Monday Media Musings - 11/29/21

Schmigadoon!: Watched this one with my TV friends. Extremely silly and fun Apple+ show about a couple who get stranded in a town that's living out a classic Broadway musical. Takes elements of dozens of shows and throws them together in a blender with hilarious results -- Oklahoma! and The Music Man are the most obvious influences, but I caught significant references to Carousel, The Sound of Music, and others. The cast is mostly Broadway and crossover actors (Kristin Chenowith, Alan Cumming, Aaron Tvelt, Jane Krakowski...) as well as some actors who I primarily think of as TV/film actors but clearly have some stage chops (Jaime Camil being the prime example). The leads are Keegan-Michael Key and Cecily Strong, both of whom I've always loved. I was surprised that T was willing to watch this one, because he hates musicals, but he enjoyed it a lot despite not understanding almost any of the references. We both suspect it's because the Keegan-Michael Key character also hates musicals, so he had a kindred spirit to sympathize with.

Reservation Dogs: When I last posted about this show, we had only seen the first two episodes; now we have finished it. One thing T and I both particularly liked about it was how focused on different characters. Each of the four main kids got at least one focal episode, and in episodes that followed the crew, we got a sense of the whole crew, not just one or two characters. These episodes also did a good job of pulling at least one adult into the spotlight -- tribal cop Big in Cheese's episode, for example, or Bear's mom, or Willy Jack's dad. The slow reveal of the the truth about their friend Daniel's death was very well handled, also. ( Warning that is a spoiler behind the cut. )

It's really fantastic to see a show about Native Americans with a entirely indigenous leadership and writers room, and largely also the cast and crew, and I'm glad to see it's been renewed for a second season.