Nathan for You (2013-17)

After watching The Rehearsal, I felt compelled to go back and see where the madness came from.  Indeed there are a couple of episodes that presage what will become The Rehearsal, specifically Smokers Allowed and Finding Frances.  What really makes the show work is the huge budget Nathan Fielder gets to work with and the oddball cast of characters he finds (the Bill Gates impersonator makes several appearances, including his own feature-length film). He always takes it just a step too far given all the money to do whatever he wants, and the results are absurd hilarity. I believe that this isn't scripted, and he takes it wherever it will go. He just manages to always get it to go in the wildest place possible. I would say highlights for me: Haunted House, Gas Station, Smokers Allowed, and Souvenir Shop.

Death of a Salesman (Broadway) (2022)

I made it through high school without having read Arthur Miller's classic American Dream tragedy. I've never known another Willy Loman. And much like Marianne Elliott's revival of Company, she (along with Miranda Cromwell) reimagined the play in a new light so inspired and convincing it's hard to believe it wasn't the original. This Loman family is black and it works so well I can't even imagine Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield. The American dream exists for white people; it's much more difficult for African Americans. It also sort of raises the question of what the American Dream is. Is it home ownership? I always thought it was owning your own business. Maybe it's just raising kids who do better than the previous generation. I suppose it's up for interpretation.

The set is very Marianne Elliott. The furniture descends from the ceiling on wires. The rooms move back and forth, without walls. For some reason, the set is crooked, not aligned to the edge of the stage but on a bit of an angle. It makes the theater feel a little off. I love the music, folksy depressing music, strummed on a guitar (kind of like Girl From the North Country?). It's obviously not a musical, but how could you not give Andre DeShields and Sharon Clarke a song, right? They're excellent. Clarke is a shoo in for the Tonys, but I did say the same about Caroline, or Change. 

I did doze off a little bit in the first act during one of Willy's hallucinations/memories. It's a very long show, over 3 hours. It's very powerful, very emotional, devastating really. It's certainly not for the Lion King crowd, but tourists that recognize the title will find an exquisite production. The theater wasn't full unfortunately or unfortunately, we had no one in front of us.

Killing Eve (2018-22)

Killing Eve maybe outlasted its welcome a bit. The first season was phenomenal. The second one was even good. But I simply didn't find seasons three or four all that interesting. The plot became far too convoluted to follow. Early on though, when Phoebe Waller-Bridge led the writing staff, the show was funny and sharp and exciting and surprising. Villanelle and Eve were two of the best female drama characters on TV. Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer have great chemistry. They're both alluring but what is so subversive is the attraction between the deadly assassin and the obsessive agent. It's a bummer Sandra Oh never won an Emmy, but kooky Jodie Comer did land a victory for season 2. The finale episode did leave me unsatisfied. I felt like there was some explanatory closure missing. But I also didn't really want to watch more because the final season wasn't that enjoyable.

Underground Railroad (2021)

It almost pains me to give this a 4, but it also is difficult for me to recommend this in good conscience. By no means is it bad; it's as incredible as everyone says and I'm glad to have seen it, experienced it. But it's a super challenging watch. I think it's the most brutal depiction of slavery I've ever seen. And yet it's depicted with such mastery and dare I say beauty. The cinematography is stunning, and coupled with Nicholas Britell's haunting score, it is nothing short of beautiful. But beautiful just doesn't seem like the right word to describe a slavery tale. I think the shots that perhaps best epitomize Barry Jenkins's style is the shots in which the slaves stare down the camera. His camera is fluid (he loves those long takes), it moves around a lot, but the figures stand still and tall, dignified. Without words, with empathy, Jenkins confers upon them the dignity that they were denied. The imagery is extremely powerful. 

I was led to believe that it was more of a magical realist take on historical fiction, but it isn't quite magic. Though I suppose you could say that an actual underground railroad is something fantastical. Cora goes from one terrible locale to different kinds of horrible places. And when she finally finds supposed-paradise, it is snatched away in a rather painful episode. There is a heavy emphasis on testimony, that the escaped slaves must provide a written account in order to board the train. It is as if to say that people need to know what happened here, history demands it, lest we forget it. Thuso Mbedu does a lot of heavy lifting  as Cora, processing many complex emotions. And I think Joel Edgerton is actually extraordinary too as the slave catcher Ridgeway. 

