Netflix Disappointments - "Uncoupled" and "Grace and Frankie"
Gay themed shows on Netflix have become scarcer over the past several years and so when Netflix announced the new (I'm hoping "single-season") series "UnCoupled" we were anxious to view it.
Let me start by saying Neil Patrick Harris should be embarrassed to to have agreed to star in this series. Did he not read the script?
Tisha Cambell-Martin (does everyone have to have three names now?) is probably the best actor of the bunch and pulls off her lines with great timing and without taking a breath.
But back to the script. The New York based elitist characters (high end real estate brokers, their clients, art gallery owner, TV personalities, etc) when not lamenting their being jilted by husbands and boyfriends, flit around from exclusive parties to exclusive clubs and live a "life-style" that I and my friends could never relate to.
Not only are they all of a class and world that is out of touch with most of reality, but they spew lines that are mere clichés of the last 50 years of gay wit and camp. The gay humor is so tired and droll.
Leon and I are suffering through the episodes on the outside chance that the series may have some redeeming value.
P.S. My memoir would make better entertainment if I do say so myself. Coming Soon: The free, revised, expanded edition of "Did You Ever See A Horse Go By?" available on the internet - as soon as I do some last minute tweaks and figure out the best format for presentation. (I'm thinking either installments or in its entirety on this or the blog dedicated to the book - suggestions welcome).
My second scathing review goes to Grace and Frankie, a series that started out with some decent script writing and promise of light entertainment - which it did deliver for a while. Then, what happened? I'm guessing it got some new, amateur or low paid writers who were tasked with producing quantity rather than quality.
The show has become a modern "I Love Lucy" full of ridiculous plots and story lines and almost slap-stick situations that I cannot even call comedy. Not to mention dialogue that no real live person would utter unless they were delusional.
Once again I cannot imagine how the actors, all of whom are seasoned and have decent reputations, can deliver such stupid, humorless, senseless lines, episode after episode. Are they not thoroughly embarrassed? I know I am. Don't bother with the popcorn.
We watched the first season of "Grace and Frankie." It was okay. But we never followed through on the subsequent ones. And now it's season SEVEN? Yikes. Any series is tired AF after 7 seasons.
Netflix quality of its original content is getting pretty bad. I don't think Netflix can compete with the new powerhouse streaming services now taking over.
We enjoyed the first season of G&F with Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston as the (highly unlikely) gay husbands who wait till age 70 (!) to come out and divorce their wives. They did a good job of playing gay.
But then in the second season it became clear that the show was really all about the title characters, and the guys sort of faded out of the picture. We hung in there for the funny old-age bits with Fonda and Tomlin. But then at the beginning of season 3, it suddenly got way too serious and by unspoken agreement, we just stopped watching.
Of course literature as we knew it, including screenwriting, is practically dead now. Political correctness and political side-taking are iron censors upon the mind. Doctrine and dogma (left or right) are the ruling forces now. Of course creativity cannot flourish in such a mental cage.
But not to worry - I have just learned that they have machines now that will write anything you want, in any style whatsoever. Just push a button. Who needs human authors when the machines can do it all faster and better? I may blog more about that soon.
3 comments:
We watched the first season of "Grace and Frankie." It was okay. But we never followed through on the subsequent ones. And now it's season SEVEN? Yikes. Any series is tired AF after 7 seasons.
Netflix quality of its original content is getting pretty bad. I don't think Netflix can compete with the new powerhouse streaming services now taking over.
We enjoyed the first season of G&F with Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston as the (highly unlikely) gay husbands who wait till age 70 (!) to come out and divorce their wives. They did a good job of playing gay.
But then in the second season it became clear that the show was really all about the title characters, and the guys sort of faded out of the picture. We hung in there for the funny old-age bits with Fonda and Tomlin. But then at the beginning of season 3, it suddenly got way too serious and by unspoken agreement, we just stopped watching.
Of course literature as we knew it, including screenwriting, is practically dead now. Political correctness and political side-taking are iron censors upon the mind. Doctrine and dogma (left or right) are the ruling forces now. Of course creativity cannot flourish in such a mental cage.
But not to worry - I have just learned that they have machines now that will write anything you want, in any style whatsoever. Just push a button. Who needs human authors when the machines can do it all faster and better? I may blog more about that soon.
Haven't yet watched Uncoupled and we very quickly tired of Grace and Frankie (sadly).
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