2/28/2024 0 Comments Red giant serialsDon’t call it the new Sex and the City - seriously, don’t. “You want her to see you, right?” A buoyant tale of four BFFs - anthropology professor Camille ( Meagan Good), fashion designer Quinn (Grace Byers), queer tech exec Tye (Jerrie Johnson), and aspiring actress Angie - Harlem examines the realities and nuances of life as a Black woman with frank insights and savage pop culture parody. “What about that brown girl that is hooked on the Hallmark Channel?” she asks Angie. ![]() (Tagline: “Sometimes, you have to settle.”) She’s on the brink of walking out when beloved sitcom diva Countess Vaughn appears to her as a vision. A stunned Angie sits in silence, flanked by posters featuring the white casts of (fictional) Hallmark films, including Christmas Sail and You’ll Tide Me Over. “I’m thinking it’s perfect!” she chirps, before breezing her way out the door. The white stylist (Ursula Abbott) tentatively pats Angie’s natural curls. Having just landed a small part in a Hallmark Christmas movie, Angie (Shoniqua Shandai) arrives in hair and makeup to prep for an upcoming party scene. One scene in Harlem’s second season encapsulates everything there is to love about Tracy Oliver’s snappy, savvy comedy about friendship, femininity, and finding yourself. Come for Nathan Fielder’s (prosthetic) micropenis stay for the merciless satire of colonialist greed masquerading as modern allyship. But The Curse’s real curse isn’t some childish hex it’s Asher and Whitney and Dougie (Safdie), their wretched producer, all of whom refuse to be honest with themselves or one another about what they really want. The locals aren’t enthusiastic, including Nala (Hikmah Warsame, a little star in the making), who puts a curse on Asher after he renegs on his promise to give her 100 dollars. As hosts of HGTV’s Flipanthropy, Asher and Whitney Siegel’s stated goal is to bring upscale, eco-friendly homes to the working-class city of Española, New Mexico. ![]() But taken as a whole, The Curse - starring Fielder and Emma Stone as married TV hosts - leaves an indelible and thoroughly disquieting impression. Spoiler sensitivity precludes me from saying too much about this tenaciously peculiar kinda-comedy from Nathan Fielder ( The Rehearsal) and Benny Safdie ( Uncut Gems) only four of 10 episodes have aired so far. Richard Foreman Jr./A24/Paramount+ with SHOWTIME “Because when all these men come and go, y’all still gonna be sisters.” The verdict is in: Judge Steve Harvey is comfort TV at its finest. ![]() “I think you all need to find your way back to each other,” Harvey tells a pair of siblings squabbling over a dating app profile. And everyone leaves the courtroom with a valuable dose of tough love. ![]() The host ensures there are plenty of feel-good moments on the docket by frequently surprising the litigants, like a hard-working stay-at-home mom or a couple whose wedding was ruined by COVID, with lavish gifts and much-needed cash. Harvey - a comedian, veteran TV host, relationship advice author, and self-described “full-blown Christian” - nimbly draws out the issues at the root of these conflicts in a way that emphasizes how the people we love are far more important than material things. Think a husband suing his wife over her obsession with pickleball (including $500 for pain and suffering due to his loneliness) a mom suing her son because he broke his promise to cut his hair or two factions of an a capella group suing each other over costly (and sequin-covered) costumes. Judge Steve Harvey highlights interesting but low-stakes cases that hinge more on interpersonal relationships than money. Steve Harvey is not a real judge, but he plays one in this reliably funny and life-affirming (yes!) quasi-court show featuring everyday folks facing off over small-claims complaints. Steve Harvey presides on 'Judge Steve Harvey'.
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