Wednesday, June 05, 2019

Here We Go HBO

Vulture has ranked every HBO show ever made, so here's my (very brief) thoughts on the ones I've seen.

You're welcome, fans!

The Sopranos - what can you say about The Sopranos that hasn’t been said a million times? Though at the time, I wanted to turn my nose up at it (I was wrong.) Also, their food choices were annoying.

Sex and the City - a show not to be taken seriously; it’s not really good but not really terrible. But if you lived in New York at the time, like I did, watching it every Sunday night was a communal thing (back in the days when there were such things, of course.)

Girls - a junior varsity Sex and the City, a show I’d hate-watch and roll my eyes at but couldn’t bare to miss an episode. Also, liked to watch because a lot of the scenes were filmed in my old neighborhood.

Crashing - super-easy show to watch, fun cameos by comedians far funnier than the merely affable Pete Holmes. Was perfectly fine, when it ended I didn’t miss it. Tho it also opened the door to my discovering New Material Seinfeld.

The Larry Sanders Show - a pure classic that gets funnier as time passes. Insanely great cast and characters as archetypes, and of course our national endearment for Garry Shandling only grows every day.

Togetherness - was okay. Mostly watched because of the insanely hot Amanda Peet.

Tremé - was spell-binding at first (despite John Goodman’s nauseating character and Sean Zahn’s nauseating character that eventually grew on us), then by the last season you realized every episode was the exact same over & over but I still watched. Also: Khandi Alexander. Nom. Nom. Nom!!!!

Curb Your Enthusiasm - nothing to say. All-time classic.

Veep - a great show in which we had to suspend belief that THAT many people were THAT funny 24/7. Final season was okay but a beat slow with the insults and in the end, not really necessary (tho ended with an all-time gut punch.) I want a Richard spinoff!!

Oz - loved this in the beginning. I kinda fell off after a few seasons, a bit too depressing for me - maybe it reminded me a bit much of my old days raping my fellow Aryan Nation brothers in the clink?

Barry - brilliant show made even better by the brilliant Henry Winkler and the character NoHo Hank, one of the funniest new characters in decades.

Six Feet Under - liked this at first but eventually got worn down re: “how much more terrible shit can happen to this family?” Also jarring to remember that it starred a pre-Office Dwight Shrute.

Boardwalk Empire - loved this in the beginning, then lost interest.

Silicon Valley - loved this for a couple seasons until it became an endless loop of ‘OH YEAH they finally made it OH SHIT now they’ve blown it.” Didn’t bother watching the last season.

The Comeback - awful. Tried to jump on the cringe-worthy genre train but was truly unwatchable.

Vice Principals - started out worried it was just gonna be a remake of Eastbound & Down, which it was, but by the end was obsessed with Walter Goggins who was spellbinding. Was at its best when they were way over the top.

Eastbound & Down - iconic. Think it limped to its finish line, but when it was on its game it was truly hysterical. Every dude of a certain generation has rarely gone 6 months without shouting "Kenny fucking Powers!"

True Detective - I don’t even know how I stumbled into watching as it’s not really my genre, but I refuse to believe there have ever been two performances better than Harrelson/McConaughey.  And we’ll just pretend it ended after the first season, please.

Extras - LOVE this show, and was one of the first BBC shows I got to watch before streaming. I wish Darren Lamb and Barry from Eastenders could have a spinoff.

Hello Ladies - Stephen Merchant solo, didn’t dig it at first but every time I’ve returned to it I like it more. Love his character’s stinginess with money.

Hung - I like Thomas Jane ("You're Mickey fucking Mantle!") but don’t remember much, probably didn’t make it ll the way through.

Doll & Em - loved this quiet, small show. And I have a big crush on Dolly Wells.

How to Make it in America - terrible show, tho I watched it because it took place in my neighborhood. Luiz Guzman’s talents were totally wasted on this crap.

Sally4Ever - wanted to like this because I’m a big Julia Davis fan but struggled to keep with it and in the end asked, “what the fuck was the point?”

Divorce - mostly watch cuz it has Lowell Mather and all-time Mrs. Xmastime Sarah Jessica Parker. Second season was funny but I don’t really remember/care where it ended. Will watch Season 3.

Family Tree - like everyone else in the world I love Chris O’Dowd but for the life off me I couldn’t make it through this show. So dull, but will prolly give it a second go just because of O’Dowd.

Lucky Louie - I LOVED this show, partly because it was really funny and partly because of the 70’s-style sets that made it look like the budget was about $10. Shame it got cancelled so quickly.

Ballers - Entourage with The Rock. Quasi-watchable for a season.

Entourage - bafflingly watchable, probably because it was a bit of a water cooler show before streaming really hit. It was like masturbating - as soon as you’re done you’re like “wtf, I’m never doing that again” and then blammo! Back at it.

The Newsroom - watched every episode and of course as a liberal I agreed with everything but them hammering away so stridently was fucking nauseating.

Vinyl - I could watch Bobby Cannavale act out the phone book and Ray Romano was shockingly good, but the show was ruined by 1. The completely unnecessary Andrew Dice Clay plot line and 2. The Forrest Gumpish “oh look just standing round here we’re running into every NYC punk band from the 70s.”

Dream On - barely remember this as it was so long ago, but I’m surprised how badly it’s ranked here. Was a funny show, there’s WAY worse shows on this list ahead of it.

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