Yeah Tony Shaloub is my favorite part of the show!
Thanks for the recomendation. I am enjoying it! I like having good shows to recommend to my parents and this is a good one for that, too.
I don’t think I can add anything to what’s already been said; but my wife and I loved this show! Now the waiting game for season 2! 
I don’t want to wait 11 months.
The Joan Rivers we know after she was successful would have hunkered down; but imagine Joan Rivers before she ever did her first paying gig. I like the last episode where they showed ‘Mrs Maisel’ handling the hecklers; as opposed to earlier in the series where she basically allows herself to get heckled off the stage.
As for Joan Rivers’ looks; I think she was every bit as pretty, if not prettier, than Elaine May.
I stand by what I said in post 11. “Actually, young Joan was pretty, not Hollywood pretty, but pretty.”
I think Elaine May was really pretty, Hollywood pretty. By Hollywood standards, Joan was best friend material.
I thought it was very funny. The only minor criticisms I had were when they used terms that sounded like anachronisms (to me) like “nerd alert” or “avoiding drama” (there was another example that made me cringe, but I can’t remember off the top of my head). And I liked the period music so much that the ending credit music seemed out of place. And I thought Jane Lynch’s character was a little too cartoony compared to the rest of the show. But those are very small nitpicks.
Oddly enough, I thought the stand-up comedy segments were the least funny parts of the show (compared to the scenes with the parents which were uniformly hilarious), but they were still funny.
I’ve been wanting to see it so I’ll be on it this weekend.
I found the whole Father-in-the-living-room thing confusing. It wasn’t clear - is he sleeping in there? At first I thought she’d just had a control fit and moved the dinging room. I just don’t get it.
Elaine May, had she chosen to, probably would’ve been very successful as a leading lady in romantic comedies during the late 50s and 60s.
He had a huge study, that is what he lost for her dining room. The study was apparently his place of refuge.
I suspect Jane Lynch is Minnie Pearl - who is a very cartoony character and whose private life was far away from her stage persona.
Just to clarify, I thought the private life version was a cartoon (e.g. giving away a fur coat because she had worn it twice already, asking if the light in the Blue Room was “acrid”, etc.).
I thought her “fat woman” persona was supposed to be a riff on Sophie Tucker, for what it’s worth.
I have seen three episodes, and skipping to the bottom to comment. Wowza! The pilot, I think, is one of the best I’ve ever seen. The character of Midge was fully developed almost immediately. I love it and I’m forcing myself not to binge. I want to savor! 
A great series! I want her wardrobe!! Beautiful styles and the colors are amazing.
I’ve now seen the whole thing and I’m recommending it right and left. I love it passionately. And I was very surprised when I looked up Rachel Brosnahan and found that she’d been on House of Cards as Rachel, Doug Stamper’s whipping girl. I didn’t recognize her at all. Of course, on House of Cards I don’t think she ever smiled, so how would I?
Sadly, I’m not very familiar with Lenny Bruce; about all I know is that he was in trouble a lot because of obscenity laws. I probably would have gotten more out of his role if I’d known more about him.
My favorite sequence in the stand-up part was when she was making observations, putting them into her act, and then refining them. And family —I am also amazed by Tony Shaloub. I loved it how he “brushed off” Bell Labs and then came home crowing.
It was a treat to see Jane Lynch. I want her somewhere in every program I watch.
Thanks to this thread I had a great time watching this show. I loved the characters. I wish the standup had been funnier.
Was there a real comedienne that Jane Lynch’s character was modeled on?
Per hogarth above, I assume Lynch’s character is based on Sophie Tucker: Sophie Tucker - Wikipedia
Okay, so I watched all of it. Fun! I had not expected the Stage Name question would resolve that way, both in terms of the show’s title, and all the plot-twisty convergence that happens.
I think I figured out my issue which I started to articulate above, when I said she was distractingly attractive (and boy, is she; she even makes her slightly bow-legged walk look hot).
Here’s the issue (although again, I really like the show): I find it hard to reconcile her all-around ideal-ness with her bomb throwing on stage. In her life, she’s this Ideal, and seems to thrive as that Ideal, but there is clearly meant to be this huge unresolved anger inside that would lead to her needing to self-destruct in front of Sophie’s manager or to take shots at her husband - she doesn’t know he’s there, but she has committed to getting back together and chooses her marries name as her stage name, so why trash her own situation?
I would expect her to have a substance abuse problem or to say improper things to people in her life - to see some of her unresolved issues leak out outside her stage work.
I stayed up until 3AM binge watching this series. I loved it.
This thread is responsible for me accepting the “would you like free shipping” offer from Amazon Prime (I will cancel it before the month is up.)
Thank you Misnomer!
Susie mentions on numerous occasions how spontaneous Midge is; that is part of her talent on stage. She takes whatever is on her mind and starts joking about it. Because she is so ideal and perfect in her real life, this is her outlet. I don’t think she is deliberately sabotaging her life. She just can’t help herself. She’s naturally funny (and devastatingly so [in the world of the show] when she hones her act) and she may not see how cruel what she says could be. Or probably she does, seeing as she keeps the whole thing from her family.
It might all come out right in the end, given that Joel in the closing moments fights the jerk who heckled Midge, and sobs about her real talent. He may come around.
SIDE NOTE. Does anyone think it’s weird that Midge’s childhood bedroom is right off the kitchen? For such a tony apartment is seems odd – and more like a bedroom for a live-in maid.
I’m so glad people are continuing to watch (and love) this! It’s kind of a weird thing to be an evangelist about, but it’s one of my favorite shows in recent memory – and I’m someone who watches a *lot *of TV and is pretty easily entertained/amused. 
You’re very welcome, Sveltington!
WordMan, FWIW I agree with Ellen Cherry’s take on Midge and her comedy. At first she’s simply lashing out, but even once she moves beyond that we see that sometimes she has no control over what comes out of her mouth on stage: she’s definitely not able to keep her own best interests in mind (e.g., her takedown of Sophie Lennon). One of the things I find so interesting about her character is that in some ways she is sharp and savvy and generous, but in others she is still very sheltered and immature/self-centered. It’s a delicate line for the writers to walk in order for that to work and still have the character be likeable.
“She reads sediment!” 
A friend of mine whom I’ve known since middle school, Adam B. Shapiro, appears as the cantor in the Jewish synagogue in Episode 7. He gets to show off his nice singing voice.