This Is Not Happening serves up welcome shots of honestly and reality that hit you in the most ticklish parts of your own amusingly flawed, hilariously stupid humanity.
Television
TV Review: “Barry” Season Two — All Bets Are Off
HBO’S Barry has finally started to hit its stride as a mirthfully dark comedy/drama.
Television Commentary: Martin v. Tolkien
Is it all, from here on out, to be about Daenerys v. John Snow for the Iron Throne?
Television Review: “Crashing” — The Power of Being Earnest
Crashing shows us how Holmes’s innate sweetness and affability carries him through the awkwardness and indignities of being a working comedian.
WATCH CLOSELY: “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” — Coming of Age Cauldron
The series presents plausible, relatable social situations within a weird, dark, quasi-magical framework.
Television Review: “Shrill” — Fat and Proud
Shrill picks up narrative strength once we see Annie slowly come to terms with the yawning gap between who she is and who she has been told to be by her family, her friends, and society at large.
Television: PEN15 — Middle School Made Uproarious
Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle turn in frequently hilarious but vulnerable performances as their adolescent counterparts.
TV Review: “The Umbrella Academy” — What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stranger
What’s a band of re-orphaned misfits to do? Dance away the pain, obviously.
WATCH CLOSELY: “True Detective” — Mysteries of Mind and Soul
This season of True Detective explores the figure of the cop as a permanently haunted man.
WATCH CLOSELY: The Dark Depths of “Russian Doll”
Russian Doll is television made to be savored.