Crown MRS. AMERICA

Article first published as TV Review: MRS. AMERICA on Seat42F.

FX and Hulu both make terrific shows in their own right. Now, a partnership has formed where viewers get FX series exclusively on the streaming platform. One of the first of those is MRS. AMERICA, a new miniseries based on the true story of the push for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s. It completely lives up to the best programming from both sides.

Setting aside the politics, MRS. AMERICA is an extremely well-made, well-acted, compelling history lesson. It’s fantastic as a story, brilliantly directed and executed, with terrific production design. As a piece of television, it’s wonderful.

MRS. AMERICA begins with Phyllis Schlafly (Cate Blanchett, Carol), a housewife who has run for Congress twice. When the opportunity comes up for her to run again, her husband, Fred (John Slattery, Mad Men), balks because she might actually win. So to satisfy her own political ambitions and keep the peace in a marriage where she is subservient, she pours her attentions into organizing a national effort to stop the newly-passed Equal Rights Amendment, which must be ratified by thirty-eight states to become law.

It’s a good thing MRS. AMERICA shows us Phyllis before she embarks down this path. It doesn’t stop her from being a villain, but it does make her sympathetic at first, which viewers can hold in their minds as the rest of the story plays out. We get to see what motivates her, and why she makes some of the choices she makes. She is trapped in a patriarchal world and tries to grab power playing by the mens’ rules, even though her desire for power is antithetical to the system in the first place. This does allow for some sympathy, even when she’s being heartless.

Along for the ride with Phyllis are, most notably, Alice (Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story), Rosemary (Melanie Lynskey, Togetherness), and Phyllis’ sister, Eleanor (Jeanne Tripplehorn). Alice and Rosemary want the movement to succeed, and struggle with Phyllis’ leadership. But Eleanor’s story is the most tragic, as Phyllis describes the enemy to be pretty similar to her own sibling, while acting totally ignorant to how it sounds to Eleanor.

Lest you think MRS. AMERICA is just a liberal fantasy version of reality, the women on the other side are far from perfect. Gloria Steinem (Rose Byrne, Spy) finds it hard to fit in with the organized opposition, preferring to chart her own course without oversight. Shirley Chisholm (Uzo Aduba, Orange Is the New Black) risks wrecking party unity by staying in the presidential race too long. Betty Friedan (Tracey Ullman) is opinionated and has the tendency to rub just about everyone the wrong way. Bella Abzug (Margo Martindale, The Americans) is willing to compromise far beyond what some of her compatriots are willing to accept. And hell, Jill Ruckelshaus (Elizabeth Banks, The Hunger Games) is somehow still a Republican! They can’t get on message together to actually accomplish anything, and they fail to take the threat Phyllis poses seriously until it’s too late, blind to people whose opinions are so different from their own.

Each of the leads could support their own miniseries. One might argue they’re lumped together because of their gender, rather than just because of the cause. I still like the format. Each hour includes all the leads, but the episode title reveals with woman will get a little more focus for that offering. Phyllis and Gloria are probably the two biggest characters overall, and that shows.

I’ll admit, that it’s impossible to judge MRS. AMERICA without political views creeping in. At least it is for me. So the next portion is written from the perspective of a liberal, straight, white man, which comes with much bias and unearned privilege.

It would be hard for many conservatives to enjoy a show, even one featuring flawed liberal women, when their own position is so blatantly misguided. But I hope they watch anyway. The liberal in me wants to say, if you have a problem with MRS. AMERICA, then don’t have such evil viewpoints. But here’s the thing: this is an inspiring underdog story of the rise of feminism, made all the more tragic by the lack of progress of the heroes’ central goals nearly fifty years later. Though, now it’s common for both parents to be forced to work outside the home to make ends meet and the classic family dynamic has eroded by necessity, not choice, so really, we all lost.

The real take-away, in my opinion, is the reflection on modern society. We see the misinformation and twisting of facts to serve an agenda, and how masses of people buy into it. We also see what happens when good people fighting for a just cause fail to unite in their mission. There are plenty of strong reasons for individuals to draw the line in different places, but speaking with one voice can prove very effective, even when that voice is wrong.

