K'sMIRT is Kent's Month in Reviewing Television, where each month(ish) I step through the TV series I completed watching (or in this case, didn't complete, and may not complete).
Episodes Watched: 7 of 10
Why I no finish?: We were really quite enjoying the reunion of the Neighbours leads with director Nicholas Stoller (who also brought along Luke McFarlane and Guy Branum from Bros.) which finds Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen as estranged best friends rekindling their best-friendship after Rogen's recent break-up with his wife whom Byrne didn't get along with. There's absolutely no will-they/won't-they tension and it is yet another series that could so easily lean into cringe comedy but manages to smartly side step it into, well, maybe not the kindness porn of Ted Lasso, but into something much gentler and affable.
Will I return to it?: Yes, when we re-up AppleTV+ for season 2 of Severence we'll finish it off.
Episodes Watched: 3 of 10
Why I no finish?: Speaking of cringe... Beef is extreme cringe, like calling Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm out for being total pussies and doubling down by being a cringe drama instead of cringe comedy. Ali Wong and Stephen Yeun are both amazing as two people in utter despair over their daily lives, that when they start to fued over a road rage incident gone viral, it escalates in increasingly uncomfortable ways. It's fascinating, but unsettling viewing, and each half-hour episode feels like it takes a 3-hour toll.
Will I return to it?: I really want to. It seems like a smart show that, despite painting its two leads with increasingly ugly colours, still finds its sympathies lay with them, and that there's a subconscious imperative (rather than logical one) that drives them. I think it will be ultimately rewarding to finish. Lady Kent has bowed out, so I'll have to do it on my own.
Episodes Watched: 4 of 10
Why I no finish?: I love, love, love Clone High. I'm a total fanboy of both Lord and Miller and Bill Lawrence, and this is where that venn diagram meets. The original series holds a very special place in my heart, as it seemed to be perennially on in the background of both "The Ronces" and "BOBTown", the two apartments I shared with my dear departed friend Jeremy. Clone High's return is a bittersweet one as I absolutely love that it's basically returned as a direct sequel 20 years later, as well as addressing it's now problematic past, and it's as funny as it ever was...but Jeremy isn't here to share it with me. I can hear his laugh in the background when I watch it which both fills me with warmth and also sadness.
Will I return to it?: I didn't mean to stop watching it, as it's recorded on the DVR, I just need to get back to it when I have spare 20 minutes here and there.
Episodes Watched: 1 of 10
Why I no finish?: I didn't realize when I saw commercials for UWE that it was the latest Genndy Tartakovsky animated series. Samurai Jack is a formative animated series for me, his Clone Wars series is a fantastic bit of elseworlds, and I even really dig Primal despite missing the entire second season completely. But each of those series has that decidedly angular Tartakovsky style, while UWE is definitely not that. It makes perfect sense that the character designs are from Stephen DeStefano (who I know from way back from DC's little known 'Mazing Man comic and the short-lived ensemble humour comic called Instant Piano) as it's totally his bloopy, rounded Betty Boop-era Max Fleischer-esque style. It's just shocking, is all, when you're expecting one style and getting the seeming polar opposite. Also I caught episode 3 of the series and it made absolutely zero sense to me. It's also kind of steam-punk fantasy, which is totally not a genre I key into, so maybe that's just an insurmountable barrier.
Will I return to it?: If I can start back at episode 1, I'll definitely give it another shot.
Episodes Watched: 2? 3? of 5
Why I no finish?: The cast is epic, featuring Woody Harrelson, Justin Theroux, Lena Heady, Judy Greer, Domnhall Gleeson and dozens more recognizable faces and solid character actors, all in service of a thoroughly overwrought and self-satisfied piece of 70's political lampooning that seems too much of the era it's trying to ape. It's a smug piece of anti-Republicanism that rewards anti-Republicans with a constant pat on the back by turning every single Republican on screen into a braying buffoon or insolent idiot. Hey, not that I don't agree, but there's not an ounce of subtlety to this and none of the comedy was working for me. It was just too nail-on-the head and I like to think I'm into more sophisticated poop than that. (Heh, poop.)
Will I return to it?: Nope
Episodes Watched: 4 of 12
Why I no finish?: In the time between Season 3 and 4 of Titans we've been absolutely flooded with superhero programming, some of it ongoing, some of it net new, but most of it in the range of mediocre. I've obviously outgrown the need to "support" every mainstream product in hopes that they will give me more. At this stage, it truly is too much...too much to consume, too much to care about, and most of it doesn't really deliver the thrills that I want out of superheroes. There was a moment there where I was worried that TV and film were going to replace comics as THE market for superhero entertainment, but if anything they've proved that maybe the only place they truly work, at least in the shared-universe capacity that I enjoy them, is in comic book form. Titans season 4 is more of the same from Titans which is taking 40 years of superhero drama and doing very little intriguing with it, and frequently forgetting its a superhero show at all, getting lost in its own diversions from the source material and characters. There's a horror subplot that, were it a movie, could make for a tight, suspensful and scary production, but as a 12-episode series, even a quarter of the way through, already feels drawn out and watered down. The visual flair of the first season has now given way to the cheap Canadian-made CW-style production values. The most fun we've been having has nothing to do with story or character, and everything to do with guessing the Toronto landmark on screen.
Will I return to it?: Hard maybe.
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