Pre-Apocalyptic Pause? - (Intentions of) Video Distractions, by Mike Norton

Well, it's been quite a week, hasn't it?
 {Removed were multiple paragraphs about how the COVID-19 situation is hitting me and mine here in Pennsylvania. No reason to go into all that detail here. Suffice to say that it may get a little weird in my neighborhood over the next two weeks.}
  Back to now, and this week's piece - my tv/movie watching has been in fragments, aside from some of the catching up I mentioned wanting to do last time.

  I finished the wonderfully-affecting second season of Kidding over on Showtime. Again, I know it's not going to be to everyone's tastes - some are permanently soured on Jim Carrey, and others can't accept the resilient optimism of the lead character - but the emotional swings in the show have been amazing. Laughter and tears, and with wonderfully-layered characters and storytelling.
  I've watched the first four episodes of the current, fifth season of AMC's Better Call Saul, and would have watched more but it's a weekly and that's all they've put out so far.

 I caught the penultimate episode (#8) of the first season (a second was already greenlit back in February) of HBO's sci-fi comedy Avenue 5, so that'll be wrapping up Sunday with its ninth episode. I have to respect the process, and presume they knew when they'd reached a stopping point. That's to be encouraged over a slavish devotion to pumping out an even number of episodes.
  Sunday will also see HBO begin season three of Westworld. I enjoyed the first season, but repeatedly bounced off the second season opener (probably kept approaching it too late at night) and never got back to it, so I'll have that to get to before I can approach this new season.
  Scattered attempts to lock into something else have found me watching some, but then restlessly moving on to some other flavor.  
  I watched the first three episodes of a Norwegian entry that landed on Netflix this year: Ragnarok.

 It's centered in a small town in Norway, reputed to be the last village that long ago gave up its worship of the old Norse gods. As a mother and her two sons return here for the first time since the boys were infants, things begin to happen. Could this mark the return of those gods? And have their ancient enemies survived to -- and have they been here all along?
   I remained interested, but less than riveted; it's only six episodes, though. and I'm told there'll be a second season, so there are incentives to see how it plays out.
  I tried finally getting around to watching Baskets, an FX comedy that ran four seasons, all of which are available on Hulu. Starring Zach Galifianakis and Louie Anderson -- and Martha Kelly, too, who's fine, but I didn't remember having seen her anywhere else, so she wasn't a "name" draw for me.

 I have reason to believe the show gets better, but the first three episodes were often a grind, primarily because of Galifianakis' character Chip Baskets. The central failure is the supposed humor of having a loser who - admittedly, like most of us - thinks he's smarter and more in touch with reality than he is, and so continues to stick with behaviors that are not only ultimately disrespectful to himself, but even less forgivably so to those few who care about him -- especially Martha, played ably by Martha Kelly.
  There's a lot of protracted, embarrassing behavior that seems to pass muster as comedy very well with many others, but which is mostly just unpleasant to me. That's the prmary reason why my every attempt to try to get into watching The Office - especially the US version - has fallen flat. So much of it isn't funny to me, but just a combination of predictable and, again, unpleasant, and going on too, too long with an unfunny joke. For similar reasons, as an adult I've been unable to recapture whatever it was that I thought was funny about Lucille Ball when I watched her shows as a child.
  Currently, I'm much more likely to give Baskets more of a try than I am to head back into The Office.
  Items keep piling up in this media Midas plague. Which, I must note, is a good problem to have.
I've yet to sample any of the three episodes (so far) of Dispatches From Elsewhere (AMC) -- and so far have just seen enough promotional material to be interested in giving it a try, but to be wary of exposing myself to any details ahead of time.

   It crossed my mind a few times this week to pull together a partial list of apocalypse movies for today, but especially as the way Thursday rolled through that became less and less palatable as I started to assemble the list. Even less likely was going to be me deciding to roll with the Friday the 13th theme. Maybe if I saw one of the streaming services included the tv show of the same name, about cursed objects...
  While I know it hasn't aged well, and even just dipping back into it via the iffy copies of it on YouTube reminded me that aside from some casting missteps there's more than enough bad acting in it than I remembered, we might dust off my DVD set of the 1994 tv adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand this weekend. Three or four of us settling in to watch it with popcorn, etc., could do the trick. Whether or not any places hereabouts will be selling alcohol (the governor's called for a two week shutdown of all unnecessary businesses in my part of the state) could be a factor.  

 Maybe later in the weekend I'll bring out the extended cut of 1978's Dawn of the Dead, which has been a favorite since it came out and I saw it (repeatedly) at midnight showings. Sure, that has more than its share of wobbly acting in it, but it has heart, some style, and a message or two.

   Both films also share a personal, nostalgic connection, as I saw both of them - both for the first and several other times afterward - with someone I was extremely close to, who's no longer around. Someone who will have been gone an astounding ten years in less than four weeks.
   Apologies for not having at least one clear and strong recommendation to make this week. As so many of us are watching things on streaming services, I'll once again point you down through the title list below, to previous Friday columns for some recommendations.
  As ever, any comments, reactions and even suggestions are welcome in the comments below.
   Enjoy the weekend, and take care of yourself, wherever you are.
              -Mike N.
Shows and movies hit on in previous posts:

 Sept. 20th: Mindhunter (Netflix)

     Sept. 27th: What's The Matter With Helen, The French Connection, and Frenzy. (Early '70s R-rated movies I saw with my mom)

     Oct. 3rd:    Preacher (AMC), Stumptown (ABC), Sunnyside (NBC), The Good Place (NBC), and Jack Ryan (Amazon Prime).

     Oct. 11th:  Joker (still in theaters), and In The Tall Grass (Netflix)

     Oct. 18th:  El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (Netflix)

     Oct. 25th: Dolemite Is My Name (Netflix)

     Nov. 1st:   Watchmen (HBO series), The Kominsky Method (Netflix)

     Nov. 8th:   Seconds (1966 movie, currently available as part of Amazon Prime)
     Nov. 15th: Dr. Sleep (current theatrical release, but probably not for long), Horace and Pete (2016 web-produced series, currently on Hulu)
     Nov. 22nd: NOS4A2 (AMC, now on Hulu) and Man In The High Castle (Amazon Prime)

     Nov. 29th: The Irishman (Netflix), The Mandalorian and The World According To Jeff Goldblum (both on Disney+), light touches on Watchmen (HBO) and Ray Donovan (Showtime)
  Dec, 6th: The Booth At the End (Amazon Prime), and Us (HBO).

Dec 13th:  Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime), The Feed (Amazon Prime), 6 Underground (Netflix movie).

  Dec 20th:A Christmas Carol (FX), The Expanse (Amazon Prime), Killing Eve (BBC America)
  Dec 27th: Lost In Space season 2, and first impressions of The Witcher, both on Netflix.
  Jan. 3rd: Black Mirror (Netflix) and Phillip K. Dick's Electric Dreams (Amazon Prime). 
  Jan 10th: Undone (Amazon Prime), Witcher (Netflix) and Dracula (Netflix/BBC One). 
  Jan 17th: Kidding (Showtime) 
  Jan 24th: No shows, just some movie mentions as I recall some places that no longer exist.
  Jan 31st: October Faction (Netflix) and the finale of The Good Place (NBC).
  Feb 7th: Messiah (Netflix)
  Feb 14th: Locke & Key (Netflix)
  Feb 21st: Skidoo (1968 film, available free on YouTube)
  Feb 28th: The Lighthouse (2019 movie)
  Mar 6th: Kidding (Showtime; second season),  Avenue 5 (HBO), Better Call Saul (AMC.)

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