David E. McDonald’s Top 5 TV Shows for 2021

David E. McDonald’s Top 5 TV Shows for 2021

One major compensation arose from the imposed global wholesale house arrest, voluntary or not: streaming services. The quarantine ramped up the trend already in play regarding creative effort and serious budgets channeled into home theatre. Streaming may not have the exciting collective experience and sensual impact of the Big Screen, but it surely helped take the edge off.  Here are my five best picks for TV 2021.

David E. McDonald’s Top 5 TV Shows for 2021

5. Brand New Cherry Flavor

This limited series follows the story of a novice film director Lisa Nova (Rosa Salazar) on her way to her first gig in Hollywood. Her trust gets misplaced, and the job falls through. She is determined, however, to make her mark, and in so doing is thrust into a bizarre sequence of events, too surreal to properly recount, strung together with the barest thread of logic that still manages to tie up neatly by the end. Quirky, sometimes gory, Brand New Cherry Flavor is not made for the squeamish viewer. The precarious plot line is intended to be shaky, Ms. Salazar carries the viewer right along through what supposedly is Lisa’s worst nightmare, which is rooted in her past. With Catherine Keener as an earth-mother-cum-witch who casts the creepiest of gypsy curses, this work is a true original.

4. Midnight Mass

A miniseries with a remarkable spin on the vampire legend, taking place on an island community off the Atlantic coast. The half-deserted town has seen better days, and things are pretty grim until a young priest, Father Paul (Hamish Linklater), shows up to cover for the aged Monsignor, who is recovering on the mainland after a sabbatical; he has that sensual charisma that male clergy often carry, but this time supernaturally bolstered. Returning home at the same time is Riley Flynn (Zach Gilford) on parole for vehicular homicide and can’t seem to fit in, despite the residents’ rock-ribbed welcome. Father Paul’s presence perks up the town from its doldrums, uplifting the community through miraculous healings. Once factions form among the neighbors, however, and become more heated, the backstory reveals what is happening in the shadows. The story drags a bit here and there, but the spectacular finale is poignant and uplifting in a very human way.

3. The White Lotus

The title refers to an upscale Hawaiian resort where travelers arrive to vacation only to have the darker sides of the guests and staff exposed as they interact with one another, especially when unexpected events turns things sideways, giving rise to gratifying confrontations and epiphanies. The characters’ quirks get served up in short order right from the start. Singles, couples, and families soon discover that their baggage from home came with them after all. Taking into account the considerable cross-cutting, the pacing remains tight and smooth, and despite the editing back and forth it’s no effort to follow the events. It’s amusing, even sometimes heartwarming, to watch the relationships evolve. The score throughout is as terrific as the scenery, and a choral version of “Aloha ‘Oe” is especially beautiful. This limited series is full of surprises, fun and wonderfully cringey, and the characters are so interesting it gave rise to an anthology.

2. Dopesick

This is an eight-part miniseries concerning the role of OxyContin in the opioid crisis. The story traces the roots of the burgeoning dilemma at every level: corporate, clinical, social, occupational, and commercial. It does not shy away from the fearful picture of wholesale addiction. Attention is doled out equally among those involved; the Sackler’s greed and opportunism of Purdue Pharma salespersons are especially targeted, but unethical advertising tactics and ambiguous bureaucratic policies also share in the blame. This epidermic left hundreds of thousands dead while the DEA struggled to effect some meaningful control. Michael Keaton as the top-notch country doctor leads the remarkable cast; the suffering and grief of the townsfolk ring especially true, as does the portrayal of the damage addiction has on homes and communities. There is also, however, the power of that self-same community of fortitude and recovery. A must-see.

1. Pretend It’s a City

This documentary series is a collection of conversations with Fran Lebowitz and interviews from various times throughout her career. There are seven episodes, each about 30 minutes, on a different topic specific to the Big Apple. The second one, for example, entitled “Cultural Affairs,” Ms. Lebowitz shares opinions concerning art, music, literature, and so on, betwixt a number of anecdotes.  Her special style of focused stream-of-consciousness bounces from the topic to some relevant fragment of memory, and the bounces back again. These aren’t conversations so much as journeys into her frank sensibilities. She’ll extol the tarnished but invaluable virtues of New York City — and then in the next breath, give the down-side its due as an essential component in making the City what it is. There are recorded interviews with Lebowitz and Toni Morrison, to whom the series is dedicated. Directed by Martin Scorsese.

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