Will this story have a happy ending? That remains to be seen, and it certainly won’t within the span of nine episodes, as the battle still rages on in 2020, reignited by the last presidential election in ways it hasn’t been since the events depicted in MRS. AMERICA. Hopefully, those that want to finish what was started learn a few lessons and draw inspiration from this story.

The first three episodes of MRS. AMERICA are available now on Hulu, with new installments weekly.

Checking Out QUIBI

Article first published as TV Review: QUIBI on Seat42F.

In the crowded world of streaming, QUIBI, a new project from Dreamworks founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, and led by former HP CEO Meg Whitman, stands out as different. Available only for smart phones, the app boasts episodes under ten minutes in length, with new installments released daily. It’s configured for short attention spans or the busy person on the go, allowing a bit of drama, comedy, or reality in bite-size form.

I admit, in my mid-thirties, I am not the target demographic for QUIBI. I dislike having to view content on my tiny screen, and wish it was available to cast to my television set. I don’t like how the picture adjusts to both portrait and landscape mode, cutting off a portion of the image no matter which way you hold it. I also don’t like watching programs in such short chunks, although it helps that new episodes are coming daily instead of weekly, with new shows weekly.

Looking over the content in QUIBI, again, I’m not the target. Most programs are reality shows, while I prefer to stick to scripted fare. However, there are a handful of scripted series in the initial batch launched this week, so I reviewed the first six episodes of all four of them. There will be spoilers.

We’ll start with the best of the bunch, and the sole comedy in the offerings, FLIPPED. Kaitlin Olson (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and Will Forte (Last Man on Earth) star as Cricket and Jann Melfi, an eccentric, artsy couple who use a drug dealer’s cash to renovate their home. Obviously, dangerous hilarity ensues as they are forced to makeover the bad guy’s abode. From Funny or Die, it’s smart and weird and pretty darn funny, headlined by a couple of seasoned pros. It’s the least jarring when the episodes end after just a few minutes.

I also enjoyed MOST DANGEROUS GAME in which the mysterious Miles Sellers (Christoph Waltz, Spectre) hires the terminally ill and broke Dodge Maynard (Liam Hemsworth, The Hunger Games) to run and avoid five assassins for twenty-four hours. It’s a pretty familiar concept, but it succeeds in being suspenseful. Its fast pace is relentless, and even the setup is compelling. This is the one I am most likely to see through, and I really need episode seven right now.

WHEN THE STREETLIGHTS GO ON is typical young adult fare. A teacher (Mark Duplass, The Morning Show) and student (Kristine Froseth, Looking for Alaska) are romantically involved. When they’re murdered, the town reels. Young Charlie Chambers (Chosen Jacobs, It) investigates their deaths for the school newspaper, while others find love. Or probably just teenage crushes. It’s interesting enough, and fits in well with other programming in its genre, so that it will likely work for QUIBI’s core viewership.

Lastly, SURVIVE seems like it’s going to be a drama about mental health. But when protagonist Jane (Sophie Turner, Game of Thrones) crash lands in an airplane, things get a lot more intense. The fact that the man (Corey Hawkins, The Walking Dead) she talks to in the airport, and then just happens to sit next to on the plane, turns out to be the only other survivor, is preposterous. Almost as much so as Jane surviving the wreck unsecured in a bathroom. Their trek down the snowy mountain only gets more ridiculous from there.

While the quality of story telling is uneven among these offerings, there are some commonalities. All star terrific performers and have high production value. They all also feel pretty familiar, without getting too risky in originality. It’s like they’re a shortened, broken up version of shows ans movies people already watch, which may be why they were chosen. QUIBI’s platform itself is the risk, not what it puts on it.

