Showing posts with label sitcom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sitcom. Show all posts

Tuesday, 12 October 2021

Before they 'jump the shark'!

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (season 8, final season)

After a long hiatus, Brooklyn Nine-Nine returned with its last season. A lot of things happened after the previous season. George Floyd's mishandling, Black Live Matters movement and calls to defund the police did not put the police in the best of light. Despite the public sensitivities and the problems of filming under pandemic situations, the team managed to churn out an entire ten-episode season. The producers decided to keep it neutral by avoiding too much police work and limiting the storyline more to the precinct's pranks.

Fonzie on water skis, in a scene from the
1977 Happy Days episode "Hollywood,
Part 3", after jumping over a shark
Maybe it is just me; I feel that actors have all grown lethargic playing their roles. The initial glow and enthusiasm seem to have been lost. Perhaps the producers saw that too. Rather than creating a 'jumping the shark' moment or even 'nuke the fridge' scene, they wisely decided to call it quits. After eight years of 'working', the team ended the season emotionally with their classical whacky treasure hunt during the Halloween season.

What do these jargons 'jumping the shark' and 'nuke the fridge' even mean, you may wonder?

Between 1974 and 1984, 'Happy Days' was flying the waves with its sitcom set in the mid-50s to mid-60s midwest USA. After an initial stutter, they started flying high but hit a bump in Season 5. The producers tried to push the limit by using the show's main star, Fonz's, waterskiing abilities. They made him leap over a shark in one episode in his trademark leather jacket and shorts. The show went on for seven other seasons but never really regained its past glory.

Pundits always mention the 'jumping the shark' moment as the beginning of the decline of the show's popularity. It may not have not totally true as other outlandish characters appeared in that season too. Mork, an alien, stranded on Earth, made his debut. He was so popular that he went on to have a life of his own in a spin-off 'Mork and Mindy'. All in all, 'Happy Days' had 255 half-hour episodes.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) is rumoured
to be the next Indiana Jones. 
The general understanding is that any film sequels more than three are bound to be a dud. So when the 'Indiana Jones' franchise became so popular, the monetary attraction to make a fourth film was just too great. The scene where Indiana Jones survives a nuclear explosion by hiding in a refrigerator lined with lead was simply too outrageous for even a die-hard Indy fan to stomach. Just when you think that the 'nuke the fridge' scene would put an end to future Indiana Jones endeavours, think again. Indiana Jones 5 is in the pipeline for 2022, and in keeping with Hollywood's gender fluidity agenda, a female actor may be whipping the asses of the baddies.

Thursday, 1 July 2021

The blurring of real and reel life!

Wandavision (Miniseries, Season 1; 2021)
Disney + (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Now that memory and brain activity can theoretically be digitised and stored, and our cinematic presentation, (i.e. movies and TV shows) are essentially data that can be modulated and transmitted from port to port, nothing will stop these two forms of data (series of 1's and 0's) from intermingling. 

With our fixation with Tinseltown and penchant to immerse into instant visual gratification added with the obsession with having our TV/computer displays on 24/7, we may want to run our lives like they do on the silver screen. But, unfortunately, nothing will stop what is real and what is fake, fuelled by a fetish for hyper-reality, virtual reality, and obsession to experience in 3D and VR imaging.

How often have we seen children expecting their parents to be like those depicted on American sitcoms? How they wished their parents were cool like them too? When the hard knocks of life hit them hard at their tender spots, how they would have yearned for real life to be as easy as in the reel life? If only the script of our lives is written to our liking and draw to a conclusion at the end of the preset screening times, they would like to have. With the relevant technology at their disposal, it is only a matter of time, if they only could, that they would transform their worldly existence into the make-believe world of filmdom.

Elizabeth Olsen as
Scarlet Witch / Wanda
This must have been the premise to Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch turned to after her defeat in Avengers: Endgame, and she lost the love of her life, Vision. With her telekinetic and reality-altering abilities, she recreated her comfort zone that she remembered watching all through her formative years in Sokovia when love was in the air, and her family was intact. She took over a suburban town named Westview, turned its occupants into TV sitcom characters. She created a robust electromagnetic fence around the perimeter to ward off the FBI and SWORD. Wanda wrote the script of a narrative where she and Vision lead a man-and-wife life in a setting ala sitcom like 'Dick Van Dyke Show', 'Bewitched', 'Mary Tyler Show', 'I Love Lucy', and many more. As time went on, the setting changed to fit shows of the 70s and 80s - 'Brady Bunch', 'Full House', "Malcolm in the Middle', etc.

