📺 Wednesday, 1899, and Fleishman is in Trouble
Happy December 1. What an eventful week. November ended, Spotify Wrapped dropped, and your favorite TV newsletter came back from Thanksgiving break! Hope you all enjoyed the holiday and are ready for some reviews, hot off the presses.
In today’s edition:
Wednesday
Fleishman is in Trouble
1899
— Jenni Cullen and Jess Spoll
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Where we each choose a recent-ish show to review and feature.
If you like campy horror and coming-of-age stories, try…Wednesday
Keywords: spin-off, dark comedy, teens
Watch if you like: Riverdale, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, A Series of Unfortunate Events
Jess’s Rating: B
There’s a newcomer to the Addams Family franchise, and it’s a show centered around (and named for) the iconically pigtailed daughter, Wednesday. The new series already broke a record by garnering 340M+ views in its first week — the most hours viewed in a week for any English-language TV series on Netflix.
Starring Jenna Ortega (X, Scream), Wednesday follows the eponymous character as she embarks on a new journey at Nevermore Academy, a boarding school for magical teens. After a brush with death, she becomes embroiled in a monster-hunting murder mystery. She’s also dealing with the sudden onset of psychic visions, and trying to navigate being a teenager at a school of misfits.
The series is produced and directed by Tim Burton, and his signature blend of spooky and campy is certainly present here. While watching, I was reminded of CW shows like Riverdale or The Vampire Diaries, where the main characters are in high school and are dealing with supernatural phenomena. Like those shows, Wednesday can be a little corny at times, but it’s balanced by Jenna Ortega’s flawless performance as the deadpan and macabre title character. The show is also bolstered by performances by Christina Ricci (the OG Wednesday!), Gwendoline Christie, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Luis Guzmán. I was enamored from the first episode, and although I fear that it will veer too far into ridiculousness (like Riverdale), I’m having a good time watching it.
Length: 45-min runtime, 1 season / 8 episodes
Watch on: Netflix
If you’d like a funny, reverse Gone Girl, try… Fleishman is in Trouble
Keywords: miniseries, drama, witty
Watch if you like: Woody Allen films, Big Little Lies, Seinfeld
Jenni’s Rating: B-
Based on a novel of the same name by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Fleishman is in Trouble is a new miniseries starring Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, and Lizzy Caplan.
In the first episode, recently divorced NYC-based doctor Toby Fleishman (Eisenberg) is enjoying success on dating apps that he never had in his youth. Just as his first summer of sexual freedom begins, however, his ex-wife Rachel (Danes) disappears, leaving Toby with their two kids and no clue where she is or when/if she plans to return. It quickly becomes clear to him that in order to figure out what happened to Rachel, he needs to face what happened to their marriage in the first place.
The series is narrated by Caplan who plays Libby, Toby’s journalist friend from college. So far, we’re seeing the worst parts of Rachel from Toby’s point of view through Libby’s observant eyes, but it seems like a POV shift might be coming soon — there’s more than one side to every relationship…and story.
Generally, I feel pretty ‘meh’ about the “rich people have problems too!” genre of TV, which this show definitely falls into. And though I do roll my eyes a decent amount while watching, I went into this with zero expectations and am actually enjoying the ride so far. It’s an extremely well-cast show with fast-paced, witty writing and I found myself accidentally binging the first three episodes without even noticing.
Length: 45-min runtime, 1 season / 4 episodes out with new ones every Thursday
Watch on: Hulu
True to our title, in this segment we each give our take on the same show. Will we see eye to eye?
1899
Keywords: sci-fi, mystery, eerie, foreign language
Watch if you like: Dark, Manifest, Lost
Length: 60-min runtime, 1 season / 8 episodes
Watch on: Netflix
1899 is a mystery-thriller with a bit of a sci-fi edge. The series begins on a steamship carrying immigrants from London to New York. When they come across another ship on the open waters that has reportedly been missing for 4 months, their journey takes an unexpected turn.
My main critique of this show is that it’s a little slow to unfold. I’m giving it a B- because I did enjoy the concept, the acting, and the cinematography (quite gorgeous and spooky), but I was really tempted to knock down my score for its pacing. That said, I’ll likely be sticking with this show a while longer. Although it became more confusing by the last episode — and felt like we viewers had fewer answers than we did at the start, I know that the creators of 1899 likely have an incredible end-game planned out. Their previous Netflix drama Dark, which I reviewed a few months ago, also started out as a tangled, mind-boggling web, and the payoff was worth it.
Jenni’s Rating: B-
I said it a few weeks ago in my review of The Peripheral: sci-fi mystery shows are my favorite. I’ll stick with them even when they’re not perfect, and 1899 is definitely not perfect. The mystery unravels incredibly slowly, giving next to no hints as to what’s really going on until the very end. But despite the slow pace, I found myself really engaged throughout the 8 episodes. This is a show that you have to pay close attention to, not just to avoid missing key details, but because the dialogue is in multiple languages. It’s also the kind of show that’s fun to swap theories about with friends. I have no idea where it’s going, but I’m anxiously awaiting a second season.
Jess’s Rating: B+
Your shows, returned:
Gossip Girl, Season 2: Premieres December 1 on HBO Max
Sort Of, Season 2: Premieres December 1 on HBO Max
My Unorthodox Life, Season 2: Premieres December 2 on Netflix
Firefly Lane, Season 2: Premieres December 2 on Netflix
Slow Horses, Season 2: Premieres December 2 on Apple TV+
His Dark Materials, Season 3: Premieres December 5 on HBO Max
Too Hot to Handle, Season 4: Premieres December 7 on Netflix
The Real Housewives of Miami, Season 5: Premieres December 8 on Peacock
Doom Patrol, Season 4: Premieres December 8 on HBO Max
South Side, Season 3: Premieres December 8 on HBO Max
Upcoming new releases:
Riches: Premieres December 2 on Prime Video
George and Tammy: Premieres December 4 on Showtime