Podcast: Lady Business

Episode 72: The Cooler gang discusses three significant female-led Emmy contenders

At the Water Cooler this week, the Cooler gang deals with a little business… a little lady business. As Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt starts its second season, Girls ends its creative renaissance of a fifth season. In addition, HBO unveils its Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas film Confirmation. We discuss the merits of all three on the podcast, a celebration of the women involved. Then, as always, we close with our Flash Forward of the week’s most anticipated television.

As always, thanks for listening and please consider leaving us a rating on iTunes. We’d love to hear your feedback.

3:40 – Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
27:29 – Girls
43:00 – Confirmation
55:55 – Flash Forward

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Emmy Spotlight on ‘Girls:’ Season Five is Alive

Girls wraps a staggeringly good season five but will Emmy take notice?

HBO’s Girls hasn’t been much of an Emmy contender since receiving a series-high five nominations in both its first and second seasons. That probably has more to do with a cooling off period of star/director/writer Lena Dunham than of the actual quality of the show itself. While none of Girls‘ seasons have been bad, there was a sense of exhaustion around the series leading into its fifth season. Surprisingly, setting an end date (Girls is slated to end in 2017) seemed to have rejuvenated Dunham and company’s creative juices.

Girls season five has eschewed traditional sitcom tropes by further exploring the growing divide between its main characters. As a result, it’s a more emotionally honest season than anything that’s come before. These final hours are most definitely Girls‘ finest hours, the strength of which was echoed in tonight’s hour-long season finale. The next question to pose is just how will Emmy react to the creative growth on display?

The best bet continues to rest with perennial Supporting Actor contender Adam Driver as Adam. He hasn’t missed a nomination since his first from season two. Season five provides ample evidence that Kylo Ren (couldn’t resist) is likely to repeat with the season finale giving him an emotional fight scene with costar Jemima Kirke (Jessa). Kirke could break the Emmy curse against Dunham’s supporting females, none of whom have been able to break into the Supporting Actress race. Not even when last year saw a bizarre eight nominations in that category. Still, Kirke pops more this year than in previous seasons as Jessa seems to be growing up at a faster rate than her once-close friends. Emmy voters pre-disposed to watching Adam Driver’s material may give her a boost since she spends most of her on-screen time with him as they wrestle with a new relationship.

Also potentially competing for Supporting Actor this year is Andrew Rannells as Elijah. Elijah’s always been a reliably funny if slight presence, the gay best friend who says witty things or cuts through the (ample) bullshit. Yet, season five has seen him try to make something of a long-term relationship with potential guest star nominee Corey Stoll (House of Cards). The season finale gives him his “love me, pick me” moment, complete with real tears in his eyes. It’s a sad moment that provides ample evidence of Rannells strength as an actor beyond the witty bon mots. I’d be thrilled to see Rannells recognized above Driver for once.

Allison Williams, dinged for being the pretty face in the group and for that Peter Pan Live! thing, is as steady as ever this season. Dunham gives her a great gift in “The Panic in Central Park” where her character, Marnie, reconnects with an old flame during a night out in New York City. Williams is perhaps slightly underrated in the role, but “Panic” gives her a bittersweet outing as Marnie struggles to accept her mistakes and bad marriage. Still, I don’t see Williams getting close to a nomination, even if she turns in very nice work. Ditto for one of my personal favorites Zosia Mamet as “Shosh.” Even though her character’s Japanese outings provided much of the buzziest material this year, Mamet isn’t the kind of actress that seems to register with a broad voting body. I’ve often thought she was the best of the supporting players, but she never seems to get the attention she warrants. Sadly.