All the while, the FBI and SWORD teams are cracking their minds trying to infiltrate the perimeter. Then, finally, Wanda world of make-believe slowly crumbled, ending with a spectacular display of pyrotechnics and prowess of computer graphic imaging. 

Even though the series is labelled as the first season, it appears to have a nice ending at Ep #9 and segue nicely to fit Marvel's upcoming superhero offering 'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness'. A second season is unlikely.

Monday, 14 June 2021

Roads lead you nowhere when you don't know where you are going!

Master of None (Season 3, Ep 1 - 5; 2021)
Netflix

After riding high with the first two seasons of 'Master of None', Aziz Ansari got entangled with a nasty sexual assault claim that took much of the bejesus out of him. Maybe because of that, this season is not much about Aziz Ansari and his co-creator Alan Yang. If the earlier seasons were light comedies looking at the lives of first-generation immigrants and their interaction with their parents, this one is anything but funny. 

Aziz only appears as a co-star in two instances. Viewing the first episode itself, I had a certain deja vu feeling that  I had seen all that before. Then it clicked. It reminded me so much of Ingmar Bergman painfully slow 1973 miniseries, 'Scenes from a Marriage'.

This season centres around Denise (Lena Waithe), one of Dev's (Ansari) close friends. We know previously that she is a lesbian. She is now a thriving author living in the quiet countryside with her partner, Alicia. They seem to be a picture of bliss. The relationship slowly crumbles as Alicia becomes one-tracked mind to conceive through a donor. She becomes pregnant but unfortunately has a miscarriage. You can see the cracks as they appear in their seemingly rock-steady union. They divorce. A couple of years later, they meet up and reminisce about the life they had and of life on the whole.

This is a heavy drama that may be a disappointment to those who expected short, light-hearted jokes and life from the perspective of an immigrant to a first-world nation. Here, difficult questions are asked again, but more about relationships and the journey of life itself. It may strike as philosophical as it asks about our impulsive decisions and how much we are ever not satisfied with whichever path the path takes us. Perhaps, we really do not know what we want. When society predetermined how life should be lived, what mores were acceptable and stated our individuals, it was easier. As our targets were set, we just had to proceed without much thought while enjoying the scenery along the journey. But, ever since individualism crept in, we were let to our devices, trying to keep with the fickled trend, carrying more than we can chew on our plates whilst meeting all the challenges alone. Loneliness makes the trip seem longer and more arduous. 

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Monday, 4 May 2020

More stitches in Nine-Nine!

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Seasons 1-7; 2013-present)
Netflix

These days, the men in blue are painted as inhumane, dishonest and incompetent. With the ease of remotely recording them at work and with the benefit of hindsight, the public is quick to shoot, kill and bury the force. Things have become worst now, because of lockdown, as more vent their frustrations at the officers who are just trying to earn an earnest income (most of them anyway), carrying out duties assigned to them. Nobody likes to do the dirty job, but somebody got to do it anyway. What the powers-that-be can do is to improve public opinion. Like everything else in life, it is all perception. Police morale will further improve if they think that their job is given due credit by the public. They should not be looked upon as glorified gangsters working hand-in-glove with crooked politicians or even in cahoots with the very people they are supposed to protect the public from.


Rosa and Amy
One imagines the overhanging mood in the office of the police is that of anxiety, frustration, denial, suspicion and anger. Against this backdrop, it is a relief to see this sitcom which seems to show that the police actually have a good time while still maintaining high successful arrest rates. Sometimes viewers start thinking that they have too much time in their hands, especially from watching their highly intricate Annual Halloween Heist.

What makes this series different from other sitcoms? For one, it is their choice of cast. This fictitious precinct is led by a gay black officer, Captain Holt, who has a sob story about his challenging climb up the ladder of promotion in the police force which is overtly discriminative against blacks, what more if he is homosexual. The lead character is this whacky, sometimes immature, mischievous detective, Jake Peralta, who is the prime mover in the office. He carries the baggage of 'daddy issues' because of his philandering and absent father. His love interest is Amy, a meticulous Hispanic officer, whom Jake eventually marries. Jake's best friend is Charles, a timid colleague who plays along with Jake's pranks. Then there is Sergeant Terry, a buff but family guy who dotes on his twin daughters. Rosa is another Hispanic detective who is an emotional and insecure one who is bisexual. 



