Familiar TV with a different accent
Blending pathos and comedy, social commentary and explicit and sometimes embarrassing sexual situations, “Vida” (8:30 p.m. Sunday, Starz, TV-MA) is both a radical departure and remarkably familiar. It’s television, after all.
Not unlike countless sitcoms, “Vida” begins with an unexpected homecoming. Chicagoan Emma Hernandez (Mishel Prada) and her younger sister, Lyn (Melissa Barrera), return to their Los Angeles neighborhood after the sudden death of their mother, Vidalia. It’s clear from the outset that the family has drifted apart, but Emma’s condescending, icy distance is most pronounced.
A professional whose heartless boss texts her about finishing a report on the way to her mother’s funeral, Emma has clearly left her Mexican-American family and relatives behind. She recoils at the familiar faces at the memorial service. She dismisses them as “stuck.”
Things get complicated for Emma and her sister after meeting Eddy (Ser Anzoategui), their mother’s “roommate” and caretaker and (no surprise) very special friend. As in many series, the reading of the will, the disposal of their mother’s apartment and the division between Eddy and the two sisters make for a very tricky situation.
This isn’t the first series pilot where a snooty out-of-town yuppie has to relocate to the world she fled.
For all of its familiarity, “Vida” makes the most of its characters’ complicated relationships to their roots and to each other. Emma chafes at her sister’s hippy-dippy veganism and convenient mix of naivete and helplessness.
Seen as estranged from their roots and possible sellers of property to affluent developers, Emma and Lyn become objects of suspicion and prey for schemers. The dialogue is laced with a mix of English, Spanish, Spanglish and unintelligible slang, but the meaning is clear and translatable to any number of immigrant/assimilation stories.
“Vida” kicks off with a rant by an anti-gentrification blogger, an angry woman with blue lipstick and chips on both shoulders. She’s later seen fighting with Emma and reminding Lyn of how stuck-up she was in grade school.
Not only does this series immerse viewers into a multilayered Mexican-American universe, it is almost exclusively female, with men sidelined to outside nuisances and occasional sex partners.
At the same time, “Vida” doesn’t stray too far from narrative conventions. One of the reasons that this story of an urban professional dragged home to her mother’s drama was so familiar to me is that it was featured in the TV movie “The Beach House.” Just last week. On Hallmark.
THIS IS COMEDY?
Proof that well-made shows can still be bad, “I’m Dying Up Here” (10 p.m. Sunday, Showtime, TV-MA) returns for a second season. Not unlike the much-derided HBO disaster “Vinyl,” this series sports an impressive cast, some likable characters and ambitious period set design. What both series lack is any sense of modulation. The volume in every scene is turned up to 11.
Tonight, a violent, profanity-laced drive to a rehab center gives way to backstage sex, less-thanfunny comedy sets about racial attitudes, implied oral sex and a scene of a drugged-up guy racing naked across a highway. A few sporadic conversations and moments of human connection break through, but not enough to prove interesting.
“I’m Dying Up Here” is thoroughly invested in the philosophy that comedians were the real rock stars of the late ’70s. It just doesn’t demonstrate why we should care.
ROCK ON
Old enough to be institutionalized, rock honors its own at the 2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (8 p.m. today, HBO). It’s the 33rd such ceremony, and it honors some acts that were relatively young when the Hall of Fame was founded, including Bon Jovi, Dire Straits and The Cars.
Nina Simone and Sister Rosetta Tharpe get posthumous inductions. Long eligible but only now inducted, The Moody Blues appear and perform.
The ceremonies begin on a somber note, with performances in tribute to the recently deceased Tom Petty and Chris Cornell.
RUN FOR THE ROSES
The Rock Hall’s 33 years of tradition don’t hold a candle to the Kentucky Derby (5:34 p.m. today, NBC), now in its 144th year. NBC and NBCSN will air five full hours of breathless anticipation for a race that lasts a couple minutes. But you do get to look at pretty scenery, outfits and all the hats!
Derby Day (noon today) begins on NBCSN, with NBC joining the fun at 2:30 p.m. NBC and NBCSN will feature nearly 30 hours of Triple Crown coverage this spring.