As you get older, you become more reflective. You look back over your life and all the things that made you what you are and that took you to your current place in existence. Often, you’ll want to share your thoughts and ruminations with others, share those memories before they become like so many ‘tears in the rain’.
Frequently, however, this is far more interesting for you than for anyone else, who probably have their own stories and memories they enjoy far more than yours.
Better Things is a semi-autobiographical piece written by and starring Pamela Adlon, co-written by Louis CK. Adlon isn’t a big name, unless you’re a fan of either Grease 2 or Louis, but she’s had a long career in show business, particularly in voice-over work. Indeed, you may recognise her voice more than her, since she won an Emmy for her performance as Bobby on King of the Hill.
Ever wanted to know what life is like for a 50-something single mother with three daughters, who’s the daughter of a TV producer and who’s an actress living in LA who goes to a lot of auditions and has to deliver a lot of bad dialogue in a lot of bad TV shows? I can’t say I feel a desperate need to know myself, but maybe you’re different, in which case Better Things will be a big help bridging that empathy gap.
Trouble is, it’s not saying an awful lot that you won’t have heard elsewhere. It’s tough being a single mom; it’s tough dating when you’re older; it’s tough having a teenage daughter; it’s tough being an older actress. And so on. These are known things. Even the ‘bad parenting’ jokes have been done to death this year alone, in movies such as Bad Moms and TV shows such as The Detour. Maybe we need reminding every so often, but I’m not sure a multi-part comedy series on FX is the best way to go about it.
All the same, there are good things in Better Things, although that’s more to do with some creative choices than the subject matter or anything especially interesting or funny that happens. Better Things isn’t always linear storytelling, with time jumps backwards and forwards, dream sequences, inter-titles, TV shows within TV shows, cameos by famous actors, either as themselves (Julie Bowen from Modern Family) or as characters (Bradley Whitford from The West Wing). The autobiographical elements give the show a specificity and an accuracy that it might not otherwise have had, too, and there’s some laughs to be had from Adlon’s voiceover work.
Maybe if you’re facing similar issues, you’ll find this funny in a gallows humour kind of way. Personally, I found it just a little bit too self-involved, a bit too much a female Californication but without much joy.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary this month, The Monkees was one of those shows you couldn’t avoid if you lived in the UK during the 80s. Every time school holidays rolled around, along with The Red Hand Gangand The Flashing Blade, there was The Monkees on BBC1, every morning. This was despite having been made in the 1960s, mind you – I do wonder how the kids of today will ever get to watch classic TV without the likes of the Beeb and Channel 4 to force feed them it any more.
The Monkees was odd. One of the first US shows to feature teenagers as its leads, it starred an eponymous pop group of four youngsters, Davy Jones, Mike Nesmith, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork, all with Beatles-esque haircuts – guess what network NBC was trying to cash in on? What was odd was:
It was a sitcom, set around the group’s often surreal, often fourth-wall breaking adventures, in which they all played versions of themselves
Davy Jones was British, which was a rare thing on US TV in those days
It had musical breaks during which the band sung their songs, although frequently the action would continue while the group played
The group had never met each other until the show, having been recruited by an NBC casting call, yet they still managed not only to gel, but to become a successful band in their own right.
In fact, so well did they gel, despite the tragic loss of Davy Jones, the remaining Monkees are still touring and writing music to this day, and the group created a number of classic 60s songs, including ‘I’m A Believer’, ‘Last Train To Clarksville’ and ‘Daydream Believer’. Not to forget the theme tune to the show itself.
The show lasted for an impressive two seasons, after which the group’s metaness reached a peak with the movie Head, written by the show’s creator Bob Rafelson (Five Easy Pieces) and none other than Jack Nicholson. This was actually an odd, stream of conscious, series of scenes about the difficulties of being a public figure, interspersed with satire about war, drugs, and politics. That and getting stuck in a giant Victor Mature.
One of the classics of 60s sitcoms, The Monkees’ legacy endured for years. In the 70s, The Banana Splitswas largely The Monkees but featuring men wearing animal costumes, with just a hint of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In. And arguably the 1980s’ The Young Ones‘ musical interludes owed a heavy debt to The Monkees‘.
You can watch most of the episodes of The Monkees on YouTube, but here’s the first, just for your enjoyment.
And for true fans, here are the screen tests for the cast:
It’s “What have you been watching?”, my chance to tell you what movies and TV I’ve been watching recently that I haven’t already reviewed and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case I’ve missed them.
The usual “TMINE recommends” page features links to reviews of all the shows I’ve ever recommended, and there’s also the Reviews A-Z, for when you want to check more or less anything I’ve reviewed ever.
I’ve been a bit slack over the past week. Work’s been a bit crazy and season two of Narcos has been taking up a lot of my time. Never fear, though, as over the next few days, I should – fingers crossed – be reviewing a whole batch of new US shows, including Quarry, Better Things and Speechless. I might even pass a third-episode verdict on Four In The Morning, if I have the time.
After the jump, I’ll be looking at the latest episodes of the regulars, Halt and Catch Fire, Mr Robot and You’re The Worst, as well as the whole second season of Narcos and the season finale of The Last Ship. But before that, one show I had been planning to do a full review of last week but didn’t get round to because it turned out not to be worth it was…
Atlanta (US: FX; UK: Fox UK – starts November)
Written by Donald Glover (Community, The Martian), Atlanta also stars Glover as the Princeton-drop out cousin of an Atlanta rapper (Brian Tyree Henry) who’s just about to hit the big time. Glover has to use his big brain, as well as his connections, to get in on the deal as well as help Henry deal with the problems of the music biz, race, sex and more.
I’ve seen various articles talking about how Glover has ‘redefined comedy’ with Atlanta and it’s fair to say that he’s redefined in that Atlanta is as much a drama as a comedy and there aren’t many jokes. Of the jokes that Glover does give us, most of which he gives to himself and concern being the smartest guy in the room, with no one on his level to talk to (“Do you know where the word management comes from?” “Yes, it’s from the Latin word manus, meaning hand” “Oh… Management really means…”). Otherwise, while it does offer an insider’s view of life for the poorer members of society in Atlanta, it doesn’t offer that much that’s new – apparently, people will treat you differently if you’re famous, for example. How insightful.
I wanted to like this, since Glover’s great, and I had had high hopes for it, given Glover started out writing for 30 Rock, but my 100% dislike of all shows about the American music industry (eg Power, Empire, Vinyl, Nashville) continues to have a 100% strike rate thanks to Atlanta.
