People say women (and gay men) get half-hours of prestige TV, and their shows are called comedies. Straight men get hour-shows, and those shows are called dramas. Women/gay men: "Enlightened," "Girls," "Insecure," "Nurse Jackie," "Weeds," "Sex and the City," "Divorce," and so on. Straight men: "House of Cards," "Game of Thrones," "The Wire," "Sneaky Pete," "Breaking Bad," "Mad Men," and so on.
I have to say, I almost always prefer the comedies (or faux-comedies). I think a half-hour is almost always preferable to an hour-show. I think an hour-show is almost always given to bloat. This has become a cliche about Netflix programming, specifically. I'm looking at you, "The Crown." And "Ozark." And "House of Cards."
-When Sarah Jessica Parker unrolled "Divorce," she said it would be the opposite of SATC. That's not true at all. "Divorce" is SATC by another name. Same Jenny Bicks. Same SJP--who seems capable, only, of playing SJP, and what's so bad about that? Same real-estate-porn vibe. Same focus on dating. Same clunky approach to race relations.
SATC The Movie (I) gave us that bizarre and groan-inducing subplot in which Jennifer Hudson floated down from a fairy-cloud and fulfilled Carrie's every need. ("You're a saint!") Hudson disappeared, politely, as soon as the plot had exhausted its need for her robot-like ministrations, and people in the audience seemed to wonder if they were watching some strange re-booting of "Gone with the Wind." In "Divorce," SJP has an art gallery, and the cynicism of a Jeff Koons-ish artist is contrasted, lazily, with the purity of the work of an innocent African-American (female) bank teller. Only (white, salvific) SJP can recognize the greatness of the bank teller's work; only holy SJP can pull the bank teller out of her slump and get her back to "producing things" again. Someone should have gone over this script with a red pen.
-Anyway, there's quite a bit about "Divorce" that I like. When people were writing SATC, they would share a cab to Silvercup Studios every morning, and during that ride, they would trade stories about their most recent dates. And so the scripts for SATC would inevitably have an aura of "lived experience." You can say the same about "Divorce." At its best, "Divorce" tells us urgent things about kids today. Things you won't find on other shows. Someone on the set actually has children: This is clear.
I love how SJP's adolescent son mumbles hurried confessions while quickly backing out of the family room. I love how he is caught having sex in his father's unfinished bathroom, and how he quickly jogs away from his mother as she tries to give a speech about consent. ("No means no!!!!") I love how SJP buys a trampoline for her teen kids, thinking this will make her cool, and how the kids leave her to bounce, alone, sad, on her own misguided purchase, in the backyard.
I love how SJP shows up, uninvited, to Family Culture Night, and how her daughter makes clear that she doesn't want her there, and how SJP's rash response--"Fuck You!"--is overheard by everyone in the school community. I love how the daughter later says, "Can I dye my hair purple?" And when SJP says no, the daughter coyly produces a ticking time bomb: "Oh, so my brother can have sex in Dad's bathroom with Dad's girlfriend's daughter and no one cares and yet I can't put some color in my hair....That's cool...." All of this is good stuff.
-Of course a couple divorcing amicably--or semi-amicably--is a couple that is going to continue to have a "story." Man and Woman will need to meet with a therapist when Little Son starts having sex. Discussions around Family Culture Night will need to occur. Man and Woman will meet awkwardly at Little Daughter's birthday party, at the local skating rink. Woman will feel compelled to comment on Man's new facial hair, though of course this is no longer her business. I don't know of many other shows that explore this terrain. SJP--a smart entrepreneur, no matter which other labels you assign to her--had a viable idea here.
-It's said that--as in so many other cases--Season Two of "Divorce" is quite a bit stronger than Season One. I saw no reason to doubt that, so I launched right into Season Two, and did not regret my choice. I'm hardly a purist. (There will eventually be a third--and final--season.)
-One strange dropped ball: the casting of Amy Sedaris. A great idea: Sedaris plays Thomas H Church's mentally-ill sister. Sedaris can't help but make a mess of everything (and one thinks of Actual Sedaris's toxic, and now-dead, sister, Tiffany, here).
A fine bit of writing: Sedaris is upset that her father has access to only six channels in the hospital. There's a solution, says Thomas H Church: "We pay just a little bit extra, and he gets more channels. There's no problem." But Sedaris is deflated: She didn't want a solution. She wanted to spin her wheels. Now Church will have the pleasure of feeling martyred (even if Church insists this isn't what is going on). All of this has nuance; it feels plausible; it's fun and even exciting to watch.
But then Sedaris becomes a cartoon villain. You sense the writer doesn't have much insight into her character, and so she becomes tedious. It's not enough to say: "People like this exist in the actual world." Many boring things exist in the actual world. A writer's job is to "light up" the things she touches; to find the fascinating secret within the banal; and if this isn't possible, then the writer should search for a different subject. Amy Sedaris feels like a missed opportunity.
