6 shows you might have missed in Q1
My round-up series is back by popular demand!
Housekeeping note: There will be no newsletter next week since it’s my birthday on the 16th and I am planning to take it easy and reflect on being 32! So I’ll see you back here on April 24.
I was at dinner the other day, trying a new restaurant in Vancouver, when my friend confronts me: Where the hell are the newsletter roundups?! She and her husband couldn’t decide what to watch the other night and she demanded I revive this series. So let’s make it a quarterly thing! I’ve also been working on creating an Excel database with all of these listed so that you can easily pop in and sort by score/is it gay/etc. I’ll debut that in a few weeks (for paid subscribers only 👀). Let’s get into it.
6. Dreaming Whilst Black, season two (Showtime/Paramount+/BBC)
My score: 64/100
I think it would surprise many people that first of all, this is a dramedy produced by A24, and second, that it streams on Paramount+. I have rarely seen white characters turned into as much of a caricature as they appear here, hilariously playing with a trope typically reserved for people of colour on-screen (at a time when the “best friend of colour in an all-white cast” trope is very much returning in full swing).
Set in London, Kwabena (Adjani Salmon, who created the show) just wants to make his Jamaican immigrant love story movie, but the industry truly has other plans for him. Last season, he left his day job to pursue his art, and this season, he settles for a directing gig on a Bridgerton-esque drama. Although he feels he’s making strides, the industry finds ways to limit his vision: The show can’t have two Black leads, so they have to hire a clickbait Love Island contestant to play a lead, the show pointing out how the attention economy is a predominantly white game.
That said, I feel like Dreaming Whilst Black is missing a key ingredient. Maybe it’s catharsis. Kwabena won’t be vulnerable with his ex-girlfriend on the ways he lied about his real financial situation during their relationship (leading to the break-up), and we never actually see him reaching that level of self-actualization or growth, which is a shame, because I don’t know if the show is coming back for a third season. Regardless, I enjoyed being back in this world.
Is it gay? I cannot believe this show is taking place in the television industry and Kwabena doesn’t have queer people in his life! But alright.
5. The Madison (Paramount+)
My score: 65/100
Don’t get me wrong: Taylor Sheridan gets on my last nerve by how preachy his politics can be. It’s like, we get it, you like the country more than the city! You don’t need to remind us why every two seconds. And don’t get me started on the inevitable pronoun jokes—as someone who has watched a lot of his productions (mostly for work), I can confirm those appear in almost every show.
That being said…I liked The Madison! A lot of Sheridan’s writing can get convoluted between plots that don’t really make sense and he loves the dramaaa so there’s always some kind of murder or conspiracy or whatever. But The Madison felt notably stripped down to just a story about grief and family, really giving Michelle Pfeiffer a chance to rip through this material with a performance that honestly might get her an Emmy nomination. It was directed quite beautifully by Christina Alexandra Voros.
Is it gay? You know, Sheridan does sprinkle lesbians throughout his shows (always as a side character), but nothing queer happening here.
4. Big Mistakes (Netflix)
