BIT BY BIT

 

The Studio is on Apple TV, and it is a delight. There are those who might say it is a bit too “inside baseball,” too “into the weeds” … maybe … for civilians. For me it was a trip down memory lane…. but funny, instead of maddening, and life-shortening, which would be closer to the real thing.

Co-creators Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Peter Huyck, Alex Gregory, and Frida Perez nailed it. Funny material, nice acting (Seth Rogen also stars in the series as well as directs, and there are some nice cameo appearances by the likes of Ron Howard and Martin Scorsese, who play themselves). The show is beautifully shot, a terrific collaboration between director and cinematographer in the idiom of La La Land. You may stop asking me what life in Hollywood was like. You can pretty much get it all from watching this series.

Your Friends and Neighbors is a much darker comedy/crime/social commentary piece starring Jon Hamm of Mad Men fame. It, too, has just cranked up on Apple TV and even though I have only seen the first couple of episodes, I can safely say it is nicely mounted, with decent casting, and a compelling enough story. I seriously doubt it will ever make my top ten list… even in a year of drought… but I will go so far as to suggest you give it a try.

All the above was sort of a stall… a march in place… while awaiting the arrival of Étoile, the new series from Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, and the apparent successor to their creations, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Gilmore Girls… both tough acts to follow. Because the new series evokes the art of ballet, the Palladino series Bunheads also merits a shout out. The least successful of the Palladino oeuvres, Bunheads is much better than the fate its one-year run implies. The eighteen episodes of that series are currently streaming on Hulu.

All eight episodes for this opening season of Étoile have been released in one batch, but as of this writing I have seen only the opening chapter. The other seven are there, and I will get to them… one might say… “savor” …  each of them, one-by-one.

When I watched Younger (20 something minutes per episode) I devoured four to six at a time. Homeland, which took close to an hour per installment, was also tough to put down. I never watched only one episode; I would view at least three back-to-back. The Gilmore Girls? From three to five at a time despite the over 40 minute per segment running time.

Étoile is something different. It is visually dense. I watched that first episode, and great as it may well be, I did not immediately have to see episode two. I will, of course, but it was as if I needed a “rest” from all that energy, all that visual stimulation, all that… genius.

The Palladinos are simply awesome. I sat before my television screen as a decent painter might when viewing a Picasso, like a well thought of sculptor in the presence of a Michelangelo.

I did not love all of it. I have “notes.”

There are choices made in Étoile I like to think I would have made differently. There are very decent artists who might say that about any number of their betters while still conceding the brilliance of the work of art their self-sustaining critical eye has observed.

One might well ask the question, if The Studio may be too “inside baseball,” then what about this? Over the years folks seem to have demonstrated an interest in Hollywood and the movies… but how many folks really care about ballet? I guess we will find out.

If you stream it, there are eight chapters. Will it get even better episode by episode, or did team Palladino shoot their bolt on that first episode? I may not know much about ballet, but I do know something about the work this couple produces. I would not bet against them.

The Palladinos are, simply put, a cut above. Uncompromisingly brilliant; Étoile, episode one, is a solid example of that.

What is it about? It is about an hour…

of exhilaration, visual excitement, beauty, and the dance. And what a dance it is.

Give it a whirl… on Amazon Prime.

 

Barney Rosenzweig