-You might have skipped "Divorce" because it didn't generate "Americans"-level buzz. Well, I like this show. Give it a try. A decent way to spend a part of your weekend.
I have to say, I almost always prefer the comedies (or faux-comedies). I think a half-hour is almost always preferable to an hour-show. I think an hour-show is almost always given to bloat. This has become a cliche about Netflix programming, specifically. I'm looking at you, "The Crown." And "Ozark." And "House of Cards."
-When Sarah Jessica Parker unrolled "Divorce," she said it would be the opposite of SATC. That's not true at all. "Divorce" is SATC by another name. Same Jenny Bicks. Same SJP--who seems capable, only, of playing SJP, and what's so bad about that? Same real-estate-porn vibe. Same focus on dating. Same clunky approach to race relations.
SATC The Movie (I) gave us that bizarre and groan-inducing subplot in which Jennifer Hudson floated down from a fairy-cloud and fulfilled Carrie's every need. ("You're a saint!") Hudson disappeared, politely, as soon as the plot had exhausted its need for her robot-like ministrations, and people in the audience seemed to wonder if they were watching some strange re-booting of "Gone with the Wind." In "Divorce," SJP has an art gallery, and the cynicism of a Jeff Koons-ish artist is contrasted, lazily, with the purity of the work of an innocent African-American (female) bank teller. Only (white, salvific) SJP can recognize the greatness of the bank teller's work; only holy SJP can pull the bank teller out of her slump and get her back to "producing things" again. Someone should have gone over this script with a red pen.
-Anyway, there's quite a bit about "Divorce" that I like. When people were writing SATC, they would share a cab to Silvercup Studios every morning, and during that ride, they would trade stories about their most recent dates. And so the scripts for SATC would inevitably have an aura of "lived experience." You can say the same about "Divorce." At its best, "Divorce" tells us urgent things about kids today. Things you won't find on other shows. Someone on the set actually has children: This is clear.
I love how SJP's adolescent son mumbles hurried confessions while quickly backing out of the family room. I love how he is caught having sex in his father's unfinished bathroom, and how he quickly jogs away from his mother as she tries to give a speech about consent. ("No means no!!!!") I love how SJP buys a trampoline for her teen kids, thinking this will make her cool, and how the kids leave her to bounce, alone, sad, on her own misguided purchase, in the backyard.
I love how SJP shows up, uninvited, to Family Culture Night, and how her daughter makes clear that she doesn't want her there, and how SJP's rash response--"Fuck You!"--is overheard by everyone in the school community. I love how the daughter later says, "Can I dye my hair purple?" And when SJP says no, the daughter coyly produces a ticking time bomb: "Oh, so my brother can have sex in Dad's bathroom with Dad's girlfriend's daughter and no one cares and yet I can't put some color in my hair....That's cool...." All of this is good stuff.
-Of course a couple divorcing amicably--or semi-amicably--is a couple that is going to continue to have a "story." Man and Woman will need to meet with a therapist when Little Son starts having sex. Discussions around Family Culture Night will need to occur. Man and Woman will meet awkwardly at Little Daughter's birthday party, at the local skating rink. Woman will feel compelled to comment on Man's new facial hair, though of course this is no longer her business. I don't know of many other shows that explore this terrain. SJP--a smart entrepreneur, no matter which other labels you assign to her--had a viable idea here.
-It's said that--as in so many other cases--Season Two of "Divorce" is quite a bit stronger than Season One. I saw no reason to doubt that, so I launched right into Season Two, and did not regret my choice. I'm hardly a purist. (There will eventually be a third--and final--season.)
-One strange dropped ball: the casting of Amy Sedaris. A great idea: Sedaris plays Thomas H Church's mentally-ill sister. Sedaris can't help but make a mess of everything (and one thinks of Actual Sedaris's toxic, and now-dead, sister, Tiffany, here).
A fine bit of writing: Sedaris is upset that her father has access to only six channels in the hospital. There's a solution, says Thomas H Church: "We pay just a little bit extra, and he gets more channels. There's no problem." But Sedaris is deflated: She didn't want a solution. She wanted to spin her wheels. Now Church will have the pleasure of feeling martyred (even if Church insists this isn't what is going on). All of this has nuance; it feels plausible; it's fun and even exciting to watch.
But then Sedaris becomes a cartoon villain. You sense the writer doesn't have much insight into her character, and so she becomes tedious. It's not enough to say: "People like this exist in the actual world." Many boring things exist in the actual world. A writer's job is to "light up" the things she touches; to find the fascinating secret within the banal; and if this isn't possible, then the writer should search for a different subject. Amy Sedaris feels like a missed opportunity.
-You might have skipped "Divorce" because it didn't generate "Americans"-level buzz. Well, I like this show. Give it a try. A decent way to spend a part of your weekend.
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