"Awkwafina is Nora from Queens" Season 1

This show is stupid in the sense of The Office, but it is outrageously hilarious. It's kind of a throwback to when comedians had a TV show based on a fictional account of their lives (Home Improvement, Roseanne, Martin, Newhart). I know that's still happening today, but this one appears to have the heart of those heyday shows rather than just looking for cheap laughs (¡Rob!, Marlon).
Nora is young woman in her late twenties, and still living at home. Like her, her father is just coasting through life, and the only person keeping both of them alive is Grandma. Nora is annoyed by her perfect cousin, Edmund, who is getting all kinds of deals and earning money. She is struggling to land a decent job, and actually hold it. She's gone from a discount Uber driver to counting cards at a blackjack table, to defrauding focus groups, to selling haunted houses. But when perfect Edmund needs her help, she steps up and creates an app that could bring them both money. But as she gets her job, in China, she gets busted for possession of cocaine. Well, her assistant was caught with it, but Nora took the blame.
In between Nora and Edmund's antics, Wally, Nora's dad, slowly starts to enter society and begins dating. He happens to meet a free-spirited woman with the same situation as him, and understands the frustration he endures.
Grandma even gets some screen time, duking it out with old Korean ladies at the casino, being the most feared woman in Elmhurst, and having a K-drama inspired backstory of how she was once heir to a rich fortune in China.
It's hard to imagine a girl with no job can have such a captivating story that you want to keep tuning in. Maybe it's because she is so relateable to many people's situation: meager jobs that seem to come and go while still forced to live with their parents. Often you feel like you fail at everything you do. But it's the people around you, who care about you, that makes it all worthwhile, and a comfort that there's always a chance to try again.
It's uncertain that this will get a second season, and I won't be surprised if it doesn't return next year. But I will be returning to Queens as long as Nora is still living there.

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I hope you liked this. Be sure to subscribe and leave a comment about what you thought or if you want to recommend a movie or TV show for me to review. I will be taking a break for the summer to try and relax during this social distancing. Please stay safe, stay home, save lives. We'll get through this together. Thank you for reading. I'll see you next time.

Aired on Comedy Central: January 22 - March 25, 2020
Rating: TV-MA
Stars: Awkwafina, Lori Tan Chin, BD Wong, Bowen Yang, Jennifer Esposito
Directors: Lucia Aniello, Jamie Babbit, Natasha Lyonne, Steven Tsuchida, Anu Valia, Daniel Scheinert, Daniel Kwan
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%
IMDb Score: 7.3/10 (Average)

"Saturday Night Live: SNL From Home"

This is truly an Emmy-winning episode. When I learned that they're putting together an episode from home, I, I'm sure like everyone else, wondered how it would work. And they pulled it off. I can't wait to see another one.
Of course that had to have Tom Hanks host this episode as he was recently diagnosed with the Coronavirus and recovered. But what about John Krasinski and Dua Lipa? Their episode was scheduled for March 28 until governors across the country issued stay-home orders. Will they get to perform in an Home Edition episode? Also, are we going to count this as Tom's 10th time hosting?
What probably helped sell this episode is that the cast managed to establish personas that are able to function in their own homes. The "Zoom Call" sketch featured Aidy Bryant and Kate McKinnon as two people who struggle to break in new technology and break down when it doesn't work. Aidy and Kate built up a reputation of playing socially awkward characters, so it was fitting to see them portray characters that aren't taking social distancing very well. It also holds up a mirror to our current society as many struggle with having to stay home all the time.
Video game sketches have been a small staple in the SNL pantheon. The early seasons featured two guys playing Pong while discussing their lives. Recently, they've made a surge in video game testing sketches that feature avatars going haywire. The "Twitch Stream" sketch may have taken the cake where we witness a gamer play Call of Duty: Warzone and hilariously die almost immediately in live streaming. I find it hilarious because I can sort of relate that detailed games like Call of Duty are frustrating. The closest thing I played was LEGO Star Wars. I know it's not the same as Call of Duty, but I can relate to the frustration he has in playing the game.
The "Whatcha' Cookin' On" sketch is another episode of the Kyle and Beck show. Unless you haven't been watching because John Belushi isn't on anymore, you know about the series of pre-recorded sketches displaying Kyle Mooney and Beck Bennett's friendship. This one is just so them in terms of being able to create a rap out of their FaceTime conversation on trying to decide on a sketch idea.
The Weekend Update segment is just something I think we needed after all this time, and Colin Jost and Michael Che kill it every time. Can we please have a show with these two? A Deesus & Mero sort of thing. The pictures they use for their stories blended into the background so it looks like Dr. Fauci and President Trump were in Colin's living room.
Bailey Gismert, played by Heidi Gardner, made a few appearances on Weekend Update, but this is the first time we see her YouTube channel, Bailey at the Movies. Both here and on Update, she gives her reviews on popular movies, but she often gets distracted and seems to forget the rest of the movie and just complains about it. Kind of reminds me of someone....
Kate McKinnon and Larry David helped bring their celebrity impressions to the home as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Senator Bernie Sanders respectively. This helps bring their "fans" to the same level as them in funny ways to show that they are in the same boat as us; no one is spared from this virus.
Speaking of which, music coordinator Hal Wilner had passed away from the COVID virus, so the show ended with many cast members past and present discussing fun memories with Hal and saying how much they'll miss him. The segment was also spliced with Hal's own words about his love for the show and how proud he was to be part of it.
Aside from the Hal Wilner tribute, I enjoyed the musical performance by Chris Martin, who played "Shelter from the Storm", by Bob Dylan. I thought it was a great pick since we are all riding this storm together, and we are trying to shelter each other by staying inside and flattening the curve.
This special episode was an absolute hit, and I can't wait to see more. I also can't wait for them to be back in Studio 8H when all of this is over.