The short format is hard to get used to. Three of these four are as good as any other short-form series I’ve watched. And despite my general distaste, I’ve watched quite a few. It always feels odd to get jarred out of the story so quickly. Web series have been around for awhile, but none have ever really taken off in the public consciousness. Some have gained decent followings, but none hit truly mainstream status. I can’t imagine any of  these will, either, but it’s an interesting experiment that I’ll keep an eye on. My prediction is this service will be a blip, over relatively quickly, and without any true competitors. But who knows? Maybe there’s finally a generation ready for such a thing. We’ll see.

QUIBI is available now on Android and iPhone devices, and offers a 90-day free trial. The trial is free with or without ads, so there’s no reason to choose the ad version at this juncture. More than a dozen shows are currently running with additional ones on the way, including new Reno 9-1-1 episodes.

WESTWORLD Expands Its Borders

Article first published as TV Review: WESTWORLD Season 3 on Seat42F.

WARNING: This review contains spoilers for the first two episodes.

HBO’s WESTWORLD returned last week after a very long hiatus. Season three likely has multiple timelines, so it’s hard to say how long it’s been in the world of the story, though at least one plot thread is a mere few months later. Then narrative seems more fragmented than ever, with fewer characters returning than did for season two, but with a lot of possibility, new faces, and futuristic worlds to explore. What is real and what is just a simulation? Who knows, but we’re definitely in for it in the eight-episode third season.

Delores Abernathy (Evan Rachel Wood) is arguably the lead, and she is now loose in the real world. After securing herself funding, she snuggles up to Liam Dempsey (John Gallagher Jr., The Newsroom), a rich man that controls a supercomputer that tracks everyone. But when things with Liam don’t go how Delores expects, she’s soon hanging out with Caleb Nichols (Aaron Paul, Breaking Bad), who has quite the different background. Caleb struggles just to make ends meet, and takes criminal activities on the side, though draws the line at murder and kidnapping. How might he be of assistance? Plus, Delores still has Charlotte Hale (Tessa Thompson) in her pocket, but who is now inhabiting Hale’s body?

In the meantime, we also catch up with Bernard Lowe (Jeffrey Wright), who has been blamed for the murders in the park. He’s in hiding, likely in an earlier time period than the Delores story, and trying to ride things out. When that proves impossible, he returns to the island to secure help, and finds Ashley Stubbs (Luke Hemsworth), who is, just as we all thought, a host.

And then there’s Maeve Millay (Thandie Newton), who is back in the games, this time in War World. At least she has Hector (Rodrigo Santoro) and Lee (Simon Quarterman) by her side. Or does she? New character Engerraund Serac (Vincent Cassel, Black Swan) has other plans for her.

A quarter of the way through the season, there are still more unanswered questions than known info. We haven’t even seen the Man in Black (Ed Harris) yet, though his name continues to grace the opening credits. And Quarterman also got a lead nod, meaning he’s likely to return, but how? While sadly, Santoro did not, meaning this could be the only time we see him this year.

The scale of WESTWORLD in season three has expanded greatly, as the adventure goes global. Several continents are covered, but the series thankfully has time to return to the park, at least a little bit. It looks like a bigger budget is probably in the offering, and the smaller scale of the second hour was surely to help balance just how immense the first one was.

The show is, at its heart, still the same series. It still raises questions of artificial intelligence and the danger of encroaching technology. It’s still very much a game that the rich play with hosts and common workers alike as pawns. Delores wants to tear down all of mankind, but perhaps she should consider connecting with Caleb’s peers instead, uniting in cause against their true enemy, the rich?

Season two was very different than season one, and not everyone liked that. Season three is different again. I appreciate the continued evolution of the piece, and think the core themes and characters provide a good through-line. The first two seasons were essentially loose expansions upon the 1973 film WESTWORLD (with a LOT more complexity added in). Season three seems to be picking up the sequel, FUTUREWORLD, but again, with many more angles and viewpoints. This might give us a hint as to where the show is going, though I expect it has more to say than can found in those movies.

I’m along for the ride and happy with the vehicle they’ve provided for us. In my opinion, WESTWORLD season 3 builds upon what’s come before it, and opens up a whole lot of new intriguing possibilities.

WESTWORLD airs Sunday evenings on HBO.