PICK OF THE WEEK

Neon

We’ve all heard about the Wall Street crash of October 17, 1987, aka Black Monday — it’s the benchmark comparison any time the stock markets plummet (right now, for example). But how many of us know the true story behind the infamous bad money day?

This, just to be very clear, isn’t it. In fact, by the time you’ve caught up with the under-rated comedy series Black

Monday it’s entirely possible you’ll know even less about the events it’s based on than you did when you started. But this version of how it happened is much funnier than whatever the truth is, and sometimes that’s better.

The first season, which came out last year, follows the New York Timesrated 11th best stock trading firm on Wall Street, The Jammer Group, and its leader (“the Billy Ocean of trading”) Maurice Monroe (Don Cheadle) through an increasingly farcical series of highrisk trades, which are apparently what leads to the stock market crash. Monroe is attempting to get his hands on “the white whale of Wall Street” — a majority shareholding in Manhattan company Georgina Jeans.

“Better men than you have fallen prey to the siren song of Lady Georgina,” the Lehman brothers (Ken Marino times two) warn him. “She’s left them all bankrupt, suicidal, or worse — middle class.”

Maurice’s secret weapon in this whale hunt is wide-eyed graduate Blair Pfaff (Andrew Rannells), clearly the smartest one in the room (he’s designed an algorithm!) but who must endure a veritable decathlon of depraved hazing rituals to prove himself to the Wall Street boys’ club.

It’s a delicate mix of high concept and high stupidity, bringing to mind the likes of Arrested Development or 30

Rock but shot with the style and feel of an 80s screwball comedy — that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg directed the first episode should explain a lot.