The Sidebar Concierge • July 2015

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To save you some precious time, I go through movies, TV shows, books, websites and apps – both good and bad. Here's a list of my recommendations for you this month. 


Good TV, Bad TV


Now that the Big Kahunas have ended (The Wire, Battlestar Galactica, Breaking Bad) or are winding down (House of Cards, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Doctor Who), us television rats are scrambling about for the Next Big Thing to put our social lives – and sometimes careers – in jeopardy with the binge-watching and Twitter-ranting that comes with committing to a TV show. At least I was, earlier this year, and so I hunkered down on the couch and went on a brave mission to find just the right TV series. 

Here are some of the worthy ones:

FARGO (Season 1)



If you're a sucker for character development like I am, you'll have to fight not to be mesmerized with the one in this show. It certainly helps that they are doled out by such fine actors as Billy Bob Thornton, Martin Freeman and the relatively unknown Allison Tolman, and with a great supporting cast (my favorites of which are Bob Odenkirk and Adam Goldberg). I get so lost watching them play their roles that I almost ignore the plot (it's a reboot of/homage to the 1996 movie that I've never seen) – true crime in Midwest America.


PENNY DREADFUL (Season 1)



I started watching this last year when I saw comedian Kumail Nanjiani tweet-rave about it (in fact, I check out most of the shows and movies he recommends – he has yet to fail me). It's a horror story about A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, neither of which I am a particular fan of, but together, it was fantastic. I couldn't look away from the brilliant Eva Green's supernatural manifestations no matter how terrified I was, and all other "scary" movies I watched after this season was just plain silly.   


SILICON VALLEY (Season 1)



Finally, a series that brings lolz! A bunch of nerds/geeks try to keep a startup afloat in cut-throat Silicon Valley; yes, it's the show The Big Bang Theory wishes it was. I liked how fast the jokes were in this season – they don't even wait for you to get it, they just move on. This is what the (surface of the) internet would look like if it were human. I guess. It's a happy accident that Kumail Nanjiani is in it (I hadn't really known when I started watching), and that's great because I loved him in The Big Bang Theory. 

Here's a clip of one of this season's best scenes (the guys calculating "Mean Jerk Time" when Erlich makes an offhand comment about doing whatever he can to move the company forward, even jerk off every person in the event they were attending). You're welcome.


On the flip side, here's a quick list of the TV shows that I couldn't even: 

• DOCTOR WHO (Season 8)
I know, can you believe it? I was deeply disappointed with the new Doctor Peter Capaldi for not being a better version of Matt Smith (just as Matt Smith was a better version of David Tennant). I couldn't get past the third episode. 

• HANNIBAL (Season 1)
The only way I could watch this was if it was playing in the background while I was doing something else. Shame, really, because Madds Mikelsen as Dr Lecter is so entertaining, and all his cooking scenes are tastefully shot. But dialogue sucks, storyline sucks, stupid emo Hugh Dancy Will Graham sucks, and I just want Laurence Fishburne to chill and be my workout buddy. 

• Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Season 1)
I had such hopes for this Tina Fey creation because I worship her and also because Ellie Kemper's Erin in The Office (US) was one of my favorite characters. But I had to fake-laugh hard in the first 3 episodes to convince myself that it was funny and not annoying. It felt like... lazy comedy.


What shows are on your lists? Share!


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