Hitchcock and Scully S6E2
Gina is Capt Holt's private secretary who does more job online than in the office. She lives in her own make-believe world and comes out with witty one-liners. Two interesting characters who had seen better times in the younger days, Hitchcock and Scully, now spend most of the time dodging work, eating and just sitting around. In their heydays, they were menacing enough to still hold the record of solving the most number of cases in the precinct. Guess, they burnt out along the way.

The fascinating thing about the sitcom is that the writers always come out with some new story every time. From busting drug lords to meeting family members or outwitting each other to meet the Halloween challenge, there is always something to smile. They are plenty of pop culture references that an 80s kid can pick up and feel happy about it.

Avid followers (like my son!) would have to wait a little longer for the eighth season to premiere, due to COVID and the lockdown.


Jake and Holt
Plenty of laugher at Brooklyn-99



Sunday, 19 April 2020

Somebody to ape?

Friends (1994-2004; Season 1-10)

People need role models to guide them through the uncertainties of life. Every living day is a new experience. Hence, newbies who step into different stages of their lives necessitate the presence of someone with authority to emulate. Parents and teachers are sparse representations of adulthood. Their paths are dull, unexciting and merely outdated. Juniors need to follow routes that are 'compelling' and approved by their contemporaries. They aspire for someone or some icon to tell them what normality is.

For teenagers who peeled their inner eyes of awareness at the turn of the century, the Gen-Y's, the TV rom-com 'Friends' could have influenced their perception of what relationship is all about. 

Come to think of it, a generation before them formed their opinions on more significant life issues from Oprah. Oprah Winfrey set the standards on women empowerment, relationship issues, and accepting body image issues. It was as though the whole world had one set of values and it was dictated by the divas in the superficially glamorous city of Tinseltown.

The Gen-Ys (a.k.a. Millennials, born 1981-96), the middle-class English speaking urbanites, moulded their lives around the characters of 'Friends'. It was the norm to have close friends of either gender who may be intimate friends of any kind, with no holds barred, including those considered taboo by the generation before them to go to in time of crises. The social and cultural norms deemed 'normal' are as determined by their favourite characters or collectively by the cast of 'Friends'.

For those who have been living in hibernation, the sit-com 'Friends' is about a group of six friends, two apartments and a coffee shop that they hang out as well as the people as they meet in their lives. They were in their 20s when they started the show. Ross and Monica are siblings. Chandler attended the same high school as Ross. Rachel was Monica's high school mate while Joey joined the group when he became Chandler's roommate. The sixth member of the group is Phoebe, the free-spirited 'hippie', who once lived off the streets and now works as a masseuse. 

Ross is a palaeontologist in a museum. Chandler is a statistic analyst while Joey is a struggling actor. Monica is trying to make it big as a chef. Rachel started as a waitress at the cafe they hang out, Central Perk, but later found a job in the fashion industry.

The earlier seasons were refreshing, but as more episodes get churned, one cannot help but notice that the scriptwriters were running out of ideas. I guess one cannot ask too many questions like how some cash-strapped struggling young adult could afford to live in Manhattan and spent most days chilling at their favourite cafeteria. And why a palaeontologist and an academic would find the company of blue-collar workers more appealing. As their funny bone shrunk, their canned laughter seemed to reach higher decibels, and their threshold for laughter fell to almost zero. The writers dragged airtime by creating lazy jokes with sexual innuendos and sometimes in-your-face tasteless language labelled as a comedy. Another time-buying manoeuvring was replaying clip shows and operating on sentiments of nostalgia. The show failed to show a growing maturity in the characters. They seem to be excited by the same jokes all throughout the seasons.

It is ridiculous when in one season Joey and Rachel are lovestruck and the next, they are finding dates and discussing ways to bed their respective dates. Sure, it is all supposed to be taken lightly, it is after all showbiz, I find it comical when a couple who has fallen out of love with each other can look at each other in the face like nothing happened. And live in the same apartment, on top of that! Or is that modern love or something called moving on?

After being in the limelight for ten seasons, the producers finally pulled the plug on the show after episode #236, leaving a string of broken hearts and rudderless souls. They await a reunion of the cast in a single unscripted comeback show which was supposed to out in March 2020 but postponed due to COVID-19.


It is not for me to say, but maybe it is for social scientists to explore. The male characters are not given prominence in the series, much like many of the shows that are churned out from Hollywood. The male personas appear the not so intelligent ones, jokers, laid back, indecisive and be wrapped around the fingers of their female counterparts. It would be interesting to see how social dynamics in other parts of the world get moulded by the American Dream and the American perspective of women empowerment. It is good to know just how much the teaching of the art of flirting and promiscuous lifestyle that is sold to the general public actually modify our social mores?





