3 Best TV Shows Similar to Mind Your Language
The Z-Suite
Making a comedy series where everyone is unpleasant, cruel, or despicable isn’t easy. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has been doing it for most of recorded time. However, it is a risk because if you miss, you can only miss big. Regrettably, in the four episodes (of a season order of eight) given to critics, The Z-Suite misses big. Creator Katie O’Brien’s idea is relatively sound. Boomer era George (Mark McKinney)—owner of Boppin’ Burger—has brought his business to the ad agency Atelier, owned by fellow Boomer Oliver. Paired initially with two Gen Xers at opposite ends of that generation, Monica Frazier (Lauren Graham, on the born in the late 60s side) and Doug (Nico Santos, born on the late 70s side), both owners quickly become disenchanted with the usually reliable duo. Ostensibly, the cause is a disastrous headphone campaign centered on the slogan “All Vibes Matter.” Still, the two’s inability to connect with the now coveted Gen Z meant they were likely on their way out anyway. In their place, Oliver promotes the 24 (and half!) year old Kriska (Madison Shamoun) from Social Media to CEO. Coming along with Kriska for the ride are fellow Gen Zers Clem (Anna Bezahler) and Elliot (Spencer Stevenson). Despite the emphasis on generational conflict, there’s little made of office screwup Minnesota Matt (Evan Marsh) being the lone Millennial staffer. Oddly, despite the name, there isn’t much made of him being a Midwesterner among apparently longtime coastal city dwellers either. Continue Reading →
Shrinking
Shrinking Season 2 picks up a bit down the road from where Season 1 ended in time, but it immediately reconnects with its final moments. That is when Jimmy’s (Jason Segel) client Grace (Heidi Gardner) took his guidance a bit too much to heart and violently interrupted the negative patterns in her communication with her husband. Speaking of picking up right where things left off, when I last reviewed the show? I was almost certainly a bit too harsh. Overall I recommended the series. Still, I spent much of the review vocalizing about the ways it didn’t get mental health concerns or therapy right. It can be hard to review something that revolves around your job. That’s why so many podcasters reviewing Nobody Wants This spend a considerable portion of their reviews talking about how unrealistic the show’s depiction of podcasting is. (That show’s depiction of Judaism is another matter, one I should’ve been a little more on top of, perhaps. But that’s a discussion for another day.) As I had just stopped being a therapist—perhaps for good—to write full-time, I think I was especially activated by the show’s rather…flippant depiction of the field. Jessica Williams and Christa Miller spend time in the most chaotic, best appointed therapist office ever. (AppleTV+) In Shrinking Season 2, several consequences of Jimmy’s “psychological vigilantism” come home to roost, not just with Grace. That helps refine my perspective. Additionally, with distance, the depiction of Jimmy’s rock bottom, briefly glimpsed at the beginning of Season 1, feels more honest. For once, it seems as though “tell, not show” was the better avenue to capturing his downward spiral of addiction, self-hatred, parental abdication, and general interpersonal awfulness. Continue Reading →
Unstable
Unstable appears to be a deeply personal show for lead actor and co-creator Rob Lowe. After all, it revolves around a father/son duo played by Lowe and his real-life son, John Owen Lowe. Rob Lowe’s headlined worse stuff than this, for sure. Nonetheless, you’d think a series that seems rooted in something this personal would be more engaging to watch. At least, it might take some bold swings. Tragically, Unstable is a mostly just average comedy that leaves little in the way of an impression for good or ill. Continue Reading →