Streaming Suggestion of the Week #47: This Way Up

 

Stream what: Aisling Bea, Sharon Hogan, and Aasif Mandvi are all skilled comedic actors who can also go achingly, soul-deep dark. They need that full scope in This Way Up.

Bea herself created This Way Up, a story of Áine after a breakdown, and provides generously for others in Áine's orbit as well. 

Stream why: Season one, with its superlative acting and writing, deserved way more attention than it got. I'm absolutely thrilled it's been renewed for a second season.

Stream where: Hulu

Connection to previous Wreckage: This Way Up was Rec. #831. Even more connections there, if you follow the trail ...

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #46: Russian Doll

 

Stream what: In a world where time is a flat circle and yesterdaytodaytomorrow is a labyrinthine hall of mirrors where death is ... everywhere, Nadia tries to figure out what the hell is going on. Timely.

Stream why: Creators Natasha Lyonne, Amy Poehler, and Leslye Headland successfully make existential dread funny. It's so good. So, so, so good. 

Stream where: Netflix

See also: Russian Doll was Rec. #775 and was the reason for the glories of Rec. #812. It also made it to the Best of 2019 as the "Best Worst Day."

Rec. #885/Streaming Suggestion of the Week #45: Pretend It's a City

Stream what: With this docuseries, Martin Scorsese tricks the notoriously writer's-blocked wit Fran Lebowitz into writing more essays. Just ... verbally.

Stream why: I am always, always interested in what Fran Lebowitz has to say, even on those occasions when I don't agree with her completely. (Oddly, I think I am less reverent about Great Artists -- capital "g," capital "a" -- than she is.)

(That said, I think she is 100% right about a lot of things. Like telling Spike Lee he's wrong about sports.)

Representative quotes:

"I'm now too old to die young."

"I have two main activities in life: smoking and plotting revenge."

"She wants to know if there's a suffocating political correctness, and my answer is I'm breathing fine."

Stream where: Netflix

Connections to previous Wreckage: I've covered her books (Rec. #188: Metropolitan Life, Quote for These Times #5, Rec. #347: Social Studies) and her previous Scorsese doc, Public Speaking (List #61: Unpretty Women and Their Cities).

And also: I said this on Twitter already, but I stand by it: "Ideally, Pretend It's a City should have included an episode where Fran Lebowitz and @nlyonne chat while browsing through racks of coats."