BROCKMIRE the recently concluded IFC comedy series with hank azaria, baseball, amanda peet, baseball, tyrel jackson williams and baseball

I went into this one with zero expectations because the premise (alcoholic baseball announcer stages a comeback a decade after a very public breakdown) seemed both overly familiar and, as someone who does not care at all about baseball, not relevant to my interests. but loads of people I trusted seemed big on it and I've had nothing but time lately.

turns out this is not only NOT just another glorifying-the-shitty-antihero show (though it definitely flirts with that from time to time), instead it turns out to be a very, very funny and quite moving take on redemption, America, addiction, family, friendship, and about a million other things. I'd gush more but there's a surprising amount to spoil. I ended up finding it superior to its closest TV cousin, Bojack Horseman. also it runs four 8-episode seasons which is a PERFECT length.

clips and trailers don't really do it justice just watch a couple eps c'mon now

Declined marginally season to season but that's only because S1 was a perfect 10 and S2 was a 9.5 and on down.

I have seen almost no Bojack so the closest cousin IMO was the first season of You're the Worst.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOf6bOc6ehk

almost got mirrored IRL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LECJbMDhJQ

oh I didn't think it declined at all, though there were certain characters I'd like to have seen more of. in general I love the way that Brockmire's various relationships (with family, friends, peers etc) evolved over the course of the show. it strikes a fine balance between pessimism and perhaps even full-blown nihilism (about broader American society and, yes, capitalism) and optimism (about our individual capacity to actually change for the better over time)

is this the only scripted series to namecheck Hypernormalization?

also kinda rolled my eyes at Peet/Azaria at first but then found out she's only 8 years younger than him which, ok!

Folks, just watched S2E1. I hope Amanda Peet is going to come back. But don't tell me.

i have now seen all but the final ep.

I really like Season 4 - the end of the strike ep was fairly touching

I may have said this on another TV thread but I would kill for Hank Azaria to do a Rockford Files-style '70s cop show. He can reuse Brockmire's wardrobe.

Azaria/Ruffalo 70s non-serialized detective duo show when

didn't care for the last season at all but the rest are great. Amanda Peet totally has a portrait of herself in the attic, I mean I still remember her in Jack and Jill and that was decades ago not just last week.

the Limon shit is pretty hilarious

yeah I thought that was a really nicely realized set of gags that also managed to be significantly more believable than yr average Black Mirror ep

I loved the way it ended.

major LOLs at the odds of chaos in 10-15 years only going down to 72% with Limon as President

re: the ending

I thought they struck a weirdly lovely balance of the characters finding new levels of self-acceptance even as they find themselves amidst, and possibly even helping to enable, an increasingly horrible world order. That felt weirdly profound and true-to-life for me.

Ok we started this and it's very funny off the bat (no pun intended).

I have seen almost no Bojack so the closest cousin IMO was the first season of You're the Worst.

That's actually the other show we're watching now and yeah, they're almost too similar (but both good).

"Look, I understand your hopelessness. I mean, right now, this country feels like the Overlook Hotel just moments before the elevators open and we're all drowned in blood..."

Just finished the show. Incredibly well done. The 4 season arc was excellent even if S4 was not my favorite. They walked a crazy high tightrope between raunchy and sweet, hilarious and sad, light hearted and deep. Did not anticipate them jumping into techno dystopia as the last act.

the episode with Carrie Preston and the suicide attempt was as dark as any TV show I've seen in recent years, and then they pivot abruptly to a semi-comedic moment of Jim acting inappropriate as fuck to her brother in the hospital cos he's accidentally tripping. it did what it did very well.

yeah the Carrie Preston stuff was brutal. I was glad there was no hamfisted attempt to fold those characters back in later.

i never posted on this thread but have been big upping this series for years and am glad it finally caught some other folks attention

yeah I ignored it for years figuring it for just another antihero comedy, and with a sports angle to boot, double yuck. and yet!

Forgive the thread spam, but I wanted to note that this show's 2020 season is nominated in the 2020 ILX TV poll:

ILX's Best Television of 2020 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends After January 29, 2021

If you like this show and you'd like to see it have a good showing in the poll (running in February) all you need to do is submit a ballot including it and your other favorites (3 minimum, 25 maximum, ranked by your favorite to least favorite) to forksclovetofu at gmail. It'll take five minutes; get to it!

In season 4 now and this show is so, so much better than it needed to be. And doesn't even require any affection for baseball.

as here's a drive into deep left field by Castellanos

re-watched the opening monologue clip twice now ... a top 10 funniest 2 minutes ever. this show was so good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFkRCZDcZ10

i just finished the series. i didnt love the final season it took me quite a while to get through. but season three is one of my all time favorite tv seasons.