And what of Dunham herself? Where she once received acting, directing, and writing nominations in a single year, she missed on an acting nomination last year. The Television Academy seems to be hip to her portrayal of Hannah Horvath as an unapologetic mess, so you can’t count that against her. What’s perhaps in Dunham’s favor this season is the gift she’s given herself in two separate episodes. In “Hello Kitty,” she is confronted with Adam and Jessa’s new relationship, and her reaction is hands-down Dunham’s best acting on Girls. Her struggle to contain both her tongue and her emotions as Adam and Jessa slink away into the night was a feat to behold. Check it out, Television Academy. This is acting. To top that, Dunham closes her season with Hannah giving a monologue about jealousy and her reaction to the betrayal at the hands of Adam and Jessa. The scene is expertly written and delivered, a poignant blend of humor and acceptance with a smattering of her patented self-deprecation.

It sort of illustrates the great personal and emotional growth experienced by all cast members in Girls season five. It’s rare that a series toward the end of its run can shake Emmy fortunes and return to awards prominence. Yet, if any series could do it, then I imagine Girls would be a great candidate. Season five was that good.

Guaranteed Nominations

Adam Driver, Supporting Actor

Probable Nominations

Lena Dunham, Lead Actress

Possible Nominations
Comedy Series
Jemima Kirke, Supporting Actress
Andrew Rannells, Supporting Actor
Becky Ann Baker, Guest Actress
Corey Stoll, Guest Actor
Writing
Directing

Emmy Spotlight on ‘Confirmation:’ She Said He Said

HBO’s Confirmation tackles the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings as simply and straightforwardly as possible

Confirmation is HBO’s TV movie about the early 90s Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearings and the firestorm of controversy they ignited. As most people know, the hearings were fully televised and highly consumed thanks to the frank nature of law professor Anita Hill’s sexual harassment accusations against Thomas. It was, in its own way, a precursor to what the O.J. Simpson trial would do to America thanks the channeling of both proceedings into the living rooms of America.

It’s a shame, then, that Confirmation, despite good performances and filmmaking, airs so closely following the transcendent The People v. O.J. Simpson. Where that series smartly revisited events through the prism of modern perspectives, Confirmation plows forward with an ordinary, biopic-level interpretation of the hearings. The opportunity was there to elevate the material, yet director Rick Famuyiwa (Dope) chooses the safe path, disappointingly undercutting the potential impact of the film.

But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie. Not at all. Confirmation moves along at lightening speed with Anita Hill’s infamous statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee (the one with the Coke can and the pubic hairs) as its centerpiece. This film is the kind of film you expect from HBO, and, frankly, it’s the kind of thing I half expected The People v. O.J. Simpson would be. It’s a parade of famous people playing famous people walking us through famous events much like Jay Roach’s series of HBO films that came before (Game Change, Recount). In fact, the direction felt so familiar that I was surprised to see that Roach had not directed Confirmation. He must have been too busy on HBO’s next big TV movie All the Way, the Bryan Cranston-as-LBJ biopic set during the mid-1960s civil rights fight.

Kerry Washington plays Anita Hill stripped of all the Scandal-bred influences. Washington’s Hill is a noble, thoughtful, and courageous woman. As Susannah Grant’s (Erin Brockovich) screenplay unfolds, Hill is seen more as a noble martyr than a real flesh and blood character. Conversely, Wendell Pierce’s Clarence Thomas is, in my opinion, dramatically short-changed in terms of balancing the events between perspectives. Most of Thomas’s story is told through the senators and handlers dealing with his confirmation. Pierce (The Wire) is good in the role, but there’s not much there for him to work with aside from a few well-intentioned scenes with his wife. Yet, even those scenes seem to tilt toward his wife doubting his veracity. By the end of the film as Thomas is confirmed, his wife happily brings him the news, yet Thomas glares at the camera, all but twisting his invisible Snidely Whiplash mustache.

ConfirmationBiden

In terms of supporting players, Confirmation wastes the incredible talents of Jeffrey Wright, Treat Williams, Erika Christensen, Kimberly Elise, and even Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson in seemingly pivotal roles that are nonetheless underwritten. Only Oscar-nominee Greg Kinnear (As Good As It Gets) registers as Senator Joe Biden, then head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who is torn between a natural sense of truth and decency and pressure from his fellow committee members to speed the hearings along. Kinnear actually manages to sound and act like Biden while creating a character of his own. It’s not an impersonation, per se, but is instead the right balance of acting talent and evocation of a very public persona. It’s his performance that surprised me the most in the film, pleasantly reminding me what a very good actor Kinnear can be.

