Thursday, March 28, 2024

Need A Break From Reality? Course You Do. Here Are Our Top TV Picks Right Now

Emma

Insecure (Neon)

My favourite sub-genre of television is women who write and act in their own projects; ala The Mindy Project, Broad City, 30 Rock and Fleabag. Issa Rae is the super clever and witty writer behind Insecure, and this show – which just wrapped up its fourth season this week – is a perfect little slice of relatable life in your 30s. The main two characters are Issa and Molly, who are both working professionals with busy lives and diabolical love lives. Like Broad City, their friendship is the real love story of the show but Insecure does show, particularly in its latest season, the micro-aggressions that can fracture even the closest bonds. The show is laugh-out-loud funny, the outfits are amazing, the apartments are realistically appealing, and the range of supporting characters is excellent. I know that it’s cliché to say that a show is the 21st century version of Sex and the City, but I think Insecure hits the same marks. One of my most repeated rants is how much I disliked the show Girls, the entire world of moneyed privilege that show was set in and the fact that the characters were, at their heart, just appallingly awful to each other. Girls, in my opinion, felt like it was written by women who didn’t really like women. Insecure feels like a show that is written by (mostly) women who love women but also get that we can be complex, maddening and contradictory creatures without becoming vicious stereotypes.

Never Have I Ever (Netflix)

This show was co-created by Mindy Kaling who is one of my absolute favourite writers who hits the perfect blend of comedy and drama of female life in the same way Nora Ephron was able to. Never Have I Ever takes a common premise – nerd teenage girl trying to lose her virginity – and turns it into warm, hilarious and heart-breaking commentary on life as a teenage girl. Throughout the 10 episodes, the show deftly weaves in a lot of complex subject matter: death, school pressures, sexual identity, cultural identity, as well as the high expectations placed on kids with first generation immigrant parents. But it never feels heavy handed and it treats its teenage characters with great love and care, rather than any kind of patronizing tone. Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, who plays the lead character Devi, was cast after Mindy did an open casting call and she is a superstar in this role as a hot-headed, over-achieving, sex-mad teenage girl. In what is just a stroke of genius, Devi’s life is narrated by tennis legend John McEnroe. I cannot explain it better than that, only to tell you that as a storytelling device it is absolutely perfect and takes this show from being brilliant to sublime. 

The Luminaries (TVNZ ondemand)

I first read this glorious tome of a book in preparation for this interview with Eleanor Catton and was also lucky enough to visit part of the set as part of my last job as a proper journalist. Because the series is so layered and complex, with a timeline that dances all over the place, I’ve been trying to eke it out slowly, much like how you would with a fancy box of chocolates versus just ripping open a Mars bar with your teeth. You know what I mean? The costumes and look of the show is so beautiful, but seeing a period piece bang up against our glorious South Island landscape is just such a wonderful juxtaposition. For years and years, I let the size of The Luminaries put me off but it truly is such a clever ripper of a book and it’s wonderful to see it brought to life on the screen! Also, Eva Green has been one of my favourite actresses for such a long time and she’s just perfect for the dastardly Lydia Wells.

Nicky’s picks

Schitt’s Creek (Netflix)

One of the things that kept me afloat during lockdown was discovering the TV series Schitt’s Creek on Netflix. It’s the tale of a fabulously wealthy family who wind up penniless and must pack their belongings and decamp to a dumpy motel in the small hick town of Schitt’s Creek – nowheresville, USA. The juxtaposition of this family who have been cushioned in a world of glamour and privilege, learning to coexist with ‘salt of the earth’ ordinary folk from the town is absolutely sublime. Slowly they begin to adjust and in the process make meaningful connections both with each other and the people they are surrounded by. 

The characters are all brilliant and awful, in particular the matriarch of the family, Moira, who is a washed up daytime soap star who desperately retains her airs and graces (she wears a waistcoat to bed). She is played by the wonderful Catherine O’Hara, best known for slapping her hands to her face and shouting ‘KEVIN’ in Home Alone and Home Alone 2. The dad is another 90s film favourite, Eugene Levy, the bushy-eyebrowed dad in the American Pie series. He is the real-life creator of the show and his son and daughter both star in it too. It’s hilarious and actually very moving when you least expect it and feels deeply appropriate for a time when many of us have had our lives turned upside down and are left with no choice but to adapt as best we can.

Unorthodox (Netflix)

This is a window into the seldom-seen world of an ultra-religious orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn. Our hero is a young woman called Esther who has been raised by her grandparents because her father is an alcoholic and her mother escaped the confines of her marriage, forsaking her daughter in the process. As a result Esther is trying desperately to be the perfect bride and settle into a life of security and subservience with her new husband. Despite her best efforts she feels miserable and trapped and makes the terrifying choice to leave everything she knows and run away to Berlin, the city that her mother just so happens to now reside in. It’s a suspenseful show which is stressful, and emotional and excruciating at times. From the unbearable sex scenes of the naive newlyweds who have been taught nothing about their own bodies, to seeing an unworldly young woman try to find her place in a group of cool Berliner musicians. These feelings are all heightened by the fact that it is based on a true story.

Sunderland ‘Til i Die’ (Netflix)

Let me be the first to say that I am not a football fan. I barely understand the rules, even though they don’t seem terribly complicated, and like many sports (other than cricket) I would only watch it under duress. That did not prohibit me from loving a show that is entirely about an English football club that has been down on its luck for decades. This documentary follows the misfortunes of the Sunderland team and portrays not only the powerful love that the British have for the beautiful game, but the way that supporting a local team binds together a community. In this case a Northern mining town which has been in the doldrums since Thatcher days and whose loyalty and passion for the club is unwavering no matter how painful that is. Turns out watching the trials and tribulations of some perennial losers makes far more interesting viewing than watching winners kicking goal after goal.

Next on my list

Hilary (TVNZ on demand)

I can’t wait to take a behind the scenes look at this absolute legend, even if it hurts every time to think she could have been President. (TVNZ on demand)

Normal People (TVNZ on demand)

Like every woman and her dog i’ve read the book so keen to see the TV adaptations. The sex scenes are the talk of the town. (TVNZ on demand)

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