THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 88 AUGUST 14, 2019
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NETFLIX.^ SUCCESSION,^ EUPHORIA
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HBO.^1 HBO’s Succession 2 Netflix’s Stranger Things
3 HBO’s Euphoria 4 Showtime’s The Loudest
Voice 5 Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black.GOODMAN I had the strangest
feeling watching this season of
Stranger Things — “Do I want to do
this again?” Not because I didn’t
like it, but because, as you say, it’s
just very familiar now. As for Big
Little Lies, I was confident that
it was nothing more than melo-
dramatic fluff the first season.
Instead of gloating “I told you so,”
I did the right thing and took a
peek at the new episodes just to
see what Meryl Streep brought
to the proceedings (gravitas, for
sure, and a fun character). But
what I saw just reconfirmed what
I already knew: Not my thing. As
for other easily digestible things,
I’m super into Amazon’s The Boys.
And though I’m normally not a
fan of origin stories — or the hug-
est DC or Batman person — Epix’smyth when it comes to television
ever since cable got great. If we’re
using June as the starting line,
wow, there’s been a lot of good
stuff. What are you liking so far?
FIENBERG Netflix’s Stranger Things,
which returned in July for season
three, remains the epitome of
escapist TV right down to the
reassuring way it seems to repeat
the same plot over and over. It’s
Love Island with a Mindflayer!
Are Mike and Eleven “endgame”?
Will Hopper and Joyce couple up?
I don’t want to make it sound like
I don’t like Stranger Things, but it’s
a simple pleasure — a bit like how,
at least for three episodes or so,
season two of HBO’s Big Little Lies
justified its existence by merely
having a weasel-toothed Meryl
Streep sparring with the A-list
cast, before it became clear that
there wasn’t enough story to fill
a season.DANIEL FIENBERG In a way, TV this
summer began with the series
finale of Game of Thrones, in which
an adventure involving high-
profile casualties, city-destroying
dragons and epic military
campaigns climaxed with a
coronation for an eccentric, thor-
oughly disconnected character
the series creators felt “had the
best story.” It’s no wonder one of
the summer’s breakout charac-
ters is Democratic presidential
candidate Marianne Williamson.
There’s a way to view the recent
small-screen slate as analogous
to the bulging Democratic field:
There are intriguing upstarts, old
favorites and a few spectacular
underdogs. Tim, did I just impose
too much subtext on what was
once a season dedicated to pro-
gramming escapism?
TIM GOODMAN I would argue that
summer escapism has been a
Pleasure or Pain?
Summer TV Offers Both
Shows like Stranger Things and Jett are welcome sources of genre distraction, while
Years and Years and Orange Is the New Black tackle our current moment head-on
Pennyworth is a ton of fun and
wholly original.
FIENBERG Networks now seem
scared of that kind of pure escap-
ism. Look at Starz’s The Rook:
It’s based on a breezy book that
blends spy hijinks and superpow-
ers, but the show is dour and
dull. There’s comfort in genre
stuff done right: Cinemax’s
sexy, twisty Carla Gugino
vehicle Jett and Showtime’s
couldn’t-be-more-Boston-if-they-
actually-shot-in-Boston City on a
Hill play by the rules, but at least
do so with a certain degree of
proficiency and panache.
GOODMAN Wow, i s Jett entertain-
ing. It’s a perfect example of: A)
a genre series done right, and B)
Carla Gugino done right. A killer
combo! But may I just say that
Epix’s Perpetual Grace, LTD — an
offbeat noir headlined by Ben
Kingsley and Jacki Weaver — has
been arguably the best show I’ve
seen all summer? Yet another
reason for people to get the Epix
app. Other summer highlights for
me include a pair of very different
HBO shows: the weird, wonderful
Los Espookys and the challenging
(and decidedly not escapist!) high
school drama Euphoria.
FIENBERG I go back and forth
between finding Euphoria brave
and annoyingly voyeuristic.CRITICS CONVERSATION
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