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Aired on NBC: April 11, 2020
Rating: TV-14
Stars: Beck Bennett, Aidy Bryant, Michael Che, Pete Davidson, Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner, Colin Jost, Kate McKinnon, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Chris Redd, Cecily Strong, Kenan Thompson, Melissa Villaseñor, Chloe Fineman, Ego Nwodim, Bowen Yang, Chris Martin, Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin, Larry David, Fred Armisen
Director: Don Roy King
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%
IMDb Score: 7.1/10

"Four Weddings and a Funeral" (2019)

I never thought I would be back here, because the 1994 film, this series is based on, was my first post. I didn't think of it at the time, but I realize that's it's weird to squish five major events into a two-hour movie. Now I realize that they're gonna have to make some sh*t up in order to stretch a two-hour movie into a ten-part miniseries.
So, they Americanized it, but still have it set in a fantasy version of London where the Brits aren't giving them sh*t for being Yanks, well except for the constable that warned Maya twice about littering the Thames. In order to make this series last longer, they front loaded the botched wedding to give drama to Maya and Kash. Both times, I don't think this counts as a wedding because it didn't happen. To quote Wesley, from The Princess Bride, "You didn't say it, you didn't do it."
Also, it was kind of tacky to reference the other well-known Richard Curtis film this side of the pond, Love, Actually. I'm actually surprised that Hugh Grant didn't show his ugly face in this one, since he was in both films. The Love, Actually Easter eggs include, but aren't limited to: the cue card messages, opening with "Love is All Around Us", a cheating American politician, a British politician voting against his party, a black singer appearing at a wedding to sing at the ceremony, a mysterious jewelry gift meant for someone else, a dumb, blond guy looking to get laid with an American girl, and a guy's best friend having feeling for his date.
Honestly, the person that stole the whole show was the Queen, watching the reality dating show, Love, Chalet (oh, forgot that Easter egg), saying, "Zara found love, how nice." That is really the best part of the series.
I had forgotten a few details since I saw the movie, but I was sure that the four weddings would be among the four friends. I remember now that they attended all the same weddings. I remember that when Kash's friend, Basheer, marries Fatima, whom Kash was dating in an arranged marriage.
The part that bothered me the most was when Maya was applying for a job, she gets hired by a young Parliamentarian who touches her inappropriately. When she confronts him about it, he said to remember that she came up to him, at a gym, in a sports bra. First of all, dude, just f*cking apologize. Second, she dressed the part for the situation. He was at the gym; the sports bra is the proper attire for the gym. It would have been weird if she showed up in a blazer asking for a job. It'd be like applying to be a police officer wearing an apron and a toque.
I know this is just a miniseries, but if there is one character that should get its own movie or show, it's Basheer. I've noticed this in movies, and this will get playfully racist, Indians and Pakistani people are the absolute wingmen. You never fly solo. Never. Basheer was very upset, much like Maya was for stealing Kash from Ainsley, that he wanted Kash to hit him with his car. When Kash needed a chaperone (that's a very Victorian way, that's not weird), he texted Bash, and Bash dropped whatever he was doing. Bash drove Kash to the airport to "stop" Maya's wedding and was willing to stay at the airport in case it didn't work out. We all need a Basheer in our lives.
The funeral was actually very nice, but of all the ABBA songs Gemma would've picked, she picked a breakup song. What about "Honey Honey", "Fernando", "Waterloo"? I feel Gemma and her son Giles play off of the plot of The Sound of Music (probably why Kash starred in it) with them struggling from Quentin's death and finding love again in Duffy. And Arsenal sucks.
This was a fun series and I recommend it, if you're not too busy bingeing Friends or The Office for umpteenth time this isolation time.

