Every few months, the TV Trend Reporters Coalition meets and launches a platoon called “Is HBO’s Sunday Night Monopoly Over?” story.
Is Game of Thrones over? “Is HBO’s Sunday night monopoly over?”
It’s Florida, dude.
Conclusion It’s not just a joke show, but it’s not diverse enough.
Broadcast date: Friday, October 18th at 11pm (HBO)
Starring: Anna Faris, Jake Johnson, Randall Park, Juliette Lewis, Sam Richardson, Ego Nwodim, Simon Rex, Echo Kellum, Mary Elizabeth Ellis
Author: Mark Harwick, Jeff Tomsic
Successor finished? “Is HBO’s Sunday night monopoly over?”
Is House of Dragons departing indefinitely? “Is HBO’s Sunday night exclusivity over?”
But while Sober Kids remains the centerpiece of beloved premium programming that waxes and wanes in periodic waves on HBO Sundays, if you’re looking for the future of television today, tune in Friday at 11 p.m. I know it’s better to do it.
I’ve said it before and I’ll probably say it again. HBO puts the good stuff here, the weird stuff, the author-ish stuff, the stuff you can mention at parties, the stuff everyone in the know knows about. What you’re talking about is they’re You know what you’re talking about. This space is home to one of the year’s best shows (Fantasmas), some of the best shows of the past decade (How to With John Wilson, Los Espokes, etc.), and many more. It’s also home to countless quirky shows of the kind you won’t see anywhere else. Find it elsewhere on TV. I’m sure HBO will continue to fill Sunday nights with big and small titles (The Penguins) (Somebody Somewhere returns on October 27th), but Friday’s 11 Time is the frame I actually want to protect.
It’s Florida, Man, which debuts this Friday at 11 p.m., may be the weirdest, least experimental series HBO has assembled in its late-night weekend hub. The only thing less edgy than poking fun at Florida’s eccentricities and disaster-prone residents is lining up a parade of high-profile guest stars to join the campaign. But if TV viewing and perception are habitual, and how many of HBO’s Sunday shows are made famous by that schedule? — Watch this now on Fridays at 11 p.m. Maybe debuting a show that can do that could help train viewers to be interested the next time Julio Torres does something truly surreal or subversive?
And this is Florida, humans aren’t bad at all. Four of the season’s six episodes have been sent to critics, and they have a pleasantly laid-back feel, closer to Drunken History than Room 104. You wouldn’t mind seeing “Florida, Man” creators Jeff Tomsic and Mark Harwick imitate “Florida, Man” in an HBO anthology series. A little more.
The premise is very simple. Each half-hour features the kind of real-life that helped Florida gain a national reputation as a state-style meme, through both celebrity-starring reenactments and interviews with the actual Florida men and women in question. The accident is told, giving the latter another chance. Reclaiming, or at least partially shaping, our own stories.
So it’s Florida, and humans aren’t just making fun of Floridians and their frequent drug disasters. It’s making fun of them in a complex way. somewhat. Danny McBride’s Rough House Pictures is also one of the producers, and if you’re used to his lovingly mocking work, you’ll expect that here too.
There’s the story of Eric (played by Simon Rex in the reenactment), who admits he’s “not the sharpest tool in the shed,” but this is a story about how he tries to survive in the swamp after his arm is eaten by a crocodile. It only partially explains why they decided to fight like this.
The story of “aquatic performer” Whitney (Anna Faris), whose career as a mermaid takes a turn for the worse due to a feud with her colleague Mia (Mary Elizabeth Ellis), who is revealed to be a witch.
Also introduced are Derrick (Echo Kellum) and Denver (Jon Gries). Their unlikely love story hits a speed bump that leads to a dangerous legal situation involving spaghetti sauce and a bull costume.
And then there’s the story of Phil (Sam Richardson), a Disney cast member who posts on Craigslist that he’ll do anything for money to go to a concert — forgetting that in Florida, “anything” is bound to cause anxiety. There is.
All of these episodes were directed by Tomsic, who is well aware of our collective derisive perception of these Florida Man anecdotes. They often express each situation through multiple perspectives, showing varying levels of empathy for the narrator, and romanticizing or condescending their version of events.
The familiar actors are cute touches that take “Florida Guys, Florida Guys” to a higher level than similar concepts from TLC and Discovery might offer. The performances are mostly pantomimes backed by the real hero’s narration, with the maddening intensity of Eris as a mermaid-turned-witch, Rex’s sad despair as a man battling nature, and the world’s biggest Bassnectar fan. Richardson and others are highlighted, causing anxiety.
The presence of real people helps protect the show from accusations of caricature, and the best episodes give these unlikely heroes room to become three-dimensional themselves. Eric initially appears as a dim-witted cartoon of a man with few teeth and similarly limited common sense, but he displays a colorful, poetic wisdom that fuels his work. The real Denver can summarize the overall theme of the series by observing: They had their struggles, but overall they were good people. ”
Despite the quickly established sameness of Harwick and Tomsic’s approach, the stories covered are diverse. Although each appearance looks similar, the Florida setting provides little authenticity, with actors constructing their punch lines in the same way, such as directly repeating lines uttered by their real-life counterparts. I am. What was initially stylish and clever becomes calcified by the fourth episode.
It would have been nice to bring in a different writer and director for each chapter here, especially since each story occupies a different genre, to bring out some of Room 104’s energy. Assuming it’s Florida, The Man will be a success, and since the memes and stars have their own audiences, there should be an opportunity to take more risks in What-If’s second season.
It’s 11 o’clock on HBO Friday, dude.
Please act like that.
