Q1 review
okay, but hear me out
Well well well, look at us, coasting to the end of the first quarter. It’s been both so fast and also felt so long? New Year’s genuinely feels like it was 12,000 years ago. When in reality, it was just two and a half foreign coups ago.
Apropos of nothing, I finally got my shit together to go get passport-size photos to go with my application for Irish citizenship. My ancestors did not leave their beautiful little seaside town for their grandchildren and great grandchildren to be living under the tyrannical rule of a Scottish woman’s son…
But let’s get back to business—the business of reviewing Q1! How did it match up against projections? IDK! My intern forgot to write down projections, or I forgot to ask them to make projections, mostly because I forgot to hire an intern. But based on absolutely no data at all, I’m gonna guess Q1 honestly coulda been worse!
Here are the top-line points:
Put up an hour-long sketch show on UCB NY’s main stage (all written by yours truly and my hilarious sketch partner Clay), for a sold out audience! +10
Went to LA twice, where I did networking coffees and lunches and dinners and got ratchet on dance floors and had sunshine on my skin for the first time in months and felt truly alive again. +10
Accidentally booked a return flight for Saturday, March 21st instead of Saturday, February 21st, which I didn’t realize until February 15th, so I had to just buy a whole new ticket at that point because the change fee would have cost more than the new one-way fare hahahahaha. -9
I now have a ~$200 credit to United Airlines, so if TSA ever gets funded again and America continues to exist/have air travel for civilians, I’ve got part of a trip already paid for! +2
Got very lost in the sauce on a new pilot I’m writing, but kept wading through the sauce and eventually found my way back to… pasta? I guess I’ve never really thought about what the sauce we get lost in is on, but personally, I think mine is in/on/around pasta (gluten free these days). So, my pilot is back on track and on pasta! +5
Entered a situationship -2
Said, “I gotta get out of this situationship!” and then didn’t -1
Accepted and embraced the ephemeral nature of situationship-ness because it is cold and we are at war and life is short and long and you gotta have fun +3
Learned of the downfall of one of my enemies +3 (looooook, I want to give this more than 3 points, but it feels like bad energy to give more weight to things I had no hand in)
Reconnected with old classmates from as far back as 2007?? +5
All in all, I think I’m coming out ahead, though I will not be doing the math to confirm!
And now, how about some recommendations?! The Oscars are behind us, film is so last month, so it’s time to talk about all the good TV out right now!
recs! recs! recs!
These are the shows I’ve been watching and loving in the last ~10 days:
ROOSTER (HBO)
This brand-new show is genuinely laugh out loud funny! In terms of the creator Bill Lawrence cinematic universe, it’s giving more Cougar Town than Ted Lasso, which is just how I like it. The characters are so crisp and clear, interesting relationships are setup from the jump, and the cast is fucking stacked. Robby Hoffman and Danielle Deadwyler are turning in particularly delightful performances, and Steve Carrell and John McGinley are everything you want these sitcom veterans to be, but with a twist.
ELSBETH (CBS)
If there’s one thing I love, it’s a Michelle & Robert King-created procedural. And if there’s two things I love, it’s a Michelle & Robert King-created procedural and redheads. This show is wacky and light in tone and clearly made by theatre people (complimentary), and it uses the COLUMBO/dramatic irony method of showing the crime being committed at the top of the episode, then we see how Elsbeth is going to put the pieces together to solve it, which is always a fun ride.
THE PITT (HBO)
The pace of this show is so comforting to my hyperactive mind. We’re fucking moving from case to case and interpersonal panic to medical disaster and there is no time to waste! Every moment matters. The cast is killing it and also very hot?? 10/10, but do not watch if you’re squeamish, cuz they are really showing all the prop guts and goo.
ABBOTT ELEMENTARY (ABC)
Continues to be absolutely delightful. I love that this season has explored space in new ways (relocating the school to an abandoned mall during emergency construction, touring Philly apartments with Jeanine and Gregory), that push the characters to their limits. I relate to Melissa on a spiritual level. And I love that the guy who plays Sean on SHRINKING is in the latest season, so that king is getting a network paycheck/syndication residuals now <3
SHRINKING
Again, the Bill Lawrence cinematic universe offers no end of delights. I’m laughing, I’m crying, I’m thinking about getting a rock tumbler? Excited and nervous to see how the rest of this season unfolds, the tension around new relationships, closing doors, and big life changes is hanging over every character right now, and, as one of my theatre professors in college used to say, “Death is always in the room.” But like, proverbially only for the rest of the season, I hope 🥺
OUTLANDER (Starz)
We’re back, baby! The first few episodes of the eighth and final season are out and it’s really nice to see our old friends again. I forgot about the absolutely bananas twist they dropped at the end of last season (because it was like, 2 years ago??), but they spoon fed the audience some reminders in the season premiere, setting us up to unfold an intriguing mystery about Claire’s power, the permanence of life or death for those who can travel through the stones, and whether or not Frank knew how and when Jamie was going to die. I’ll be sad to see these time traveling hotties go at the end of this season :(
HANNAH MONTANA 20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL (Hulu or Disney+)
I will watch literally anything Miley Cyrus makes, shoot that shit right into my veins. I watched some Hannah back in the day, but I was on the cusp of being too old/too cool to still be watching Disney Channel in 2006, so I got more on-board with team Miley once she took off the wig. But I’m a sucker for watching actors walk back onto a set they used to work on for the first time in years, and seeing Miley walk around the Stewart house set was nostalgic and sweet. Even better, watching Miley and her mom, Tish, go through Hannah’s closet!! Miley performs a few of full songs (I wanna say 3, but it might have been 4?) in the special, which she absolutely slays, obviously. She touched on this a little in the show, but it’s really cool for fans to seen an artist/for an artist to see fans grow up alongside them. Like, we were silly teens (Party in the U.S.A.) at the same time, and insane club kids (Bangerz era) at the same time, and kind of figuring our shit out (Slide Away) at the same time, and really actually coming into our own (Endless Summer era) at the same time, and now we’re, hopefully, in our Something Beautiful moments.
not quite recs
Aaaaaaand here’s a quick list of shows that I’ve watched recently, but I’m not sure how I feel about yet??
Vladimir — wacky, horny, worrying, twisted (Netflix)
Love Story — screaming, crying, perfect storm, Calvin Klein (FX via Hulu)
Okay I g2g, I meant to just open this draft and proofread and hit send today, but then I watched the Hannahversary special last night and had to write about that, and then I remembered that we live in a visual society and things like photos and headings and other formatting things are useful and now it’s way past the time I allotted for finishing this post and I need to go make a smoothie and run to my other gig.
ttyl, xoxo, Downey outttt!