Today's What Else Is Alan Watching? newsletter coming up just as soon as I watch the Michael Jordan documentary eight minutes at a time on the toilet...
Catching up
Lots to talk about, from one of the busiest weeks around here in a while:
- I wrote about the belated return of Euphoria, and how the time jump to adulthood mostly leans into Sam Levinson's worst impulses as a creator, even with Zendaya still around to be wonderful:
Alan Sepinwall
- I reviewed Margo's Got Money Troubles, the hugely endearing new Apple TV comedy, starring Elle Fanning (terrific as always) as a single mom who starts an OnlyFans account to support herself, featuring ace supporting performances by Nick Offerman, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Nicole Kidman:
Alan Sepinwall
- For What Else Is Alan Watching? bonus tier subscribers, inspired by the revival miniseries, I wrote about the underrated part of Malcolm in the Middle's legacy, and the huge influence it's had on 21st century TV comedy:
Alan Sepinwall
- I reviewed the new season of the Netflix dark comic anthology Beef, which expanded its cast and focus this year, to much more mixed results than the Steven Yeun/Ali Wong debut season:
Alan Sepinwall
- And I recapped The Pitt Season Two finale, which mostly focused on Robby's problems, but offered a wonderful mid-credits reward for fans of some of the supporting cast:
Alan Sepinwall
What's next?
Going back to early January, I've been writing at least one, and often two or three, recaps per week. With last night's Pitt finale, all of those shows have wrapped their seasons. There isn't a new or returning show on the immediate horizon that seems like an obvious candidate for that kind of coverage. I loved Margo, for instance, but would run out of things to say about it after a few weeks. And even if I thought more highly of Beef Season Two, it's a binge release.
I'm sure something will come across my virtual screener pile that invites that approach. But for the time being, we're back primarily to reviews and other oddball ideas. I have to start watching shows debuting later this month — including Netflix's Stranger Things animated spinoff, Richard Gadd's Baby Reindeer follow-up Half Man, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in a Man on Fire series, and more — to decide which I want to write about. But there will be #content, not to worry. Just check your inboxes, and the website.
Alan Sepinwall
Also, look forward to an announcement about my Rod Serling book on Monday, for all subscribers.
Odds and/or ends
- Getting back to The Pitt for a moment, a few notable post-mortem links for you: First, Kathryn VanArendonk got to be on the set for the filming of the finale, and unsurprisingly did a great job at not only conveying what it's like to actually work on something like the pregnancy scene, but at digging into the trickiness of the show being told so much from Robby's point of view. Second, Ryan Schwartz talked to R. Scott Gemmill about when next season will take place, which characters will be sticking around, etc. And Gemmill's answers on the departure of Supriya Ganesh as Dr. Mohan got my Spidey-sense tingling a bit, since he's basically giving two separate, somewhat opposite explanations within the same breath.
- I have inadvertently stumbled into a new Derbel McDillet situation. While drafting my aforementioned Margo's Got Money Troubles review, I wrote that the father of Margo's baby was played by John Magaro. It took until my third read-through to realize that I meant to say that the character is played by Michael Angarano. I've liked both of their work for a long time (Angarano going back to his days as a child actor, in both Almost Famous and a short-lived USA drama I liked called Cover Me), but it never occurred to me until just then that not only do they have similar-sounding surnames, but are often cast in similar roles. Even with a four-year age gap, I wonder if they, like the Derbels once upon a time (or like Pamela Adlon and Constance Zimmer, as parodied in the Better Things series premiere) often find themselves up for the same parts.
Alan Sepinwall
- I am, as I said a few weeks ago, not continuing to watch For All Mankind. However, several friends have alerted me to a development in this week's episode. Without spoiling it for those who haven't watched yet, I will just say that it sounds like some of the most impressive trolling of an audience I've heard of in quite some time.
I want mo' Scrubs
Alan Sepinwall
Let's close it out with some Scrubs finale talk. The revival absolutely concluded this season on a high. These last two episodes, which not only brought back Dr. Cox, but also Jordan and Dr. Jan I. Tor, were the closest the vibes got to the original run. It wasn't just that the majority of the surviving cast was back(*), though goodness knows I missed seeing Zach Braff play scenes with both John C. McGinley and Neil Flynn. It was that both episodes did the best job of this season at achieving the balance of silly and serious that typified the best seasons of the original run. Giving Cox an illness, and making J.D. his doctor, brought out both the funniest aspects of that partnership and the more poignant ones. There's been an effort overall to make middle-aged J.D. much less of a cartoon than he was in the Scrubs Med season, but this is by far the most human he's seemed since he returned. You can see how the guy who first arrived at the hospital 25 years ago would have grown up into this person, even if he didn't grow up in every possible way.
(*) In recent public comments, Bill Lawrence has said that if they get another season, two goals will be 1)adjust the shooting schedule of this and/or Rooster to allow McGinley to do the majority of both shows, and 2)Bring Ken Jenkins out of retirement to play Bob Kelso again.
The finale had other fun stuff, including Turk and/or Carla making fools of themselves trying to flirt with Rachel Bilson on behalf of J.D., and Park trying and failing to be a nice guy after Nurse Dubois calls him out as too bitchy. And the punchline involving the Janitor, Maintenance Guy, and J.D. was perfect.
The writers had more of a handle on most of the interns by the end of this batch, Tosh and Blake especially. But it still feels like there are too many of them to properly use if the seasons are going to be this short. If ABC renews it, I don't know if the financials on the network and/or studio end make sense with a longer episode order. Nor do I know if Zach Braff and the other Los Angeles-based actors want to spend an even longer amount of time in Vancouver, far from home. Overall, this was one of the better sitcom revivals we've gotten, but it also helped to underline the point I often make about what we've lost as TV seasons have gotten shorter. Even at 13 episodes instead of nine, I suspect the full ensemble would feel much better served.
That's it for today! What did everybody else think?
