet. His "To Be or Not To Be" was breathtaking. I don't feel like he really got across though that he was faking insanity. The production definitely suggests that he's actually gone mad following the murder of his father. The father's ghost appears as an ominous voice who possesses Hamlet, and there are some spooky lights. In this way, Hamlet is portrayed as more of an anti-hero. But I remembered Hamlet being more justified in his anger. 

Shakespeare's longest play, Hamlet usually runs more than 4 hours but this production is an abbreviated 2 hours 45 minutes. There are subplots removed which has the effect of accelerating the main plot. It makes the pacing kind of weird. And by the time everyone dies at the end, it feels sort of unearned. In conclusion, not as good as Much Ado About Nothing, but maybe I also am just not a big fan of the tragedies.

Like Water for Chocolate (American Ballet Theater) (2023)

Christopher Wheeldon's adaptation of the classic Mexican novel runs three acts, nearly three hours. My main qualm is the medium. I'm all for dance, but it's not really an effective way of communicating plot. And it's very plot heavy for interpretive dance. You need to read the synopsis in the program to really appreciate it. And yet I felt like there were too many scenes that didn't have enough dance.  What you'd call 'book scenes' in a musical, they convey plot without songs; well here they "convey plot" without dance which is to say nothing. I've mostly in the past seen just vignettes, independent scenes, not really a whole plot ballet. Even The Nutcracker is lighter on plot, and full of irrelevant Arabian/Chinese/etc dances. The dance scenes are fabulous though. Act II features the most dance. The music by Joby Talbot is beautifully cinematic. It sounds like a movie score--I thought it might have actually been from the movie adaptation. But it's original for the ballet. The final pas de deux features a soprano solo too, the first spoken words of the whole ballet, just at the very end. I also loved the instrumentation with the guitar solo. The show has the sound and look of Mexico. The production is beautiful. The final image of the lovers set aflame in the air is breathtaking.

Dark (2017-20)

The first season of the German-language series Dark was unlike anything else on TV. It was high-concept sci-fi show, a time travel drama.  And in the beginning it was manageable to follow.  I quite liked season 1--I actually watched 8 episodes straight to catch up to Philip and Nancy and David in a lazy day. But come season 2 and 3, when they started to introduce alternate worlds, it was nearly impossible to comprehend. And we watched it a lot more slowly, so we forgot things. Not to mention the huge cast of actors playing the characters at several ages that were easy to forget. I've never known a show so complicated to require a dynamic family tree, courtesy of Netflix. And there were many details that were found on the tree that I never quite caught in the show.Whoever was writing this show had an incredible grasp on the characters, recurring themes, objects, places, times and all that to keep it straight. Every episode ended on a crazy cliff hanger. The show legitimately made me go WTF constantly. They do know how to keep you hooked even when you can't make sense of it. After much reading, I think the ending is pretty satisfying but I wouldn't have got it all on my own.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017-23)

At the best of times, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel was the funniest show on TV.  I think Amy Sherman-Palladino was well aware of the criticism often levied against it by the New York Jewish viewers. It leaned heavily into Jewish stereotypes, and as the show progressed, it got more and more extreme. She said yes and doubled the ante. The parents were especially overbearing. But they were such genuine characters. And they were hilarious. It's a supremely winning cast.

The final season takes a daring narrative turn. We see several flash forwards, showing us where the characters end up. The rest of the season fills in the gaps to show us how they got there. Similar to Insecure, we see how a tight friendship dissolves. The ending has 3 endings: a televised set, a flashback to a restaurant scene with Luke Kirby, and a flash forward to Midge and Susie. The last one was sweet but I think I could've done without it. It might've been more poignant to end on Wo Hop. Luke Kirby tenderly played Lenny Bruce, a real life legendary comedian. There is a beautiful scene in which he performs All Alone on the Steve Allen show, word for word, beat for beat. It's funny and sad and poignant and perfect. I know Midge and Susie's relationship is the heart of the show, but Lenny is the real history behind the show. It gives the show some more heft above a standard comedy.

The look of the show was gorgeous. The costumes and set design transport you to the glamour of the 60s. It filled that Mad Men sized hole on television. The music drops too were very well done. I think the best arc on the series was when they went to the Catskills, aka the Borscht Belt. Takes you back to Nevele.

Succession (2018-23)

For quite a long stretch of time during the golden age of TV, Succession was the best show on air.  From the beginning, it spoke to our nightmare times. The Roy family was most closely modeled on the Murdochs but there is something undoubtedly Trumpian about it all, isn't there? It's so painfully realistic, it's terrifying at times. Succession was the perfect balance of comedy and (Shakespearean) tragedy. And it wasn't just clever writing. It was the comedic performances and the hilarious cameraman controlling the zoom lens. There are so many iconic moments that have entered the culture. I'm talking "L to the OG", boar on the floor, two safe rooms, crack some greggs to make a Tomelette, etc. Really any scene with Cousin Greg. 

The final season was announced ahead of the season premiere. Succession ran a tight four seasons, left us wanting more, rather than overstaying its welcome. There was a clear series arc that the showrunner Jesse Armstrong had clearly thought out.  And it took a bold swing in Season 4 Episode 3 that paid dividends. The final 3 episodes were excellent. I feel like they really stuck the landing. The final season leans more tragedy ("You are not serious people") than comedy, but it has its moments, like "it's not that lemony" and Connor arguing with Roman about ambassadorships. 

And how about that opening song by Nicholas Britell!