In the end, Confirmation goes down easily enough by simply relaying the hearing’s events like a play by play. It would have been nice for the team to comment on them rather than giving us the standard biopic approach to the material. As the closing montage tells us, the hearings had a significant impact on the political world, ushering in an unprecedented number of female representatives in the next election. The only scene of the actual film that comments on the imbalance of power between men and women in government is one of its best – an ambush of a select group of female representatives on the old-boy Senate dining room. It’s the kind of juiced up moment the film needed.

Scenes like that are the difference between good to great.

In terms of Emmy potential, I suspect Confirmation will see the same level of attention that HBO’s own Game Change received. It’s just good enough to float toward the top of the pack, if it’s not a top contender for any real awards potential.

Guaranteed Nominations
TV Movie
Kerry Washington, Lead Actress

Possible Nominations
Wendell Pierce, Supporting Actor
Greg Kinnear, Supporting Actor
Direction
Writing

‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt:’ Forever Your Girl

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is back and better than ever

Sex and the City has sometimes been described as a Manhattan version of The Golden Girls, but Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt seems to better fit the bill. The Golden Girls was about a marginalized group of women (age 65+), and UKS season two also captures this theme well.

Each character is on the peripheral in some way. Kimmy (Ellie Kemper) is the kidnapping victim who’s had her 15 minutes of fame. Titus Andromedon (Tituss Burgess) is a gay, African American actor struggling to find work and purpose. Jacqueline Voorhees/Ms. White (Jane Krakowski) is a middle-age divorcee trying to find independence. Lillian (Carol Kane) is the 60-something wise-cracking landlord fighting gentrification in her neighborhood. When looking at the diverse extended cast, with both age and race, this show truly is a miracle! In an age when Maggie Gyllenhaal is being told she’s too old to be the love interest for 50-something actors and Marisa Tomei is playing Spider-Man’s Aunt May.

Tina Fey and Robert Carlock received flack last year for the way they addressed Native American culture (white Krakowski plays a Native American), and in season two, they don’t backpedal on this subject. The first episode picks up with Jacqueline living with her Native American family again, singing corn-crop songs that are actually annoying “white idiot” wedding anthems (“The Electric Slide”). And in episode three titled “Kimmy Goes to a Play,” Titus Andromedon portrays a geisha he lived in a past life and disrupts the Asian and Hindu cultures in his neighborhood (“They drew a Michael Jordan mustache on me! Why?!?”).

The show straddles the line between politically incorrect and correct in a thoughtful, good-intentioned way. Titus ends up winning over the Asian and Hindu communities with his one-man show through his stunning voice and moving portrayal of Murasaki (“What do we do now that we’re not offended?”).

Looks like Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and its creators are just as strong as hell in season two as they were in season one.

‘Orphan Black:’ Unbreakable Tatiana Maslany

BBC America’s Orphan Black returns with Tatiana Maslany’s tremendous, Emmy-nominated performance front and center

“The Collapse of Nature” is the perfectly poised title for the brand new episode of the science fiction feast of the senses Orphan Black – also known as The Tatiana Maslany Show. The credible TV awards body Emmy finally came calling last time around with a Best Actress nomination for the volcanic, versatile Maslany. Third time is not much of a charm, more a serious lagging in consideration of one of the best, simple best, acting turns on any channel of television. We’ve come a long way, baby.

And with season four of Orphan Black finally arriving, the depiction of nature’s unraveling is a technical torrent of intelligent, compelling TV. Surprised, I am, how this still seems to be slipping under the net of audiences. Where are you, and where have you been? Side-note, Orphan Black is now instantly available to Netflix subscribers in the UK on a week-by-week basis. No binging this time around.