Friday, 20 April 2018

Sitcom for nerds?

The Good Place (Seasons 1-2; 2016+ )

Yes, Ted Danson of the 'Cheers' is at it again. No, not a remake of the 1980s sitcom but he stars in another sitcom. Danson does not reprise his role of Sam Malone, the bartender. Maybe for old time sake,  he gets to the back the counter to serve in one scene.  

This show deviates from your typical offering of American comedy where canned laughter spliced with unimaginative jokes weaved with sexual innuendoes rule the day. Interestingly, this show deals with something out-of-the-world, literally, that is.  

It delves into the meaning of life and talks a lot about philosophers who gave their input trying to explain our existence,  the purpose of it all and the way one should live it. Questions like mortality, morality, telling white lies, mindfulness and inter-human relationships are dealt in a playful yet profound way. 

Bartender, at your service!
The first episode starts with a group of misfits dying and landing on the other side. The place is 'The Good Place' (vs 'The Bad Place') where people enjoy eternity in bliss after earning their brownie points on Earth. Michael (Ted Danson) is the Architect who masterminded the genesis of the area and is on-site to run the place as well. He is assisted by an A.I. being called Jenny. 

The four main characters in the show are Eleanor, a frustrated delinquent with deprived childhood, who is mistakenly taken in for an environmentalist; Chidi, an indecisive and 'too intelligent for his own good' professor of Ethics and Philosophy; Tahani, a haughty, name dropping and narcissistic Pakistani-British socialite with overt sibling rivalry issues and a drug-dealing social outcast and an amateur DJ, Jason Mendoza, who is mistaken for a Buddhist monk. 

Eleanor and Jason know that there must be a glitch in the system for being there as they know they do not deserve that heaven! Chidi, at first he thought that his admission was due to his knowledge and his deed on Earth. He soon discovers that his indecisiveness and procrastination brought harm to others. (His death was due to it too!) Tahani thought her philanthropic work did the trick but was made to realise that she did it for self-interest, not altruism.

With many psychological tests and examples, the series takes us to the end of the first season when the story takes a twist. (No spoilers). It becomes more interesting towards the second season when 'The  Good Place' goes through a turmoil.

The trolley problem: should you pull
the lever to divert the runaway trolley
onto the side track? (Phillipa Foot,1967)
We do good because it is the right thing to do as we, humans, set it to be; not because so and so said so. The inquisitive nature of Man is the one which would carry our race through time. Even though on the surface, we appear disjointed and in packs, in time of adversities, we join forces to combat a common enemy. The thinkers amongst us spur us to come up with answers and justifications for our action.

In many psychological dilemmas, there is no one 'correct' answer. Sometimes, there are no answers, but we still seek them with our nimble minds.

In the trolley conundrum, the answer is not so straightforward. Other parameters play a role too. The quandary of sacrificing a sole individual over five may seem easy enough. What if the one is a professor or a scientist who is the verge of a breakthrough discovery or a national leader or someone known to you and so on.  This issue is also dealt with when it comes to self-driving cars.
Can self-sacrifice be accepted as another form of solution to this enigma? Like God giving His Son, which is actually a part of Him, to die on the Cross to wash Man of his original sin and save him?

Creative Commons License

Friday, 7 July 2017

First generation millennials with first world millennial problems

Master of None (Season 1-2; 2015-now)


At one look it may look like a satire of non-Caucasians trying to act and to fit in into contemporary American society. It is not. It starts with the story of four friends, Dev Shah (Aziz Ansari) as the first generation Indian American; Brian, son of a Taiwanese immigrant (Alan Yang); Arnold, a white friend who enjoys eating and Denise, a black lesbian lady and a childhood friend.

Unlike most American TV shows which put down the Indian actors as social misfits to find it difficult to blend with the American society, here Brian and Dev, being born, bred and educated in the American system, blending is not the issue. Their predicament is mostly the first world kind. Dev still goes around thinking that he is discriminated against for his ethnicity. The question is whether it is just his perception or is it just what the society wants. Being a part time advertisement actor, he goes on life working occasionally, still waiting for his big break.

He feels the bane of the millennials - too many choices to choose from! Unlike, his father who just followed the path that came his way- (Dev's father is a doctor who migrated from Chennai, worked hard, married the first girl that was arranged for him and found happiness), Dev is at wit's end trying to decide what to do in his life. He is thinking of a change in vocation, but what? He likes his girlfriend, Rachel, but is he committed to spent the whole of his life with her? He likes children but a weekend with his ex-girlfriend's kids stirs the doubt of his opinion about kids! In another episode, he discovers about growing old and the hardship one faces as they go into their twilight years.

