52 Time March 30, 2020
TimeOff Reviews
Saylor and LoweBinge-watch: Eugene Levy and Chris Elliott star in the Netflix hit Schitt’s CreekIF YOU WANT A SHOW DEVOID OF
CYNICISM: PARKS AND
RECREATION (NETFLIX)
A group of bighearted municipal
employees in Indiana manage to
remain unflaggingly optimistic
and funny as they sort through the
bureaucracy of local politics. Comfort
food at its fnest.IF YOU WANT TO HANG OUT WITH
FAMILY: SCHITT’S CREEK
(NETFLIX)
After losing their fortune, a family must
move to a tiny motel in the middle of
nowhere, bond and reassess their pri-
orities for the better in this delightfully
deranged comedy created by father-son
duo Eugene and Dan Levy.IF YOU NEED A ROM-COM TO
SIMULCAST WITH YOUR CRUSH:
LOVESICK (NETFLIX)
The dramedy centers on three
roommates, one of whom must inform
all his old flames he has chlamydia.
Each episode revisits one of his old
relationships, and as the show jumps
in time, the audience pieces together
how the roommates truly feel about
one another.TELEVISION
Soothing shows to stream right nowHomebound? Let this list provide a reprieve
By Eliana DocktermanIF YOU MISS FRIENDS—OR YOUR
FRIENDS: HAPPY ENDINGS (HULU)
Six friends hanging out in a bar may
sound overly familiar, but this group
takes hilariously messy narcissism to
the absolute max.IF YOU WANT TO TOTALLY
ZONE OUT: UNLIKELY ANIMAL
FRIENDS ( D I S N E Y+)
For gorgeous nature content, check out
Planet Earth. But if you just want the
pure joy of watching a dog swimming
with a dolphin or a duck play-fghting
with a cat, this show delivers.IF YOU WANT SOMETHING TO
INSPIRE YOUR HOME COOKING:
C HE F ’ S TABL E (NETFLIX)
What separates this from other food
series is the exquisite, borderline-
pornographic shots of cooks preparing
food in the world’s best restaurants.IF YOU WANT TO GET ALONG
WITH YOUR ROOMMATES:
TERRACE HOUSE (NETFLIX)
This Japanese reality series is like The
Real World but without contrived ani-
mosity or conflict. The contestants’
inter actions are deeply felt. □MOVIES
What lies beneath
Down EastThe Maine-set mystery and
dark comedy Blow the Man
Down (streaming on Amazon
Prime) may represent the
invention of a new genre: let’s
call it lobster- trap noir. As two
sisters in a small coastal town
(played by Sophie Lowe and
Morgan Saylor) mourn their
recently deceased mother,
one of them has a run-in with
a creep she meets in a local
bar. Things end badly for the
creep, and the sisters try to
cover up the deed. That’s when
they learn that the deceased
has ties to a local madam
(Margo Martindale, making
the most of an amorphously
conceived character) whose
establishment caters to
fishermen working in the area.
Written and directed by
Bridget Savage Cole and Dani-
elle Krudy, Blow the Man Down
strives for Coen- brothers-style
quirkiness, and sometimes
succeeds. Its humor is as black
as the darkest wild blueberry:
How do you make a corpse
fit into a cooler intended for
seafood? Blow the Man Down
has your answer. And there are
some charming performances,
notably that of Will Brittain as
a sweet rookie cop who insists
on saying grace before meals.
But the ending of Blow the Man
Down doesn’t have the punch
it needs. Its comic-sinister
tone settles into something as
inconsequential as a gentle
breeze. This is a sea shanty
that just doesn’t swing.
ÑStephanie Zacharek