So then, creators Graeme Manson and John Fawcett continue to enlighten us with this gem, picking up where we left off in season three both in story-telling prowess and production tone. I say that, but as narrative plot goes this season opener actually takes us back to Beth Childs and her pre-train-jumping antics. Without spoiling it however, there is no Beth demise in this forty-five minutes. This is less about what happens next, but rather what happened before. The heavy breeze that sweeps through the premier of season four feels like the same gust of captivating wind that carried us through the first three seasons. A welcome relief.

There are also snippets of the likes of Maggie Chen and Dr Leekie – in separate story strands of course – familiar names of those characters we have long since learnt of their expiration. Like Paul, remember him? Delphine is not present in episode one, but she can’t be too far away if the show-makers want to (smartly) dig up the past. We may well then be just as gripped by the back-stories as we are about the upcoming events. “I know there’s a shitload you’re not telling us” is uttered in one scene, and I was nodding my head in realization this could be us, the audience, addressing the Orphan Black writing team.

This chugs along nicely, a reliable train indeed, aided and abetted by snappy scenes, punchy dialogue, and dark music beats. Orphan Black‘s kinetic production values hold their own once more, continuing to provoke our own psyche in second guessing what might be awaiting around the next corner. Even with the influx of plot points and character cameos, though, I was starting to crave a bit of plain and simple bonkers Helena amidst the playing God and Neoloution mentions. The fuzzy-haired misfit is not far away I suspect, only adding to my mouth-watering anticipation of the season’s second chapter.

On the fresher side, Maslany finds even more depth and dynamic in yet another new clone, clad in sheep mask to dangle yet another carrot in front of our nose. This is M.K. as she claims in the episode’s revelatory final moments – a tactical and wily beast with a fittingly high-fringe haircut. She does not claim to have many friends, but poses plenty of intrigue. Obviously. Her imploring words to Sarah, still laying low with daughter Kira in Iceland, is that “You need to run, right now.”, echoing the ambiance of the show’s stamina, perseverance, and alluring pace. The clone club have been rubbing their sweaty palms for far too long to not want more of the same please.

Why I’m Hate-Watching ABC’s ‘The Catch’

Megan doesn’t like The Catch, but she can’t look away.

On paper, ABC’s The Catch has all of the elements of a great show.

One, it’s produced by Shonda Rhimes. Two, its plot has so much potential for sexy fun with a luminous private investigator (Mireille Enos, The Killing) tailing the fiance (Peter Krause, Six Feet Under) who stole millions from her.  And three, it’s created by Kate Atkinson whose book Life After Life left Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn dumbfounded, “There aren’t enough breathless adjectives to describe LIFE AFTER LIFE: Dazzling, witty, moving, joyful, mournful, profound.”

But easier said than done.

The Catch may be nestled in the Thank God It’s Thursday lineup, but it could just as easily be on a Tuesday. Or maybe even *gulp* a Friday.

What could be a post-feminism show about a woman getting revenge on the man that did her wrong ends up being about a mopey Mrs. Magoo-esque P.I. who’s frankly just not very good at her job. From the very first episode, we learn that Alice Vaughn (Enos) just got engaged to “Christopher” (Krause), and that she’s on the trail of the never-seen Mr. X (who also just happens to be “Christopher”). Mr. X is milling about a Los Angeles plaza, right in the open, but Alice never sees him. He even walks by her in a baseball cap and sunglasses (master of disguise).

A more accurate title for this show would be “The Catfish” because that appears to be EXACTLY what “Christopher” is doing to Alice. Yeah, you feel bad for her for about 15 minutes in “The Pilot,” until you learn that she’s kind of an idiot. Instead of paying attention to important Mr. X news at work, she gets caught in a daydream before exclaiming, “Christopher asked me to elope!” Women, huh? They don’t think about anything but men!

And Christopher’s marriage “proposal” isn’t actually a proposal. It’s the kind of exchange you’d cringe at if one of your girlfriends told you about it over drinks (“Alice, you in danger, girl“).

 

CHRISTOPHER

You ever want to get married?

