I bought a new Roku hands-free voice remote and got a free trial for AMC+, and this is a new show. It stars Annie Murphy of Schitt’s Creek and it has a very cynical take on the sitcom.
It alternates between two kinds of scenes - some are set in the standard sitcom living room, with the extremely bright lighting and loud laugh track, with a well-meaning but bumbling husband, his wife, and, of course, the wacky neighbors; the other scenes are dramatic ones featuring only Annie’s character and her friends and neighbors. These are more dimly lit, and in these you can see that the house is a bit dingy and her hair is not always perfect and that she is not very happy, she is not the usual long-suffering wife in sitcoms who has problems with her husband that are always worked out by the end of the episode.
The sitcom scenes so perfectly capture the usual lameness of most sitcoms. I’ve liked the dramatic scenes so far, but only 2 episodes are available now, will be interesting to see where it goes from here.
I’ll watch anything with Annie Murphy but I can’t do weekly shows any more, I’ll be sure to binge it once its done.
I stumbled upon it last night and remembered this thread so gave it a look.
Annie Murphy is great; totally different than her character in Schitt’s Creek. I like the juxtaposition of her sitcom and “real” lives. That being said, it’s also kind of jarring. I get what they’re going for, but the husband and friends are so incredibly over the top obnoxious it’s hard to watch. And her character is so (understandably) unhappy. I enjoyed her throughout but afterward I was kind of depressed.
I like the take on the “beautiful woman married to a total slob” trope. I have watched only the first episode, but I have high hopes for it. This is what I wanted WandaVision to be, instead of all the MCU hokum.
The premise for this is really interesting. The use of the sitcom format as a façade to the grimness of reality. Makes you rethink sitcoms like King of Queens and Everyone Loves Raymond and the possibility that Carrie and Deborah may have been completely miserable in their lives with their stupid husbands.
But after an hour and a half in I couldn’t see where the story was trying to go to and wasn’t all that interested. I understood the commentary but didn’t know what else needed to be said.
Was interested because of Ms. Murphy, but no way I’m subscribing to another streaming service just for this.