Streaming TV

Available on Netflix

Chuck Lorre is pretty much the king of the long-running CBS multi-camera sitcom and has been for years. Mom, The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, and Mike and Molly, to name but a few, are all his.

If you had to characterise these shows, ‘misanthropic’, ‘misogynistic’, ‘stereotypical’, ‘lowest common denominator’, ‘crass’ and ‘cruel’ might pepper your descriptions at various points. A few choice other words might be there, too.

All of which makes The Kominsky Method, Lorre’s latest addition to his comedy oeuvre, quite a surprise. It’s a genuine Netflix original, for starters. It’s also a single-camera comedy. It’s also funny, smart, human and even poignant at times.

Colour me surprised.

The Kominsky Method

The central characters are twice-divorced, formerly successful actor Sandy Kominsky, who’s played by no less a star than Michael Douglas. Kominsky is now a much more successful acting coach, who runs an LA acting studio with his daughter (Go On‘s Sarah Baker), teaching various young wannabes how to act.

Kominsky best friend is – sadly for him – his curmudgeonly agent, again played by no less a star than Alan Arkin. Arkin has been happily married to Susan Sullivan (Castle, Dharma and Greg) for 40 years, but even more sadly, she’s dying of cancer.

It’s no big spoiler to say that Sullivan passes away in the first episode and the rest of the series is then about Arkin’s reaction, as well as how Douglas’s and Arkin’s relationship changes afterwards as they try to navigate single old age – particularly once Arkin’s alcoholic daughter (House‘s Lisa Edelstein) shows up and Douglas starts dating one of his students, the nearly age appropriate Nancy Travis (Three Men and a Baby, Last Man Standing).

Cue hilarious hijinks? Well, yes, oddly enough, as well as a surprising number of high profile cameos and even the occasional tear.

Continue reading “Boxset Monday: The Kominsky Method (season one) (Netflix)”