ALICE

Yeah. In theory. I guess I just never met the right guy.

CHRISTOPHER

I’ll try not to take that personally.

ALICE

I wasn’t talking about you.

CHRISTOPHER

So if I were the right guy, you would marry me?

ALICE

No.

CHRISTOPHER

You wouldn’t?

ALICE

No, that’s not what I’m saying. What about you?

CHRISTOPHER

What about me?

ALICE

Would you?

CHRISTOPHER

Would I what?

ALICE

Marry me?

CHRISTOPHER

Did you just ask me to marry you?

ALICE

I guess. I’m sorry.

CHRISTOPHER

That’s all right. I just want to think about it.

 

After this flashback to the proposal, Alice exclaims to her colleagues, “I proposed to myself!” Yeah, duh! And over frozen yogurt in the park just like you always imagined it. And even worse, this bitch is so enamored with herself that she failed to see that in all the photos of her and Christopher, he’s CLEARLY covering up his face. So when she goes to track him, she doesn’t have a face to go on!

After Christopher goes missing with her millions in the pilot, the rest of the episode tries to explain why she’s still smart even though she was duped… like it could happen to anyone.

And yet, with virtually no training, just intuition, I feel like I am a better private investigator than her.

In the third episode titled “The Trial,” the crew has to go undercover at a lab in order to figure out why a particular drug trial is producing adverse side effects on multiple sclerosis patients. Just as Alice is about to be administered the drug, at the last second, she pulls out the IV, grabs it, and takes it to be tested. But then, as she’s leaving, the doctor says, “Don’t forget to take your orange juice.” While watching it, I thought, “Don’t do it. That’s probably how patients are receiving these side effects.” Whatdoyouknow, yes! Alice drinks it and starts experiencing blindness and loss of hand-eye coordination.

Also in this episode, in a flashback, Alice mistakes cute couple conversation for yet another marriage proposal.

 

CHRISTOPHER

How long have those two been married?

ALICE

Almost ten years.

CHRISTOPHER

If that’s what ten years of marriage looks like, I’ll take it.

ALICE

I’m sorry. Did you just agree to marry me?

CHRISTOPHER

I think I did.

 

Hmmm. No, he technically didn’t. He was just commenting that he hoped he looked that good after 10 years of marriage. You were never mentioned.

Alice reads into everything except real concrete details. Like don’t consume ANYTHING at a dangerous drug trial and then get in a car and go after your ex at a bar. This will only result in embarrassment (and it does).

So. . .why am I still watching this show?

Well, there’s something to be said about schadenfreude. Given that the premise of the show is that Alice is trying to catch her ex, you know she’s not going to do it any time soon. Otherwise, the show would not exist. It’s fun watching her fail and miss him, again and again, and even more so, the flashbacks that give all of the hints that he’s probably a skeez (you mean to tell me the ever-astute P.I. never flipped through her photos of him and wondered why HIS FACE WAS NEVER LOOKING AT THE CAMERA?).

I guess I watch because if I were Alice’s friend, we would have solved this issue months ago.

 

MEGAN

Do you ever notice how he always turns your conversations around?

ALICE

Hmmm. How so?

MEGAN

Well, you keep proposing to him. He never proposes to you.

ALICE

Whoah. I’ve been a private investigator for decades but never noticed that. You may be on to something.

MEGAN

Also, in all of your Facebook pics, he’s never looking at the camera.

ALICE

No shit. What do you make of that?

MEGAN

Probably has a wife and kids he doesn’t want you to know about.

(Beat.)

Did you also ever notice that he dresses like a ventriloquist without a dummy?

OK. So maybe I’m wrong with my wife-and-kids hypothesis, but I would have saved her MILLIONS of dollars.

What do you think of The Catch? Are you syncing with Megan’s thoughts? Are you hate-watching too? Sound off in the comments below!

The Unsung Hero of ‘Better Call Saul’

So I’m finally catching up on AMC’s Better Call Saul in advance of Monday’s season two finale. The initial verdict is I was wrong to abandon the series. I’ll be the first to admit it too.

