If until not so long ago people did not know what to watch due to lack of supply (they did have their favorite series whose new episodes premiered on a certain day and time), with the streaming boom the anguish continues, but in the opposite direction : there is so much to consume that you never have enough leisure time to be minimally updated before the multiple novelties that week after week flood the different platforms.
The services, through the design of their own platforms, the work of their algorithms when recommending content and marketing campaigns, always prioritize their “tanks” (“The Squid Game”, “Bridgerton”, “The paper house” and “Stranger Things” in the case of Netflix; “Euphoria”, “Game of Thrones” and “Succession” in the case of HBO Max) and indirectly they hide everything they consider minor, superfluous or filler.
However, many times it is precisely in the “background” of the catalog where the true surprises, oddities and revelations of this golden age of the series are found. Therefore, This recommendation guide will focus on five proposals that, although they have had some support from specialized critics, they do not usually appear among the most viewed on (nor the most promoted by) streaming services.
“Somebody Somewhere” (HBO Max)
From mid-January to the end of February, every Sunday at midnight, HBO launched the seven episodes of this series that has the well-known Duplass brothers behind the camera (Jay even directed three episodes) and on screen one of the best secrets American Art Saved, Bridget Everett, who just at almost 50 years old gets the first leading role of his career with a character to the measure of his immense talent.
Singer, comedian, actress and provocateur by profession, this woman with a voluminous body was always revered by figures such as Amy Schumer or Jennifer Aniston, but he hadn’t left much of the realm of stand-up shows or certain musical forays.
On “Someone somewhere” (“Somebody Somewhere”) plays Sam, a woman who returns to Manhattan, which is not the Big Apple but a small city in Kansas (Everett herself is also from there), to mourn the recent death of her sister and deal with a painful job and a dysfunctional family, including an alcoholic mother. But if the premise seems like it’s meant to wallow in small-town pathos or melodrama excess, Everett and the rest of the cast (including the great Jeff Hiller as her best friend and confidante) turn it into a hilarious story. and sensitivity.
Far from clichés and stereotypes, the barely three hours that it lasts in total “Someone somewhere” offer an unusual experience in these times of series dominated by the cult of ingenuity or sensationalism and allow us to discover that histrionic whirlwind that is Everett. Luckily, HBO has already confirmed a second season.
“Severance”(Apple TV+)
With 4 of its 9 episodes already available on Apple TV+, this series that has Ben Stiller as one of its producers and directors (in total he shot 6 deliveries) and with an extraordinary cast led by Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro, Britt Lower and Christopher Walken received positive reviews with its aesthetic and thematic commitment that refers to authors such as Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, Michel Gondry, Roy Andersson, Terry Gilliam and David Lynch.
In fact, in terms of design, settings, climates and performances, it has nothing to envy to, for example, the best aspects of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”. Mark Scout (Scott) leads the big data team at Lumon Industries, a company that proposes (demands?) to subject them to a procedure that separates their work life from their personal life. Thus, their existences within the offices never interrelate or conflict with their intimate aspects. But, of course, not everything is as simple or harmonious as it initially appears. Deadpan humor, romance, drama, elements that border on science fiction and -of course- allegories about wild capitalism are combined with great elegance and virtuosity in this hyper-stylized and retro-futuristic bet that has also been renewed for a second year.
“Better Things” (Star+)
In this case, it is not a novelty but a a series that has just started its fifth and final season. Created by Pamela Adlon and Louis CK, this proposal dominated by black humor but at the same time very emotional was left after the public complaints against him in the context of the #MeToo movement in her exclusive hands. Adlon is a producer, screenwriter, director and protagonist of the series in the role of Sam Fox (Pamela’s perfect alter-ego), an actress in her forties, divorced and mother of three daughters who experience all the adolescent and youth problems that she must cope with. work (the look on the entertainment world is ruthless) and a strained relationship with his own mother Phyllis (the English Celia Imrie).
All 42 episodes of the first four seasons are available on Star+ and in the United States the first two installments have already been released (with the eldest daughter going to live alone in an apartment in Los Angeles) of what will be, unfortunately, the farewell to Sam – a strong and vulnerable woman at the same time – and his extended family, dysfunctional and decidedly lovable.
“The Tourist” (HBO Max)
The six episodes of one hour each of this co-production between the United States, Great Britain and Australia take place in towns located in the middle of the Australian desert, an imposing location that is one more “character” of this mysterious suspense story with a thriller spirit and surreal elements.
There we discover in the first chapter the protagonist (Irishman Jamie Dornan, the same from the “Fifty Shades of Grey” saga and the recent “Belfast”) aboard a car and being chased by a truck. After being rammed, he ends up in a hospital, where upon waking up he doesn’t even remember his name. His few belongings will then serve as the only clues to reveal his past and the threats that lie in wait for him. The proposal, which has something from the “Fargo” series but also from Quentin Tarantino’s cinema, makes intelligent use of the resource of amnesia and then drifts towards increasingly darker and more disturbing areas.
“The Day After” (Apple TV+)
Christopher Miller, creator of “Raining Burgers”, “Special Commando” and “The Great LEGO Adventure”, ventures into the world of series with a very attractive and entertaining combination of comedy and police that also has him as director of the 8 episodes of half an hour each.
The starting point is a party for the reunion -15 years later- of the class of 2006 of a secondary school. The now thirtysomethings get together to celebrate the anniversary, but at a certain point the host Xavier (Dave Franco), who has become an egocentric pop star, falls into the void and dies. Detective Danner (Tiffany Haddish) arrives on the scene along with her pathetic collaborator Culp (John Early) and she has no doubt that she has been involved in murder so she begins questioning the participants/suspects.
Each of the chapters is dedicated to a different character and those changes in point of view allow us to get to know them in depth and understand that each one has plenty of reasons to have been Xavier’s murderer. “The day after” (“The Afterparty”), something like a mix between “Rashomon”, the black comedy “What happened yesterday?” and a novel by Agatha Christie, a few licenses are allowed that work very well: the third episode is practically a musical while a good part of the sixth is a successful animated bet. Like “Severance” and “Someone Somewhere”, a second season has already been confirmed.
SOMEBODY SOMEWHERE TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW8_kqGCHcA
THE TOURIST TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71t5RUAkDI0
