NEWCOMERS
These freshmen are killer fun.
Spring is here, bringing with it a fresh bouquet of television shows. The latest entries in our annual spotlight on new shows worthy of discussion are fascinating genre hybrids, balancing humor with something darker — at times even deadlier. They tackle loss, obsession and the search for self in ways rarely seen on television. It’s a blend that is working; all three series have already been reupped for second seasons. ‘THE LAST O.G.’ | TBS
After surviving a horrific traffic accident in 2014, Tracy Morgan has returned triumphantly to television as Tray, an ex-con who returns somewhat less triumphantly to his Brooklyn neighborhood after 15 years in prison for drug dealing. In his absence, Brooklyn has gone bougie, as has his girlfriend Shay (Tiffany Haddish). Now called Shannon, she’s married to a white man and has twins; she just neglected to tell Tray the kids are his. Created by Jordan Peele and John Carcieri, the show is a surprisingly poignant fusion of humor and sorrow.
The reviews:
Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair calls it “blunt and funny and heartwarming, a perfectly calibrated mix of bawdy silliness and sincere feeling.” Of the fish-out-of-water story, he adds, “the show finds its amiable comedy in that bittersweet clash; it skewers both past and present humanely, while still reveling in Morgan’s caustic incorrectness.” The Washington Post’s Hank Stuever cautions, “its first six episodes are packed too heavily with plot and too easily move past the real attraction, which is watching Tray wander around Brooklyn in a state of cultural bewilderment.”
The scoop:
“This is straight from my life,” says Morgan of the series. “I know these people. It’s about the human spirit. It’s about evolution, people changing, second chances. Tracy Morgan got a second chance at life, why can’t Tray Parker?” He notes that it can be painful “to relive a lot of the stories that are true in my life, but these stories have to be told.”
The laughs are grounded in realistic story lines, giving them added emotional heft. “The thing I love is that it’s a kind show,” he says. It’s also the highest-rated comedy on cable; Morgan says people in the street are already calling him O.G. “I’ll take that.”