Saul is really just warming up, I feel, in season two thus far, but Bob Odenkirk is really turning in fantastic work already. Is he an early front runner for Drama Actor? Will Better Call Saul become the Game of Thrones spoiler? Two things need to happen for that to become a reality. First, Monday’s season two finale needs to stick the landing in a memorable way. After all, Game of Thrones has the advantage of finishing its sixth season just around the Emmy voting window. It will undoubtedly be fresher on voters minds. Second, Game of Thrones will have to underwhlem or lose buzz in some meaningful fashion. Saul can’t win it on merit alone. Thrones is just too big.

At any rate, onto the unsung hero… Check out thear fantastic images from episode three, “Amarillo.” Cinematographer Arthur Albert has quietly amassed a series of beautifully shot episodes that provide vivid imagery to accentuate the thematic content. Saul‘s cinematography may not be as flashy as Game of Thrones or House of Cards, but that’s fine.

Its quiet brilliance fits the series perfectly.

Better Call Saul


  

Does Netflix Truly Best HBO in TV Programming?

Does Netflix really top the cable giant HBO in TV programming content? Clarence thinks not.

Within a week of this posting, someone will call me an elitist snob. I guarantee. And that’s fine, but you’ll never make me believe that Netflix holds superior TV programming over HBO.

As posted in today’s Variety, a Morgan Stanley polled just over 2,500 Americans on the subject of which premium TV or Internet streaming service had the best original content. For the first time since the origination of the survey six years ago, Netflix led the pack and beat perennial champ HBO 29 percent to 18 percent. 34 percent of the respondents answered with “I don’t know.”

This shift is more damaging to HBO than rewarding to Netflix, ultimately. HBO’s 13-point drop in the poll (down from 31% a year ago) comes at a time when HBO’s original content lineup has been plagued with setback after setback. It’s new Martin Scorsese-produced Vinyl disappointed in its premiere and has already seen showrunner Terence Winter leave the series. Then, there’s the problem of Westworld, a reportedly very experience sci-fi series which recently stopped production due to unresolved script concerns. No premiere date has been established for the Anthony Hopkins starrer.

Effectively, the cable giant has been unable to reliably replicate its highly successful programming block of Emmy winners Game of Thrones and Veep as well as critic darling Silicon Valley.

Netflix, on the other hand, may have yet to fully hit a home run with Emmy-winning comedy or drama series, but they’ve hit a hell of a lot of solid doubles. The uptick in popular opinion does come at a great time for the streaming service as it recently announced its first subscription price increase in years.

But looking head to head at HBO and Netflix’s programming, I find it very hard to crown Netflix the champion over HBO. No Netflix drama can even try touching the epic scale, dramatic thrills, and emotional depth of Game of Thrones. Sure, I like the Marvel block of Daredevil and Jessica Jones as much as the next guy. House of Cards has always been a guilty pleasure of mine, but Orange is the New Black is already wearing out its welcome after a mixed third season. The closest thing stylistically to Game of Thrones has to be Marco Polo, but there’s no comparison – Thrones wins that game hands down. And while everybody (rightly) hated True Detective season two, let’s not forget how much you all wet yourselves over season one.

On the comedy side, Netflix runs a little more competitive thanks to everybody’s favorite Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. HBO rules the Emmy house with Veep, but Veep isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. Sure, Emmy drinks it in heavily, but the “average Joe” (here come the emails) doesn’t gravitate to the series’ more European mixture of the absurd and the cerebral. I would also posit that Silicon Valley and Girls (currently in a shockingly great renaissance) are also better than anything Netflix has to offer outside of Kimmy Schmidt, which I do love too. HBO’s comedy duds include Ballers and the cancelled Togetherness and The Brink.

Netflix, though, just throws anything against the wall to see what sticks. Kimmy Schmidt only landed there because NBC is literally the worst network running right now. But Grace and Frankie, Love, Fuller House, Flaked, and The Ranch are all at best very mediocre and at worst outright duds. Only Master of None has that “HBO quality” to it, thanks to the wit and perspective of star Aziz Ansari.

