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Reviews
Press Gang (1989)
Contender for the best show of all time
I watched Press Gang for the first time as an adult and during quarantine, so know that I am unbiased by nostalgia when I say that it may be the greatest show I've ever seen. If you can put aside prejudices based on cheesy music from the late 80's and the concept of family television, you will have the privilege of finding your new TV family.
First of all, the idea that this is family television is deeply misleading. By the end of the first season, we are knee-deep in issues like drug addiction and suicide, and it only gets darker from there. Not to say that this is a purely dark show. Press Gang's balance of comedy and drama is always surprising, placing humor and tragedy exactly where you don't expect either. I guess you could call that the Steven Moffat touch, something we're all very familiar with from that same, instantly recognizable style of writing in Sherlock. It is an intrinsically British style of writing, yet it redefines the literary tradition from which it originates.
Second of all, and this may sound controversial, but I dare say that this is the most explosively talented ensemble cast I've ever had the privilege of watching. These (at the time) young adult actors hunger for their futures makes their performances more connected, more immediate, and more vulnerable than many of the finest performances I've seen from seasoned professionals.
I find myself in 2020 thinking almost non-stop about Spike, Colin, and Lynda and seeing my life through Press Gang glasses. The characters of the show are so complete that they permeate my life, which I believe to be the bellwether of great television. If a show is great, you ought to be at the grocery store thinking to yourself, "Hey, I bet Colin has no idea how to shop for groceries" or beating yourself up for treating your friends the way Lynda might treat Sarah (on one of her less awful days), or leaning in doorways like Spike, doing the good old pout-and-shimmy.
So glad I found this show!!
Ted Lasso (2020)
There IS hope in 2020!
I knew from the moment I watched Jason Sudeikis promote Ted Lasso on late night that I would love this show. From one tiny clip, it was clear that this was a sincere and intelligent comedy hellbent on bringing kindness into our ethically crumbling world. The first few episodes had me reeling from well-placed jokes about everything from All that Jazz to Rodin that are meant to please nerds like me without hitting differently interested people over the head. That constant, intellectual humor is just one layer in what I'd like to call a trifle of great writing--as in pudding, not as in a triviality. You may find yourself thinking at the start of the show that the characters are cliches, but you will soon be delighted to have been wrong. By halfway through the first season, it is clear that each of the protagonists are being motivated by confusing emotions and needs in a way that is infrequently depicted sitcoms, yet so present in actual human life.
Ted Lasso is a role model for modern masculinity. He's brave, he's emotionally strong, he freaking loves sports, but the most important thing in the world to him is generosity. You could call him an updated take on an old-fashioned gentleman. He's a knight in shining armor for women and men alike, but he never shies away from letting others see how vulnerable he is. He's a master of validation and has the potential to help us all see that that's not a dirty word. Ted Lasso is done with toxicity. He doesn't care where it started because he's not interested in grudges. As he puts it, "this is a schadenfreude-free zone."
Rebecca, the team owner hell-bent on vengeance, is sneakily positioned as the heel of the show while actually being the heroine. I believe that she is easily the most complicated character in the story, while also being just as great a role model as Ted. Rebecca has done some truly awful things in her time, but this is a story about accountability and humans' unlimited potential for growth. In most shows, characters find a way to be forgiven without making amends and get through difficult situations by way of TV magic and loopholes. Not on Ted Lasso. Each of the characters has to overcome their egos for themselves and take responsibility for the havoc they've wrecked in their adult lives. It is admirable to watch as both a human being and connoisseur of exemplary television writing.
I was not prepared to be so invested in the lives of an ensemble of characters after one season--especially not in a show about sport, which is far from my cup of tea as a pastime--but here I am.
It's not a new story, it's a new way of telling it. It is 2020, after all. There are very few new stories to be told, but I believe that we need to tell our old, classically human stories in a way that we can only tell them now, with all of human history as hindsight. Ted Lasso, ladies and gents.