I don’t watch TV like most people. In fact, I sort of don’t watch TV at all. I mean, I watch shows, but I watch them exclusively through DVDs or Netflix. I guess most hipsters are the same way. But for me, it’s not because I’m too good for cable, but rather that I’m just too lazy to remember schedules and make sure I’m around when things are on.
Also I generally just watch the same things over and over again. I’ve watched the entire series of Futurama and Arrested Development at least three times each, and for the past few years I’ve had what’s become sort of a ritual of watching every streamable season of American Dad! every summer. Other than that, I basically just try to keep tabs on when new seasons of old favourites become available (Trailer Park Boys, Criminal Minds, Big Bang Theory, etc). I don’t follow most popular shows. I barely ever start watching a new show.
So you can probably guess that since I’m writing a blog post about it, I’ve started watching something new.
This one is called Episodes. The premise is that a couple of British TV writers move to LA to shoot a pilot for an American version of their hit show. It’s a pretty interesting premise, I think. Their plans hit a massive snag when the lead role of the show is given to Matt LeBlanc.
And now you see what really pulled me in.
Matt plays a (hopefully) fictional version of himself, and he ends up causing many headaches for the main characters, Sean and Beverly. The couple quickly lose creative control of the show to Matt and network meddling, and things spiral out of control fairly quickly.
It’s not terribly funny at the start. In fact, I’d go so far to say that the first episode is fairly dull. I think I laughed once? But it does get much better! That first episode sets up the premise really well and introduces a handful of key themes of the show. Which, I suppose is really the point. I found that I got attached to most of the characters fairly quickly, and by the end of season one I was enjoying the drama as much as I was the comedy.
I think that what I like about this show is that it’s another one where every character is fundamentally broken in some way. It’s a lot like Arrested Development in that way, only there are more sympathetic characters in Episodes. It’s a little more down-to-earth when there’s a mix of characters that you can honestly relate to and ones that ones that you just want to slap for being such assholes.
I also appreciate the look behind the curtain of how things work at a television network, even if it is exaggerated to some degree. The “office politics” angle sort of reminds me of Better Off Ted, but the humour is a little darker and more subtle.
Anyway, I burned through the first season in only two days (not an impressive feat; it’s only seven episodes), despite the first episode being slow and not overly funny. Like I said, it got better, and I’m now facing the difficult decision to go ahead and binge on the next two seasons right away, or leave them on the back burner for a while to enjoy later.
If you’re interested at all, the first three seasons are available on Netflix, and season four just finished airing in March. It wouldn’t get my highest recommendation, but Episodes is definitely worth checking out.