Every few years, something in the TV zeitgeist will spit out a pair of remarkably similar new series. You might get two new dramas set in a Chicago hospital in the same season (ER and Chicago Hope), or even something as weirdly specific as two different shows — both on NBC, no less — set backstage at a fictionalized version of SNL (30 Rock and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip). That said, I'm not sure I've ever seen quite as much specific overlap as what we're getting over the next few days with Netflix's Vladimir and HBO's Rooster. Among the things the two have in common in terms of setting, character, and incident:
- They're comedies starring award-winning actors past 50 (Rachel Weisz in Vladimir, Steve Carell in Rooster) playing professors at small but prestigious liberal arts colleges.
- Both professors are sexually frustrated, and flirt with a colleague who may or may not reciprocate their feelings.
- Both professors have complicated relationships with their adult daughters, who in turn are experiencing trials and tribulations within their marriages.
- Both professors are called on the carpet by their colleagues multiple times for behavior around students that may or may not have been questionable, and/or may or may not have been intentional.
- Both professors have family members who also teach at the college, and have had affairs with students.
If I had a nickel for every time this winter I've had to quote Heinz Doofenshmirtz talking about how weird it would be to get two nickels, I would have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that I've felt compelled to do it twice. And this is unquestionably a two nickel situation.