Starz’s ‘Vida’ soars over ‘Sweetbitter’
Premium cable network Starz debuts two six-episode series, “Sweetbitter” (8 p.m. Sunday) and “Vida” (8:30 p.m. Sunday), and while both are relatively niche entries, one towers over the other creatively, presenting a glimpse into an American culture rarely explored in mainstream TV.
‘Sweetbitter’
Based on the novel by Stephanie Danler, who also adapted the story for television, the halfhour “Sweetbitter” offers the classic story of an Ohio girl who moves to Manhattan in 2006 and encounters sex, drugs and high-end dining. It seems real enough but also quite cliched.
Viewers follow newcomer Tess (Ella Purnell), whose name is not revealed in the first two episodes, as she scrapes by, finally landing a job as a waitress at a classy restaurant despite her inexperience and naivete.
Nail-biting Tess is immediately in over her head on the job, where she’s inspired by self-possessed Simone (Caitlin FitzGerald, “UnReal”) and instantly in lust with bad boy bartender Jake (Tom Sturridge, “The Hollow Crown”), one of several obvious, eye-roll-inducing plot turns.
Early episodes are fairly
predictable and maybe that’s just because humans react in predictable ways when confronted with the situation Tess is put in. Or, more likely, “Sweetbitter” tells a too-predictable story. By episode two Tess is doing drugs and vomiting as she walks home over a New York bridge.
Other elements seem even less credible: poised general manager Howard (Paul Sparks, “Waco”) snaps at Tess for sitting with a senile patron but says nothing when Simone lights up a postshift cigarette — because of course she does! — in the dining room. Stinking up the joint would seem like a major no-no for a put-together guy like Howard, but “Sweetbitter” favors depicting a Simone character trait over a logical Howard reaction (it’s also a way of showing where Simone stands in the pecking order versus Tess but still …).
“Sweetbitter” certainly presents recognizable characters, situations and reactions that may have an appeal to young people who are living on their own for the first time in a big city, but it has precious little new to add to that familiar experience.
‘Vida’
Then there’s the superior “Vida” (8:30 p.m. Sunday), a half-hour show about two estranged Mexican-American sisters, Emma (Mishel Prada) and Lyn (Melissa Barrera), coming together after the death of their bar owner mother, who — surprise! — married a woman, Eddy (Ser Anzoategui), unbeknownst to them.
Sisters who don’t get along may not be a new dynamic but just about everything else in “Vida” is, from the bluelipsticked vlogger who rails against gentrification to the Eastside Los Angeles milieu.
Writer and executive producer Tanya Saracho (”How to Get Away With Murder,” “Looking,” “Girls”) uses “Vida” to introduce two complex but sympathetic characters, even if Emma seems less than cuddly on first glance. Now a Chicago businesswoman who escaped her roots, Emma returns reluctantly and still resents her mother for reasons that remain murky in early episodes.
Lyn is the more open, optimistic of the pair, a nice counterpoint to Emma’s cold, aloof nature.
From the basically unknown cast to the locations, “Vida” feels like it is tackling fresh and relatively unexplored cultural/relationship terrain. It feels authentic, save for one calculated-totake-advantage-of-premium-cable scene in the premiere (characters on TV seem more prone to engage in grieffueled sex at funeral receptions than people do in real life).
Kept/canceled
Showtime ordered a fourth season of “Billions.”
HBO ordered a third season of “Westworld”; Hulu did the same for “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
CBS All Access renewed “The Good Fight” for a third season.
Channel surfing
This week the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced WQED-TV as one of 14 public broadcasters that will receive a $25,000 grant for “Veterans Coming Home: Finding What Works,” a digital video project that will focus on successful examples of veterans transitioning to civilian life set to premiere online on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.
Tuned In online
Today’s TV Q&A column responds to questions about “Judge Judy,” “Wisdom of the Crowd” and a departed KDKA-TV news anchor. Read onlineonly TV content at http://communityvoices.post-gazette.com/arts-entertainment-living/tuned-in.
This week’s podcast includes conversation about “Westworld,” “The Handmaid’s Tale” and on-the-bubble series. Subscribe or listen to Pittsburgh PostGazette podcasts at iTunes or at https://soundcloud.com/pittsburghpg.