C2 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.THURSDAy, MARCH 19 , 2020
about a fever that spread across
America and still keeps many in
its grip.tV for people who can’t take
any more stress right now
Even during relatively peaceful
times, I hear from readers who
insist that TV offer escape — and
only that. They can’t handle in-
tense dramas. They have a com-
mon list of triggers (violence,
crime, sexual situations, horror... one reader once told me she
can’t stand any shows where peo-
ple raise their voices at one an-
other).
I often can’t recommend much
more than “Jeopardy!” to them,
but here’s m y best attempt to offer
some ideas that are either some-
what gentle, escapist, purely fun-
ny or some combination of the
three.
“the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”
on Amazon Prime is a reliable
pick-me-up. (If she annoyed you
before, perhaps now her frantic
shenanigans as an up-and-com-
ing female comic in late-1950s
New York will ease the monotony
of cabin fever.) “Little America”
on Apple TV Plus tells melan-
choly yet ultimately upbeat sto-
ries of the immigration experi-
ence. And the ever-resilient PBS
drama “Call the Midwife” a lways
delivers (no pun intended) an
inspiring moment. (It returns
march 29.) And I’m still a huge
fan of Hulu’s “Pen15,” a hilarious
and moving account of two girls
in middle school, circa 2000.
on Disney Plus, “the Man-
dalorian” sort of flattens out the
Star Wars experience, but if you
haven’t yet seen Baby Yoda in
action, you’re missing out. And
who couldn’t draw some comfort
right now from the leadership of
Patrick Stewart’s legendary Star-
fleet admiral, Jean-Luc Picard?
You can engage “Star trek:
Picard” on CBS All Access.
tV for people who would like
a little fresh-cracked anxiety
on top of their anxiety
Yes! Wallow in it. It’s called
adrenaline and it will keep you on
your toes. The current, final sea-
son of Showtime’s “Homeland” i s
coping frenetically with a story
line involving a helicopter carry-
ing the president (Beau Bridges)
that was shot down by the Ta li-
ban. And Claire Danes is good at
stoking one’s jangled nerves.
David Simon and Ed Burns’s
just-launched HBo miniseries
“the Plot Against America” is a
faithful adaptation of Philip
roth’s w hat-if novel that imagines
a 1940s United States run by Nazi
sympathizers — a disturbing re-
minder that things always could
have been (and still can be!)
worse.
Parents who love anxiety can’t
do much better than Apple TV
Plus’s morosely absorbing “Ser-
vant,” a sort of haunted-house
story with baby monitors.
on a different but also domes-
tically unsettling note, Hulu’s
“Little Fires everywhere” just
premiered with the first three
episodes. It runs deep with un-
kindness between moms and
neighbors (reese Witherspoon
and Kerry Washington), which
makes it an even guiltier pleasure
right now.
of course, if you love awful and
uptight people, Larry David has
delivered what I think is the best
season of “Curb Your enthusi-
asm” we’ve had in a long time,
currently airing on HBo. I’m sure
he’d have a lot to say about the
hoarding of hand sanitizer — in
fact, I assume he has quite a stash
himself.tV for people who always try
to read “Moby-Dick” on
vacation
I know your type. At long last,
you (mistakenly) think, here is
the time and space you always
needed to tackle the towering
classics of TV’s new golden age:
“breaking bad,” “Mad Men,”
etc. You’re finally going to watch
“Game of thrones” from start to
finish, arn’cha?
I don’t recommend this ap-
proach, simply because I’m hop-
ing against hope that this crisis
doesn’t last nearly that long. But
if this is the route you’ve chosen
— climbing the Grand Te tons
when a pleasant nature hike
would suffice — please do me a
favor, and at least make it “the
Americans.”tV about real people
I’m still waiting for a scripted
drama in 2020 to draw me in as
thoroughly as Netflix’s six-part
docuseries “Cheer” did in Janu-
ary.
Have you not watched it be-
cause you think you aren’t inter-
ested in competitive collegiate
cheerleading? Let Jerry and the
gang work their motivational
magic on you. By the end, you’ll
be pumped and ready for...
another day at home.
[email protected]and a really uncooperative tween-
age son.
If and when you finish that, I
insist you get some other obses-
sion. for starters, PBS has added
an encore presentation of Ken
Burns’s 1994 epic documentary
“baseball” — free on any PBS
platform. Sure, it’s meant to
soothe baseball fans who are go-
ing to suffer withdrawal pangs
this spring, but it’s also a fine
metaphorical history lessonsocio-horror slog that is AmC’s
“The Walking Dead,” Guillermo
del To ro’s fX series (available
now on Hulu) about a viral vam-
pire pandemic aired from 2014 to
2017, and I always admired the
way it tapped into modern anxiet-
ies while honoring old-school
horror techniques, which ought
to be fun rather than torturous.
