Unfortunately, not my waistline but a whip smart, grown up and sentimental comedy programme on Apple TV+. It has a whiff of Ted Lasso about it – especially the generous amounts of learning and journey people are on. But it is terrific.
Jason Segel is perfect in the lead role of a recently wodowed father whose wife was killed by a drunk drive. He is also a therapist who finds it easier to help other people solve their emotional problems than address their own. Full of ridculously attractive and likeable people it should be terrible but it isn’t. It takes on tough and emotional themes and still makes you laugh while you are on the rollercoaster.
It’s worth watching for Harrison Ford alone. But there is much more to it than that.
And it often has beautifully selected music in it’s soundtrack.
A rare series that gets better as it goes on.
Learning…
Journey…
I’m afraid it’s a big ‘no’ from me
Honestly – it has those aspects but it is still excellent despite that. That was my point of mentioning it. It should be good at best becasue it has that construct but it excellent. Give it a go.
Thanks for the suggestion, LB, but way too much other stuff on my list of stuff I might get around to watching
Just started – excellent!
It gets better as well.
Gave this a go. Oops. The therapists in this are the world’s worst. Constantly sharing their own personal lives and feelings with patients. This may move the plot but is not normal.
I want to like it but it keeps hitting the same smug and self-satisfied buttons. Harrison Ford is the only one not mugging and is by far the best thing in it.
I think part of its premise is that therapists are not immune to the things that can be helped through therapy but possibly think they are. I’m not sure normal is a requirement for comedy. You are right about the smug/self-satisfied tinge but these are successful Californians don’t forget.
Normal is the wrong word perhaps, “real” is more appropriate.
We have perserved and – you’ll be ecstatic to hear – think it has indeed improved, especially once we saw the “surprise proposal” party episode.
His gay mate is still annoying as fuck though.
The gay mate is ace!
Recently a convert to this show. Wasn’t sure at first but it grows in depth as the series progresses. Agree with comparison to Ted Lasso with the mix of humour and pathos and like TL there is not even the merest iota of reality about the subject matter (football, phychiatry) but that isn’t the point of either show.
I saw the first three and am prepared to take it further, given Leedsboy’s recommendation but I’m not sure I would otherwise.
Another one on Apple’s roster was the Irish comedy Bad Sisters. A lot of dark and funny situations but the main plot line bothers me and I’m not sure I can get past this. One of the sisters marries a very bad man, who is nicknamed “the Prick”. He dies – and although the police have no cause to suspect any foul play, the local life insurance adviser/broker thinks differently because if the life insurance claim is paid, then his family business will be bankrupted.
But…but…This is not how life insurance works. The Adviser does not suffer financially on the death of a client. It’s the insurance company that takes on the risk and pays out the money, not the Adviser. It’s true that the Adviser will not be receiving the ongoing commission from the premiums and if it’s a very small Adviser business, then yes that may hurt. But that would happen anyway because the premiums have stopped. The Adviser wouldn’t have any financial interest in investigating the real cause of death. The client’s dead.
It might be OK if this was a very, very small local insurance company. But even then, even a very small insurance company would not be a one-and-half man operation and they would have been required by law to have resources to pay claims via reinsurance, which again means no financial outlay for him in the event of a claim. So this spoils it for me.
Bad Sisters S1 is one of the best TV shows in years – next you’ll be saying they caught the No17 bus which never goes near Sandycove…..
I recognised many of the characters from previous appearances, revealing them to all be actors, which somewhat took the sense of reality away from the narrative.
Series 1 was very good indeed. We are struggling with Series 2 though despite the performances being great. It suffers from too much outrageous stuff happening to the same people who never learn. We will finish it though – just not in a hurry.
That’s what I was getting at above. You’d think the shows would employ a consultant to veto dumb stuff that yanks you out of the story.
Perhaps though it’s only those with a knowledge of the relevant profession who would be bothered and it’s a calculated risk by the writers.
Thanks for understanding, MCE. It’s not the same as an incorrect bus or that one of the characters might have been in something else once. It’s central to the story. It also promotes the idea that locally based Life Insurance Advisers look to wriggle out of paying claims. It’s just not true.
I recall Douglas Adams saying that he didn’t understand anything about space and time but he would run his ideas by someone who did understand to make sure that there was some relationship to known mathematical principles. It really isn’t that hard,
I’ll bet my worthless life that there isn’t a television programme or movie ever made that doesn’t contain inaccuracies, whether historical, logical or downright silly.
People speed typing on computers, breaking passwords in 15 seconds, unlocking a door using a hairpin, walking along a beach which mysteriously moves fifteen miles east in fifteen paces etc etc etc.
If the writing and acting is as good as Bad Sisters 1 (and yes , the second series is nowhere near as good) those things matter not one jot.
I contend that if the writing and acting are that good, the chance of some basic error happening in a job that is *central* to the plot is much less likely, and if it happens then the jarring effect is that much worse. If there’s a magic password guessing scene, you’re watching a dumb show.
Well that means all sci-fi and superhero films are dumb then.
Not at all, because they can make up the rules of a space captain and it doesn’t affect your belief in the sfory.
To be honest I don’t generally believe in stories in TV series. I always pick up on things that aren’t possible, or are ridiculous. Even if they are based on real events TV series tend to be based more on other TV series conventions than reality. This happens every single time. But that’s OK because it’s not reality. The main thing for me is that the characters are convincing and consistent and the story follows from that. I am always aware of the pretend artifice of drama.
At risk of sounding snarky (and I’m not – I just think it’s quite interesting how different people perceive factual inaccuracies) making up stuff to move the story along is ok in some things and not others I would assume?
I struggle with sci fi mainly because I see the made up stuff akin to Bobby Ewing waking up and it all being a dream. A lazy plot device. But I cut comedy more slack becasue, probably, I enjoy being amused and it’s helpful to ignore the extreme characters and the stupid coincidences to get to the laffs. I just think of it as a plot device.
If I recall correctly, Claffin spent the premiums and never set up a policy. If murder is proven, the policy (that never existed) wouldn’t have to pay out. If it was accidental, it would and he’d be done for fraud.
I’m open to something like that being a plot development, but then the first episode features an insurer’s certificate of cover and Claffin discovering from that how much the insurance is – after consulting one of the many drawers of paper files. The premium for an accidental death-only policy for a 50 year old man would be really low too.
I’ll take on board the overall drift, being that it’s a trivial technicality to most people and not to worry my pretty little head about it.