Bottom line: I would place HBO far above Netflix simply because it mostly swings for the fences every time its at bat. It may not always hit Game of Thrones-level TV programming, but you have to appreciate the bold vision for its programming. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy Netflix series. There’s a lot of solid programming on the streaming content provider, but they’ve yet to prove to me that they’re capable of producing the Really Great Television that HBO has time and time again.

Netflix lives on a steady diet of fast food TV programming, and America really prefers its McDonald’s.

What’s really going on right now is Game of Thrones isn’t in season, so it’s not as buzzy right now despite the whole “Is Jon Snow Dead?” campaign. Nothing else on the schedule really appeals to a broad audience, which we did discuss during the last Emmy season. HBO is serving up a feast of niche programming. Niche programming doesn’t appeal to the “Average Joe.”

However, its upcoming slate is likely to engender a great deal of popular good will. Shows like Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects (starring Amy Adams), The Night Of (the buzzy drama starring John Turturro), and Big Little Lies (featuring a bevy of fantastic actresses like Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, and Laura Dern).

So, no, I don’t think Netflix is better than HBO. You can have your McDonald’s programming.

I’ll take my HBO-branded filet mignon any day.

What is your take on HBO versus Netflix TV programming? Sound off in the comments section below.

‘Togetherness’ Series Finale: Our Children are Screwed

I get it now.

The Piersons’ daughter, Sophie (played by Abby Ryder Fortson), is a metaphor for the audience watching Togetherness, especially when she mutters this line in the series finale “For the Kids,”

“I want Tina [Amanda Peet] to put me down.”

After all, if there’s anyone we want to stick with on this show, it’s Tina, as she’s pretty much the most interesting character.

While season one followed the Pierson clan and their troubled relationships (Brett and Michelle? Michelle and David? Alex and Tina? Tina and Larry?), season two became a crusade for a charter school with Anna (Katie Aselton, looking like Cameron Diaz) taking on the role as uppity-bitch with her French-inspired education idea (hey, but at least it’s an idea, right?).

Without taking a political stance on charter schools (although I really have no opinion), the most troubling thing about Michelle’s desire to start this school is that she pulls the curriculum out of her ass from her estranged husband’s Dune puppet show. So during all of these meetings in the past months, what have they been discussing? Just getting together for snacks?

In the finale, when Sophie is playing hooky from school after breaking both her arms (again, a metaphor for what this show does to its viewers), Michelle makes the novel realization that the Dune puppet show should be about the children, with the entire production being put on by the kids, for the kids (get it, like the title!). While it’s an adorable little pageant at the end and it’s great to see the creative arts being valued, it’s also terrifying. Michelle appears to literally have no idea what she’s doing with this school. Is putting on shitty plays based on a critically-panned David Lynch movie really going to cut it?

In the end, like any ’80s comedy, the evil white bitch is taken down, despite her really cool Le Petit Village sign (watch for the bearded dude’s smug reaction, which says, “Pretty cool sign. Must be a good school.”), and the weirdos from another planet win. (Although, given how hastily they pulled this idea out of thin air, I think everyone, especially the children, loses.)

But the Togetherness audience does win with one facet: We get to end with Amanda Peet, with the final scene being about her and Alex’s relationship. I’m so glad we all got to be put down by Aunt Tina.

‘Game of Thrones’ Trailer Shows Drinking, Dragons, Dead

“That is what I do. I drink, and I know things,” says Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) in the new (and hopefully final) Game of Thrones trailer for season six. All these Game of Thrones trailers are leading me to drink, that’s what I know.

As heavily rumored, this season appears heavy on action, which should please those that quibbled with season five’s scattered focus. The trailer effectively underscores that most of our cast of characters are engaging in pithy battles between each other as the real threat (the dead) marches toward the wall.

Game of Thrones season six begins on HBO April 24 at 9pm ET.