Survival of the Thickest (a terrible title, by the way) takes on several themes and story arcs. To get through them all in 8 half hour episodes is quite the feat from Michelle Buteau, who wrote the series based on her own book of essays. There are minor spoilers ahead.
Marry Me, the latest romcom starring Jennifer Lopez, makes fun of celebrity culture, makes math teachers look good, and includes some impressive singing and dancing. For a genre movie, it swings for the fences and does a good job of reaching them.
Moonshot is a sci-fi romcom. It aims, not for the moon, but for Mars. I watch a lot of romcoms and the genre usually works for me, but this one came up short in several ways.
The Principles of Pleasure is a three episode docu-series about women’s sexual health and pleasure. It features scientists, educators, therapists, and many interviews with ordinary women. This isn’t schoolyard gossip or the mythology of the patriarchy – this is the real info.
Awkwafina is Nora from Queens is a comedy series about Awkwafina’s own life from the time before she became well-known. It’s available on its home channel of Comedy Central and also on HBO Max, which is where I binge watched all 14 episodes of season 1.
Tales of the City was revived in 2019 from the stories by Armistead Maupin. Lauren Morelli is the creator behind the new series, which I found to be very much a series of right now. Contemporary.
Always Be My Maybe stars Randall Park and Ali Wong in a romantic comedy about two childhood friends who reconnect after about 15 years apart. The plot is standard romcom material, made noteworthy for its Asian lead characters. That makes Always Be My Maybe a member of a small but growing club. The director is a woman, Nahnatchka Khan.
Someone Great stars Gina Rodriguez in a comedy about breaking up, friendship, and possibly growing up just a little bit.
Netflix has all sorts of stand up comedy. The Comedy Lineup is different because it’s short and sweet. It’s a showcase for up and coming stand up comics. There are a lot of them!
