📺 Eccentric chefs and scummy televangelists
Happy Thursday! Some quick news bites: Netflix is having a rough go of it this week, Moon Knight got notably better in episode 4, and the trailer for Stranger Things Season 4 is out and is filled with lots of cryptic clues.
In today’s edition:
The Righteous Gemstones
Julia
Anatomy of a Scandal
The Ultimatum
— Jess Spoll and Jenni Cullen
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Where we each choose a recent-ish show to review and feature.
If you like when the line between comedy and drama is blurry, try… The Righteous Gemstones
Keywords: slapstick comedy, satire, dark humor
Watch if you like: Vice Principals, Eastbound & Down, Silicon Valley
Jess’s Rating: A
Picture an aging patriarch whose spoiled kids are vying to take over the family business. No, I’m not talking about Succession.
The Righteous Gemstones is about a world-renowned family of southern televangelists who lead a megachurch and are massively wealthy. The show is a not-so-subtle satire of mega-rich televangelists that preach about God but are less than holy behind the scenes.
This is such a well-written comedy, and the acting is phenomenal. The head of the dysfunctional family is played by John Goodman, with the disappointing adult children portrayed by Adam Devine, Danny McBride, and Edi Patterson. Their performances — especially Edi Patterson’s — are some of the most chaotic and committed of all time. Rather than just being a comedy, the plot of the show is surprisingly gripping and has enough twists and turns to keep you really engaged. The second season, which premiered earlier this year, was just as funny and binge-able as the first.
I’m typically not a big fan of slapstick-style humor and this show is definitely very crude and NSFW, but it’s also clever, poignant, and frequently laugh out loud funny. It might be simultaneously the smartest and dumbest show I’ve ever seen.
Length: 30-min runtime, 2 seasons / 18 episodes
Watch on: HBO Max
If your comfort show is The Great British Bake Off, try… Julia
Keywords: drama, biopic, feel-good
Watch if you like: Julie & Julia, Minx, Gilmore Girls
Jenni’s Rating: A
Last weekend, I was looking for something comforting and warm to watch during a rainy day inside when I finally settled on Julia.
As a pioneer of the cooking-show genre, Julia Child had to convince a lot of people of her vision. This new scripted series is based on that first foray into television and follows her family and the people who doubted her or cheered her on along the way. While there is some tension in this biographical drama stemming from the natural strain of undertaking something groundbreaking, the show leans primarily into the “feel good moments,” underscoring how much Julia means to her viewers and readers and friends. And how much food and openness can connect people.
All in all, this show is well written, the actors are incredible, and the characters are so cute that I keep falling in love with a different one each episode. It’s comfort food viewing for sure.
Length: ~50 min runtime, 6 episodes out with new ones every Thursday
Watch on: HBO Max
Where we feature a show that you may have been tempted to check out, but we’re here to tell you…it might not be worth it. 🤷♀️
Anatomy of a Scandal
Keywords: legal thriller, tv miniseries, dark
Watch if you like: Big Little Lies, The Undoing, American Crime Story
Jenni’s Rating: D+
This show features off-brand Orlando Bloom (Rupert Friend), a head-smackingly obvious twist, and an odd number of anime-esque reactions for a legal thriller about sexual consent and the privileged elite.
Anatomy of a Scandal is a miniseries with only six episodes, so it won’t take up much of your time. But should it take up any? For a show from the adaptor of Big Little Lies, I expected more*.* I watched the whole thing in a day and mostly hate myself for that decision, because it is extremely middle of the road.
The actors were solid (hellooo, Michelle Dockery), but the directorial choices were....weird. Moments of extreme emotion or drama would sometimes result in surreal sequences for the characters. For instance a “surprise punch to the gut” feeling would result in the character flying backward as though literally punched in the gut. It was unsettling, didn’t quite fit with the rest of the series and took me out of the story. Someone out there really thought they were doing something artsy. Oops.
Anyway, it’s a glossy adaptation of a salacious novel so if you’re looking for that sort of thing for a night in, go for it. Otherwise, skip.
— Jenni
Length: 45-min runtime, 6 episodes total
Watch on: Netflix
Where we give our takes on reality TV and give these unscripted shows a time to shine.
The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On
Reality genre: dating / romance
Watch if you like: Love is Blind, Temptation Island, Too Hot To Handle
If you hate trashy reality TV, then there is absolutely nothing I could do to convince you to watch this show, and that’s ok. But if you like watching the train wrecks that are modern “dating” shows, then there’s a new one on Netflix that you will love (or love to hate-watch).
The premise of The Ultimatum is that a bunch of couples who are contemplating marriage come together and swap partners in the hopes that this illuminates if they want to be married or not. Because nothing proves your love is everlasting like being forced to watch your partner fake-marry someone else!
The contestants are mostly in their early 20s and haven’t been dating for very long. If I could summarize the average sentiment of the ultimatum-giving contestants, it would be: “I’ve been dating my partner for 6 months, and I hate his guts, but if he doesn’t marry me tomorrow, I will throw myself in front of a bus.”
If you thought Love is Blind was the pinnacle of trashy TV, get ready to be proved wrong. Where Love is Blind was, at least theoretically, encouraging the formation of potential life-long partnerships, The Ultimatum is designed to destroy these relationships. We are watching a group of people be collectively tortured under the guise of emotional growth. It’s absolutely wild and compulsively watchable.
— Jess
Length: ~45-min runtime, 1 season / 10 episodes
Watch on: Netflix
Your shows, returned:
The Flight Attendant, Season 2: Premieres April 21 on HBO Max
A Very British Scandal, Season 2: Released April 22 on Amazon Prime
Selling Sunset, Season 5: Released April 22 on Netflix
Barry, Season 3: Premieres April 24 on HBO Max
Made for Love, Season 2: Premieres April 28 on HBO Max
Upcoming new releases:
They Call Me Magic: Premieres April 22 on Apple TV+
Gaslit: Premieres April 24 on Starz
The Man Who Fell to Earth: Premieres April 24 on Showtime
We Own This City: Premieres April 25 on HBO Max
Under the Banner of Heaven: Premieres April 28 on Hulu
The Offer: Premieres April 28 on Paramount+