I found the 10 episodes to be the opposite of binge-able. Especially in the early episodes, many of the depicted brutalities keep you from clicking next. Hard to do any more than a couple at a time. It's a lot to take in. The end credits of each episode are played over modern music, whether Outkast, Marvin Gaye, Mahalia Jackson, Childish Gambino or Kendrick Lamar. It's surprising, immediately pulling the viewer out of the world, giving us a respite from the horrors of the episode. An orchestral arrangement of Clair de Lune plays over a sensitive show-stopping love scene. The use of music is brilliant. Jenkins and Britell have one of the best director-composer partnerships in the business.

The Good Place (2016-20)

So after 2.5 years evading Covid-19, it finally came for me too. I took a few sick days off work and basically watched TV all day. The Good Place kept my spirits up. And it was very bingeable, breezily going through a season a day. It's bright, funny, and insightful. The characters are likable and redeemable and each have their own quirks. But there are a few things that really elevate The Good Place above other network comedies. 

 First is that it entrusts its audience with rather complex philosophical theory. The series deep dives into Kant and Aristotle and the like. It tackles the biggest philosophical questions and actually gives pretty good answers. Popularizing philosophy is something to be lauded. And it's not just a subplot, it's actually at the core of the show's themes. Second is the brilliant plot, with its unique premise setting up a conception of the afterlife with a points system. It has an excellent twist at the end of Season 1 (that I remember reading about at the time, but it was still a fantastic reveal), and turns the whole premise upside down. Even when it departs from the original conceit, it morphs into some other brilliant thing. Each season does something different, clever, on the same theme but from a different angle. 

Third, I love the diverse casting. William Jackson Harper, Jameela Jamil and Manny Jacinto with top billing on network TV. Harper plays the academic Chidi, a philosopher scholar. Jamil plays the beautiful philanthropic Tahani. And Jacinto, freed from the model minority stereotype, plays the dimwit Florirdian Jason. Kristen Bell, D'Arcy Carden and Ted Danson are all great too, as is Maya Rudolph in a recurring guest spot.

And finally, Michael Schur nails the landing with a poignant finale that provides satisfying closure. The scale of the finale spans hundreds of Jeremy Bearimys, Enough time for our protagonists to fulfill their life's and afterlife's dreams and to find the quietude to move on. It's a beautiful ending. 

As You Like It (2017) (Public Works)

For the tenth anniversary of Public Works, Shakespeare in the Park re-staged the incredible musical-adaptation of As You Like It (which lends itself well to the musical genre) brought to life by Shaina Taub, who also plays Jaques. It's kind of incredible how perfect this play is for the mission of Public Works, to blur the line between community members and professional performers. Because "All the world's a stage, and the men and women merely players". It's about the power of theater as a unifying force. It's beautiful and just the show we need in the pandemic. It's a celebration of community and diversity. The ending is poignant with old Rosalind and Orlando, and young Jaques, who is actually a noticeably stronger singer than the composer who casts herself a la Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The plot is unbelievable and convoluted and honestly kind of irrelevant. It has a happy ending, naturally, relatively lightweight for Shakespeare. But it is hilarious and really quite clever. There is a wrestling scene that is staged as a fun luchador battle. "Let's go Bronco, let's go Frankie" reminded me of Bronco Henry haha. The set is gorgeous. With the Belvedere Castle in the background, there is a bridge and three beautiful trees representing the Arden. The band is beneath the bridge. The cast is easily a hundred strong, surely the biggest company they've had at the Delacorte and they're wonderful. They're a reflection of us and there's something very moving about that.

Better Call Saul (2015-22)

I'll be the first to admit that following the end of Breaking Bad, arguably one of the best TV shows of all time, I did not think we needed a prequel show, much less one about the weird sleazy lawyer supporting character. But I was wrong. Better Call Saul evolved into its own wonderful thing. Yes, it was slow, maybe even slower than Breaking Bad, if you can believe that. But the long cons Saul ran were incredibly complex, dragging out across multiple episodes, full seasons, and so they take time. If you had the patience, you were amply rewarded. It was often funny, quirky, intense and harrowing all at once. The writing and acting were always top notch.

The ending was wonderful. The redemption storyline really resonated after seeing what Saul/Jimmy/Gene went through. He has regrets and that bittersweet flashback to Chuck got me. Chuck, after all, was the major plot of the first half of the series. It is in the second half when Rhea Seehorn as Kim Wexler got a chance to shine.  She was consistently the best performer on TV and I think she'll finally be recognized by the Emmy voters. I think Bob Odenkirk, the comedian, will finally win too for a dramatic role.