An entertaining half-an-hour per episode sitcom which just went into its second season as Dev and Racheal go separate ways for a journey of self-discovery. Dev heads to Italia to learn pasta making and Rachael goes to Japan.

In the second season, the first episode, being done of his escapades in Italy, is shot in black and white, based on the classic 'Bicycle Thief'. Only this time, the thief runs away with his mobile phone. One of the controversial topics that he tries to cover is the issue of religion, fasting and consumption of pork. Dev and his family are Muslims and naturally, his parents want him to portray a nice image in front of their family friend. The episode ended amicably by a surah which is quoted as saying, 'for you is your religion, and for me is my religion'.

The later episodes in the second season are a reflection of the meaning of life, of sorts, and it takes on more serious subject matters, albeit in a lighthearted manner. The storytellers, in most cases are Ansari and Alan Yang, tackle plights of the minority, including LGBT, the minor religion practitioners, the hearing impaired and many more. The recurrent theme of this show is to show the superficiality of the modern society. It shows the extent that people who go to be politically correct and how much of the minority group would demand 'others' to show them respect. In their own way, they seek recognition in society. Affairs of the heart are depicted as meaningless as everyone seeks for that elusive perfect love. An entertaining show that makes you think. Life used to be so simple!

Monday, 2 August 2010

Situational comedy (Sitcom): Not funny no more!

Just the other day, I was watching two sitcoms back to back in the morning - episodes of '2 and a half men' and 'How I met your mother'. For the inhabitants of the Stone Age who are not familiar with these shows - '2 and a half men' is acted by the dysfunctional Charlie Sheen as a drunkard womaniser who shares his house with his 'forever broke' and dysfunctional and gullible divorced brother with a pre-teen son who sometimes stays with him. They have a sarcastic housekeeper with attitude and a nymphomaniac daughter who is a single mother. On the episode that I watched, the subject revolved around what the son overheard from his mother's bedroom when she was with her current live-in partner!

'How I met your mother' is a story of 5 late 20s friends - 3 guys and 2 girls; 1 couple is a pair who are living together, another couple used to date but have separated, and the remaining fornicates with anyone who carries the XX chromosome! This group will forever be discussing facts of lives in a pub sipping alcoholic beverages. On that episode that I saw, the dilemma was that the promiscuous friend had bedded the other friend's ex-girlfriend, hence had broken the brotherhood code ('bro code').

The glaring similarity between the two episodes was in their themes of adult nature. First of all, sitcoms are hardly suitable for daytime viewing. The script (conversation) was not sexual innuendos but, in fact, point-blank (in your face). This is coming from a country that boasts of being a Christian nation in God they trust and would go into crusades to live their way of living. And a country that has a large so-called 'Bible belt' states. Is it not ironic?

Whatever happened to sitcoms of yesteryears, albeit churned from Hollywood with canned laughter but carves a smile or two on its audience without stooping so low (sic) as to talk about sex, sex and sex all the time. The sitcoms mentioned above make the old sitcoms look like episodes of 'Sesame Street' and 'The Electric Company'. In fact, the teenage Disney sitcoms today are like sitcoms of the 70s and 80s. Am I missing something here? I feel like I have been through a time warp or cocoon and the world just slipped by. I miss real situational comedies like 'Gilligan's Island', 'Beverly Hillibillies', 'I love Lucy', 'I dream of Jeannie', 'Bewitched', 'MASH', 'Gomer Pyle', 'Happy Days', 'Laverne and Shirley', 'One day at a time', 'Different Strokes', 'Facts of life' and 'Brady Bunch'. Does it mean that as the lady's swimming suit gets smaller over the years, we have fewer things to hide and nothing is taboo anymore, and anything can be out in the open? Is taboo a taboo word now?
 
It does not take a rocket scientist to pen jokes of sexual nature, but it takes a lot of wit and brain matter to come up with witty, real funny situational comedies as it used to be in most British comedies. In that sense, their trans-Atlantic counterparts fared much better with their evergreen efforts like 'Yes, Minister', 'Black Adder', 'Mr Bean' and more.

True, we should move with the times like Bob Dylan said, 'Times are a changing'. However, certain things are better left mysterious and the search for it more gratifying!

“Be afraid. Be very afraid.”*