It's interesting that two of the recent most acclaimed and culturally relevant shows are similar despite so many obvious differences. Chernobyl was released around the time Game of Thrones ended and proved to be a brilliant piece of carry-over before Big Little Lies kicked off the real year for HBO.
A few weeks later 'When They See Us' was released on NETFLIX, the chilling four-part series on the Central Park Five boys, both in how they were railroaded into jail sentences for a crime they did not commit, and then struggled to deal once released nad ultimately cleared of the crime.
Yes, the subject matter is completely different, but there was one huge similarity, one that made each show great, but also makes me worried about TV in 2019. Both shows were tremendously, unendingly heavy and dark. Of course, it fits the subject matter, exposing real world tragedies, but it says something that what have arguably been the year's two best shows had such little positive energy and light moments.
Each of the last five years I've ranked my favorite shows from that television year. Putting aside Veep (#1 in 2015), all my #1 shows were on their face hour-long dramas, but all four were also surprisingly light and comedic (in order from '14-'18: Fargo, People vs. OJ Simpson, The Young Pope, Succession). All four shows mixed comedy into their dramatic moments and story-lines so expertly. Looking back at those years, a lot of the other highly ranked shows shared this as well. But in 2019, when mixing lightness into your dark is so tough to do (see: Twitter), I do fear we are approachign heaviness getting lauded just for being heavy.
It's tough because in no way is this a criticism of either show. But I contrast it to Pose, which started its second season a couple weeks back, and man is the added levity in that show (if not the added glamour) such a pleasant addition to what also could easily be a darker than dark show.
For those who don't know, Pose is about the underground LGBTQ world in New York in the late-80's/early-90's. A lot of the characters are, for all intents and purposes, homeless, taken in by 'mothers' who run houses for these wandering kids. Tons of characters have been impacted, if not outright diagnosed, with HIV and AIDS. So many kids have been thrown out of their homes. This, while fictional and not a historical portrayal, is shining a light on a very real period in our nation's history. And guess what? The show is far, far, far lighter than it needs to be.
Some of it is built in, with teh ballroom scenes being so utterly dynamic, perfectly constructed with the Ryan Murphy spectacle he can do when he is on point. Pose is the only example I've seen from a show this year that has matched really dense, heavy subject matter with a pointed lightness that can make that show shine so bright.
Maybe this is just me overreacting to how dark two shows were and how relatively light one is, but I do think the discourse on Chernobyl and When They See Us has weighed too heavily on, if anything else, just how deep they were. Yes, being true to a historical event is laudable, but at the end of the day, I watch TV to be entertained, and while Chernobyl and When They See Us are unapologetically great shows, they are also not as enjoyable as they are great.
This is not a foreign concept. I find the praise of Better Call Saul to be the same in many ways - a played out more 2019 hyper-focused version of Breaking Bad: all the exacting brilliance, half the heart. Or even The Deuce in Season 2, which became a shell of a great The Wire season, which perfected adding humour and levity to a damn dark, deep show.
I hope more shows try to replicate Pose, but I don't know if that is the way TV is heading. 'Realness' seems to fully be what is carrying the critically acclaimed day at the moment. Heft and Reality is being played up, while heart is being shoved aside. Pose and shows like it remain tremendous, but I do fear to stand out, to get people to watch, we are being pounded by a never-ending series of seriousness that we are going to quickly spiral way too far into.
A few weeks later 'When They See Us' was released on NETFLIX, the chilling four-part series on the Central Park Five boys, both in how they were railroaded into jail sentences for a crime they did not commit, and then struggled to deal once released nad ultimately cleared of the crime.
Yes, the subject matter is completely different, but there was one huge similarity, one that made each show great, but also makes me worried about TV in 2019. Both shows were tremendously, unendingly heavy and dark. Of course, it fits the subject matter, exposing real world tragedies, but it says something that what have arguably been the year's two best shows had such little positive energy and light moments.
Each of the last five years I've ranked my favorite shows from that television year. Putting aside Veep (#1 in 2015), all my #1 shows were on their face hour-long dramas, but all four were also surprisingly light and comedic (in order from '14-'18: Fargo, People vs. OJ Simpson, The Young Pope, Succession). All four shows mixed comedy into their dramatic moments and story-lines so expertly. Looking back at those years, a lot of the other highly ranked shows shared this as well. But in 2019, when mixing lightness into your dark is so tough to do (see: Twitter), I do fear we are approachign heaviness getting lauded just for being heavy.
It's tough because in no way is this a criticism of either show. But I contrast it to Pose, which started its second season a couple weeks back, and man is the added levity in that show (if not the added glamour) such a pleasant addition to what also could easily be a darker than dark show.
For those who don't know, Pose is about the underground LGBTQ world in New York in the late-80's/early-90's. A lot of the characters are, for all intents and purposes, homeless, taken in by 'mothers' who run houses for these wandering kids. Tons of characters have been impacted, if not outright diagnosed, with HIV and AIDS. So many kids have been thrown out of their homes. This, while fictional and not a historical portrayal, is shining a light on a very real period in our nation's history. And guess what? The show is far, far, far lighter than it needs to be.
Some of it is built in, with teh ballroom scenes being so utterly dynamic, perfectly constructed with the Ryan Murphy spectacle he can do when he is on point. Pose is the only example I've seen from a show this year that has matched really dense, heavy subject matter with a pointed lightness that can make that show shine so bright.
Maybe this is just me overreacting to how dark two shows were and how relatively light one is, but I do think the discourse on Chernobyl and When They See Us has weighed too heavily on, if anything else, just how deep they were. Yes, being true to a historical event is laudable, but at the end of the day, I watch TV to be entertained, and while Chernobyl and When They See Us are unapologetically great shows, they are also not as enjoyable as they are great.
This is not a foreign concept. I find the praise of Better Call Saul to be the same in many ways - a played out more 2019 hyper-focused version of Breaking Bad: all the exacting brilliance, half the heart. Or even The Deuce in Season 2, which became a shell of a great The Wire season, which perfected adding humour and levity to a damn dark, deep show.
I hope more shows try to replicate Pose, but I don't know if that is the way TV is heading. 'Realness' seems to fully be what is carrying the critically acclaimed day at the moment. Heft and Reality is being played up, while heart is being shoved aside. Pose and shows like it remain tremendous, but I do fear to stand out, to get people to watch, we are being pounded by a never-ending series of seriousness that we are going to quickly spiral way too far into.