Great ensemble cast, too, includ-
ing Corey Stoll as an epidemiolo-
gist struggling with alcoholismbehavior, which might come in
handy as you gird yourself for
your next trip through that apoc-
alyptic hellscape once known as
Whole foods.tV for people who’ve
watched every pandemic
movie or show they can find
Yes, but have you watched
“the Strain”? Lighter and more
conclusive than the redundantexistence, the meaning of moral
goodness and the notion of a final
judgment, well, you’re primed
and ready for TV’s brightest, wit-
tiest and most thorough explora-
tion of life’s big philosophical
concepts. I’m talking, of course,
about NBC’s “the Good Place,”
which wrapped in January.
maybe you tried to watch it
before and found it too clever by
half. Tr y again. It’s a reassuring
primer for understanding humanregarded as a retreat from a day
spent in confinement.
Before you turn it on, think
hard about why you’re turning it
on and what you intend to watch.
You don’t want TV’s companion-
able qualities to turn into the
noisy friend who never shuts up.
Don’t watch TV just because it’s
on; respect the form. You might
be happier tonight with a book, or
a favorite album, or a podcast, or
a phone call with an old friend —
or silence. Watch all the junk you
need to get by, but regard the act
of watching with a sense of disci-
pline.
my other big advice may seem
to run counter to that, but here it
is: Subscribe to everything. Treat
streaming television like you’ve
been treating the toilet-paper
aisles and get it all. many stream-
ing outlets are already offering
sign-up specials or extending
free-trial periods.
Whatever you’re no longer
spending on gas, coffee breaks,
Uber, bus fare, restaurants, draft
beers, spin classes, theater tick-
ets, travel, sporting events (and
sports betting) — use that money
to let yourself have Hulu and
Netflix. Along with Amazon
Prime (with our usual disclosure
here about Amazon chief execu-
tive Jeff Bezos being The Wash-
ington Post’s owner), sign up for
CBS All Access, Acorn TV and
Starz. Buy a PBS subscription. Get
Disney Plus, mainly for the kids.
Get Apple TV Plus. Add HBo,
Showtime and Epix. Cancel any-
time.
When people ask me for a TV
recommendation, I usually turn
the tables and ask them what
they’ve recently liked, what they
usually watch and why. That’s
how I’ve approached this list —
grouping hypothetical viewers by
type.
I hope this helps get you
through these long days and
nights.
tV for people who ignored
my list of 2019’s best shows
It’s been only a few months
since I gave careful thought to
last year’s many outstanding
shows and ranked the 10 best. If
you still haven’t watched all of
these, then our work here is done
— there’s enough to last you
several weeks.
At the top of that list is HBo’s
“Watchmen,” a stunningly real-
ized drama about race and vigi-
lante justice in a fictional Ameri-
ca suffering from a peculiar sort
of superhero complex. You don’t
have to be a comic-book fan to
enjoy it; regina King’s perfor-
mance alone will quickly per-
suade you.
The rest of that list: “When
they See Us” (Netflix); “Unbe-
lievable” (Netflix); “Succession”
(HBo, Seasons 1 and 2); “Gentle-
man Jack” (HBo); “Fleabag”
(Amazon Prime, Seasons 1 and 2);
“this Is Us” (NBC, currently in
Season 4); “Chernobyl” (HBo);
“Dead to Me” (Netflix); and
“Leaving neverland” (HBo).
tV for people who think
they’ve watched everything
already
I’ll bet you haven’t — not even
close. You’ve watched all the
amazing previous seasons of fX’s
“better things” and are up to
date on the current season? Then
you, too, share my b elief that Sam
fox (Pamela Adlon) would be the
ideal person to quarantine with.
(Have you noticed all her deli-
cious cooking?)
What about HBo’s “Insecure,”
which returns April 12? Are you
ready for that? What about all of
Netflix’s “boJack Horseman”?
(And “big Mouth” ?) You’ve
watched “Ramy” on Hulu?
“Dickinson” on Apple TV Plus?
Now that you can access fX’s
entire catalogue on Hulu, I’m
sure you’ve watched both seasons
of “Pose.” (right? And “Fosse/
Verdon” ?) You found time to
figure out what the producers
were trying to tell us in last
summer’s “euphoria” on HBo?
You’ve considered the beguiling
meanings and extreme creativity
in Showtime’s “Kidding,” includ-
ing this current season? You’re
deep into fX on Hulu’s “Devs,”
Silicon Valley’s answer to “Kill-
ing eve”?
The point is, we only think we’ve
watched everything, but it’s not
possible. right now, I’m committed
to enjoying the second chapter of
HBo’s masterfully envisioned Ital-
ian drama “My brilliant Friend,”
which premiered monday. I really
blew it in 2018, deciding to pass on
writing a review of the first chapter
— because I was too busy. Now it’s
back, like a mesmerizing gift.
tV for people trying not to
have an existential crisis
If official reasurrances have
failed to convince you that the
end isn’t near — or you’re just
spooked in general about your
own mortality, the absurdity of
notebooK from C1
Too many choices? Let the TV critic help out.
HBOWARRICK PAGE/SHOWTIME
FRoM toP: Hbo’s “Watchmen”; sports legend babe Ruth, who is featured in Ken burns’s PbS documentary “baseball”; and Claire Danes
and Mandy Patinkin in Showtime’s “Homeland.”ASSOCIATED PRESS