New Year, new shows

Every month I talk about the movies and books I’ve romped around with, but I figured I would share what I’m watching on the smaller screen lately¹. With a thorough lockdown still in effect in most of California, it’s never been a better time to really dig-in to shows I’ve missed, or new stuff being produced somehow² during all of this.

Taskmaster

I still don’t know why all of this is on YouTube in an official capacity, but I don’t want to complain. Greg Davies, who you might know from The Inbetweeners plays a diabolical host, asking the five comedians arrayed in front of him to engage in demeaning, challenging, or just silly tasks for points. The real brains behind the shoe is little Alex Horne who plays a hapless sidekick very well. I’ve laughed so hard watching this show, and cranked through ten seasons in only a few weeks. This is a must watch if you like comedy, but I will admit you may enjoy it more if you’re accustomed to British humor and know a few of the competitors.

Alone

Look, I get the sense a lot of these folks aren’t on the good side politically, but it’s sure fun to watch them slowly lose their entire self in the woods. My group of friends became semi-obsessed with this program over the summer, after hearing about it from Jason Mantzoukas on How Did This Get Made.

Band of Brothers

An HBO Max-watchable re-watch brought back a lot of memories of the first time I watched this. I followed-up on this series about the men who fought in some of the most pivotal battles of WWII with Generation Kill, which is all about the nihilism of fighting in the gulf under false pretense. War is absolute garbage, but fighting the nazis seems a lot better than destabilizing sovereign nations for oil.

How to with John Wilson

When I heard this show was being produced by Nathan Fielder, my eyeballs began to salivate. Truly, Nathan for You is one of my all-time favorite tv shows. HtwJW is quite a bit different, and sometimes much more touching and sincere, but it masterfully captures the oddity of humanity. The stories John catches with his camera, and the narratives that came out in the editing bay are outstanding. Equal parts laughter and saying “wow”.

Moonbase 8

This is the other space-related comedy that came out this year, but I think it’s both funnier, and more cutting than Space Force. I truly love the oddity that Tim Heidecker pulls out for this, as a man intent on “bringing Jesus to space”. I guess I’m a sucker for shows about mediocre failures. The cameos in this show are also excellent, and there are many faces you might recognize from another excellent show called Search Party.

Dark

One of the best sci-fi shows I’ve watched in years. The weirdness of the show, the complexity of the scif-fi, and the gorgeous visuals were complimented by great music. I was an Apparat fan before I watched this show, and it definitely made me put The Devil’s Walk back on my regular rotation. I can’t say much about this show without spoiling it, but there’s disappearing kids, and multiple time-periods, and that’s just the start. Turn the lights down low and dive in.