‘Maisel’ still marvelous; ‘Nightflyers’ fails to soar
Get critical acclaim (and a Golden Globe and an Emmy, among other awards), and you get more of that abundant Amazon money to make your show. That formula works well for Amazon Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” which debuts its second season on the streaming service Wednesday. Through its first five episodes, the series remains as delightful as ever.
Set mostly in 1950s Manhattan, the show decamps for Paris — with scenes shot in Paris, thanks to that generous Amazon budget — as stand-up comic Miriam “Midge” Maisel (Emmy winner Rachel Brosnahan) and her father, Abe (Tony Shalhoub), chase after Abe’s wife, Rose (Marin Hinkle).
Executive producer Amy Sherman-Palladino makes Paris as magical as one might imagine given her past work making the fictional Stars Hollow, Conn., a special place on her previous series, “Gilmore Girls.”
Eccentric characters populate “Mrs. Maisel’s” Paris along with an adorable dog (of course!) even as the show deals with the repercussions of its season one finale when Midge’s estranged husband, Joel (Michael Zegen), heard Midge use their relationship as a punchline in her increasingly popular stand-up act.
Early episodes explore Midge’s burgeoning career, including a set where she’s taunted by male comics and offers a feminist response that resonates today.
“Men in general run around telling everyone only men are funny,” Midge says on stage. “Comedy is fueled by disappointment and humiliation. Now who the hell does that describe more than women!?”
The show’s use of period music remains top-notch, and Ms. Palladino does a bang-up job making all the characters assorted shades of
gray, including humiliated Joel, who remains a likable guy despite cheating on Midge. In Palladino land, there are few villains. Even thugs sent to rough up Midge’s manager, Susie (Alex Borstein), prove to be more honorable than most.
“Mrs. Maisel” may even be a better series in season two because, with its characters and their relationships firmly established, the show digs deeper in exploring Midge’s dual life (her parents don’t know she moonlights as a stand-up comic; she doesn’t want them to find out). Perhaps eventually “Mrs. Maisel” will also deal with Midge’s narcissism — she goes to a Paris drag club, she winds up on stage and makes it all about her; she goes to a friend’s celebration, she stands on a chair, starts doing shtick and makes herself the center of attention — and the impact of her and Joel’s absence on their children (son Ethan seems to watch “Howdy Doody” every waking moment).
The holiday season is a perfect time for a new season of “Mrs. Maisel.” It’s a warm but smart confection in a TV universe overpopulated with series vying to be the darkest, most brooding show possible.
‘Nightflyers’
Syfy, eager for some of HBO’s “Game of Thrones” mojo, introduces a new series based on a novella by “GOT” author George R.R. Martin, but “Nightflyers” (10 p.m. Sunday) seems unlikely to create the whirlwind of viewer interest that developed around “GOT.”
There’s nothing epic about “Nightflyers.” It’s basically a haunted spaceship story — filled with what has to be a record number of uses of the F-word on basic cable — that does a poor job in its first hour giving viewers reasons to care about the characters before putting them in jeopardy.
The premiere, written by Jeff Buhler, also fails to clearly introduce the characters and situations.
The pilot of the series, which will air its entire first season over the next two weeks (10 p.m. SundayThursday), also makes the mistake of beginning in the future and showing the gruesome death of a lead character before flashing back to allow viewers to get to know that character with the foreknowledge that she’s a goner.
Set in 2093, “Nightflyers” follows a team of scientists aboard the spaceship Nightflyer as they seek out other life forms while Earth decays from environmental damage. Astrophysicist Karl D’Branin (Eoin Macken, “The Night Shift”) leads the scientific team, which also includes Dr. Agatha Matheson (Gretchen Mol, “Life on Mars”), a psychiatrist who brings along a telepath, Thale (Sam Strike), who may be able to communicate with the aliens the crew hopes to find — if Thale doesn’t use his mind to murder everyone on board first (he’s not a happy camper).
“Nightflyers” may benefit from a relative dearth of original programming on cable and broadcast this time of year, but with Netflix still churning out new programming at a rapid rate — even in December — the media environment remains cluttered.
‘United We Fan’
Before the current Platinum Age of Television, there was Viewers for Quality Television, a scrappy organization devoted to supporting smart TV shows, a group I wrote about for the PostGazette in 2000.
VQT is one of several through-line stories in the new indie documentary film “United We Fan,” available on DVD and VOD sites (iTunes, Amazon, YouTube, Comcast, DirecTV, Verizon) on Tuesday.
I covered VQT pretty extensively in its heyday, and I’m interviewed briefly in “United We Fan,” but don’t let that detract from an interesting — if slightly overlong and mildly repetitive — documentary about save-ashow campaigns ranging from “Star Trek” (the film’s other primary story follows Bjo and John Trimble, who mounted a campaign on behalf of the original “Trek”) to “Cagney & Lacey,” “Designing Women,” “Person of Interest” and “Jericho.”
“United We Fan,” written/directed by Michael Sparaga, explores the relationships among die-hard fans, TV series and those show’s creators. For anyone who has ever written to a network on behalf of a lowrated program, “United We Fan” will strike a chord.
Canceled/rebooted
ABC canceled summer drama “Take Two,” but The Hollywood Reporter says two streaming services have shown some interest in reviving the show.
ABC also scrapped its plans for “Sue Sue in the City,” a potential Sue Heck (Eden Sher) spinoff of “The Middle.”
TV Land’s “Teachers” will end after its final run of season three episodes that begins at 10 p.m. Jan. 15.
CBS is developing a revival of “Northern Exposure” that would continue the original series with Dr. Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow) returning to Cicely, Alaska, for an old friend’s funeral.
Channel surfing
Claire Foy hosts NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” this weekend with musical guest Anderson .Paak. Jason Momoa hosts Dec. 8 with Mumford & Sons; Matt Damon hosts Dec. 15 with Mark Ronson and Miley Cyrus. … Local newscast ratings from November sweeps, delayed due to a power outage during November, are expected to be released Friday and will be posted online at postgazette.com/tv . ... Retired Allegheny County detective Dave Leffler will compete on “Jeopardy!” Monday (7 p.m., WPXI-TV) . ... The World Channel (WQED-TV’s Channel 13.3) explores small towns with Jewish inhabitants, including Latrobe, in “America Reframed: There Are Jews Here” (8 p.m. Tuesday).