My new job has left me a bit mentally tired at night, and since we had a four-week span where we didn’t record a new episode of The Broadcast, Jay and I have watched a bunch of new television shows lately. The first one was Girls 5Eva. Here are the other ones and what we thought:
We Are Lady Parts (Peacock) We didn’t intend to, but ended up watching all six episodes of the first season of We Are Lady Parts in one sitting. Created, written, and directed by Nida Manzoor, WALP is clever, charming, and creative. Awkward yet lovable Amina Hussein reluctantly joins an all-female, all-Muslim punk rock band as their new lead guitar player…only she struggles with terrible stage fright. Amina tries to balance her studies, her more traditional friends, her progressive new bandmates, and the pressure to find a husband. Her parents are delightfully ‘woke’ and the characters are fun, well-developed, and diverse. This was Jay’s favorite out of all of the new shows we watched.
Dr. Death (Peacock) This drama is based on season 1 of Wondery’s podcast Dr. Death, which chronicles the horror story of Dr. Christopher Duntsch (played by Joshua Jackson!), who maimed or killed 33 of the 38 patients he operated on in Dallas, TX. It also examines corruption in and the CYA nature of our medical system. I ended up relistening to the entire season after we watched the first episode of the TV series because I like comparing movies/TV shows to their source material. This one stayed fairly true to the podcast, with some creative choices such as combining some of the patients’ experiences, etc. It’s good, but I’m not sure if that’s because we already knew the story. We did struggle to watch the last two episodes, but it wasn’t because they were bad. They just shifted focus from the hospital drama and into the courtroom drama and we already knew the outcome. If you liked the podcast, check out the first two eps of the show before deciding if you want to go on. If you haven’t listened to the podcast, I’d say start there first.
Schmigadoon! (Apple TV) So this must be what Broadway actors were up to while the Theatre District was shut down, haha. Just like with WALP, we ended up watching almost the entire first season in one night. The only thing we knew about it ahead of time was that it was a musical with Cecily Strong and Keegen-Michael Key. We were just going to start the first episode because we had time to kill before a Padres game started, but it was suuuuper cheesy but we loved it and got completely sucked in. The premise parodies Brigadoon: A couple gets lost while camping during a couples’ retreat and gets stuck in a musical. The townsfolk and the music are parodies of existing musicals, characters, and plotlines. For example, there’s a group number that sounds a lot like the song “Oklahoma!,” a town scoundrel a la Carousel, and a storyline that mimics The Music Man. Alan Cummings plays the town mayor, Mayor Menlove, and Kristen Chenowith plays the pastor’s ultra-conservative wife. Mayor Menlove’s wife, played by Avenue Q’s Ann Harada, steals the show with a song in ep. 3. The running jokes are funny (“Sorry, Pete!”) and the music is awesome. There’s a great song in ep. 5 that borrows from The Sound of Music and even though I knew what was about to happen during the series’ emotional climax, I still jumped for joy. As soon as the cast finished belting out the ensemble S1 finale song, I wanted more. Theatre geeks, definitely check this show out.
Ted Lasso Season 2 (Apple TV) Four episodes in, we are really enjoying the second season of Ted Lasso. I know it’s terrible, but the season’s John Rocket-inspired cold open made me laugh harder and longer than I’ve laughed at a TV show or movie in a long time. I think it was an oddly-timed emotional release because we watched it two days after Zoe died and I had been sad and tense, but man, I laughed for a good while (even though it’s horrible to have laughed at it!). I loved the activism and the ‘boss ass bitch’ storylines in ep. 3 and enjoyed every single cheesy and heartwarming moment of the holiday episode. I’m intrigued to see where the therapist’s storyline is headed. But really, to me, the best part of this season is Keely and Roy Kent. It’s so refreshing to watch a healthy couple with a plotline that doesn’t involve relationship drama. Roy’s one-liners are amazing and I love watching their relationship with his niece. The scene where Roy finds out what Keely’s watching to pleasure herself? Hilarious. So happy they didn’t go with the easy choice of making it you-know-who. Can’t wait for the rest of Season 2.
Mythic Quest (Apple TV) Mythic Quest follows a video game company that produces a popular game called Mythic Quest. This is a very character-based show that centers around the beleaguered lead engineer Poppy Li and the game’s tech-bro creator, Ian Grimm. I’m only midway through the first season, but Jay is all caught up on both seasons and is rewatching it with me. I’m liking it so far, though my favorite episode has been a stand-alone flashback episode, haha. I do like Poppy, though, as well as some of the other side characters. I’m rooting for them. Maybe I’ll give a more detailed report after I’m all caught up. Is anyone else watching/has watched it? Let me know what you thought about it or any of the other shows I’ve watched lately! 🙂
Let me know if you have any recommendations on what to watch next! I feel like we have to watch White Lotus at some point soon since it’s the new “it” thing.