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Released on Hulu: July 31 - September 11, 2019
Rating: TV-MA
Stars: Nathalie Emmanuel, Nikesh Patel, Rebecca Rittenhouse, John Reynolds, Brandon Mychal Smith, Zoe Boyle, Sophia La Porta, Harish Patel, Guz Khan
Directors: Charles McDougall, Tristram Shapeero, Catherine Morshead
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 42%
IMDb Score: 8.0/10 (Average)

"Ally McBeal" Season 1

It is such a shame that this show isn't talked about more nowadays. Instead of watching Friends, maybe give this show a chance.
This show is wildly funny, entertaining, and very boundary pushing as the main characters face all kinds of prejudice in and out of the workplace. First off, it was obvious that sexism was going to play a strong role since the titular Ally was sexually harassed, and she quits and joins a law firm featuring her ex-boyfriend from childhood, and later his wife. As the season progresses, we dive into racism, physical appearances, marriage preferences, and discrimination.
Some of the cases the law firm takes on are often outlandish and silly, but it opens up, as it should, conversations that weren't discussed out loud before. Georgia, Billy's wife, was fired because her boss's wife didn't like that she was pretty. That isn't fair to the boss, and that isn't fair to Georgia. It makes you realize how we as human beings are quick to judge people based on the premise of their cases rather than listen to their motives.
The start of the series depended on cutaway gags that help define certain moments, one of which involves a dancing CGI baby that rocked the Internet in the late nineties. As the season goes on, they become less dependent on them, and it makes me struggle with the fact of whether it's a good thing. The gags help you become engaged in the show, and you'd keep watching. By the season finale, you'd be committed enough to keep watching so it becomes less reliant on gags. With that being said, the gags are a staple part of the show, and seeing them less makes me wonder if it would do away with them eventually, which would suck because they are an essential part of the story.
Whether we lose the sight gags or not, we do have the amusing and uplifting habits displayed by the cast, from Fish's "Fishisms" to Cage's bells to Elaine's eccentric inventions. Richard Fish, one of the senior partners of the firm, has a habit of spouting gibberish that he passes off as a thread of philosophy. He comes at a very weird angle on discrimination in the sense that he practically tears down the victims while uplifting them at the same time, like women using flirting to move up in the workplace because men are pigs and can't think of anything other than sex. Then the men act on the flirtations, and then the women are objectified. It is a very tough conundrum both men and women have to face in order to achieve gender equality, which still rings true today.
John Cage, the other senior partner, is an oddball of a lawyer with a gift of controlling the space to his advantage. He has an automatic flusher so that he'd have fresh toilet. He hears ringing bells to get him pumped for trial. He calls witnesses to the stand but doesn't question them. And yet, he manages to sway the jury and win his cases.
Elaine is Ally's secretary and the firm gossip. She is always up in Ally's business believing to be helpful in every situation. In the meantime, she creates wild gadgets she believes would help extend physical beauty in some form, from the face bra to the ice pack glasses.
Whenever, they're not winning cases, they're enjoying a drink at the bar downstairs, dancing with a pair of twins, and listening to music by the real life Vonda Shepard, who also sings songs for the show.
Ally, is a young lawyer trying to figure out her life as well as trying to recover from the breakup of a childhood relationship. It doesn't help that she works in the same firm as the ex-boyfriend, and what's worse, his wife soon joins the firm. She is tortured by his presence, meanwhile she pushes every boy away that comes near her, feeling no one can replace Billy, the ex. But as the season progresses, Ally and the wife become close friends and even allies in some cases, and Ally and Billy manage to reestablish their relationship as friends.
I find this to be a very entertaining show, and I can't wait to see what's in store in season two.

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Aired on Fox: September 8, 1997 - May 18, 1998
Rating: TV-14
Stars: Calista Flockhart, Greg Germann, Peter MacNicols, Jane Krakowski, Lisa Nicole Carson, Courtney Thorne-Smith, Gil Bellows
Directors: James Frawley, Jonathan Pontell, Dennie Gordon, Arlene Sanford, Sandy Smolan, Victoria Hochberg, Michael Schultz, Mel Damski, Dan Attias, Thomas Schlamme, Joe Napolitano, Allan Arkush, Elodie Keene, Jeremy Kagan, Dennis Dugan
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84% Certified Fresh
IMDb Score: 7.3/10 (Average)

Awards

Primetime Emmy Awards

• Outstanding Comedy Series - Nominated
• Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (Calista Flockhart) - Nominated
• Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (Allan Arkush) - Nominated
• Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series (David E. Kelley) - Nominated

Golden Globe Awards

• Best Television Series (Musical or Comedy) - Winner
• Best Actress in a Television Series (Musical or Comedy) (Calista Flockhart) - Winner

(Click here to view more awards for "Ally McBeal".)