itt we talk about Enlightened on HBO, seasons 1-1000000

seriously phenomenal so far, where are my Mike White heads at

only watched 1st ep and i was v into it!

Watched ep 1 just now and liked it, based on your (Murg) rec, and I like Mike White.

1st ep was great.

Yeah, I'm digging this. Not much of consequence has happened and I have no idea where it's going yet (and no idea what the elevator pitch could've possibly been), but I appreciate its slow unfolding. I can't imagine it lasting more than a single season (at least unless it becomes a sort of anthology) but I'll take what I can get while I get it.

it's a six-ep limited series

Ah, that makes sense. Unfortunately brief but understandable.

Oh also this show premiering prompted me to finally buy the Enlightened DVDs, only to discover that it's not just out of print but so out of print that new copies are scarce even on the secondary market. Such a shame, that show is just gonna be unceremoniously swallowed up by time.

thank u past self for buying them on sale at HMV

I KNOW A LOT OF RICH WHITE FUCKED-UP PEOPLE

As a meditation on service industry it feels pretty sharp thus far

this is a pretty great turn of events

absolutely thrilled to report that this man has a star turn in the white lotus...living well is the best revenge!!!! https://t.co/YjNc64CnwF

— rachel syme (@rachsyme) July 19, 2021

What's bizarre about that is dude's apartment seems... fine? Like, I make a good living and that's pretty much what my Zoom background looks like, what is the great shame supposed to be here?

watched 2 episodes tonight. A+ amazing.

in addition to everything else that's great about the show, Cristobal Tapia de Veer is just doing exceptional work for the soundtrack

agreed. probably overdue for a devoted thread imo.

wait, for the show or for the composer?

bc neither would make much sense as its own thread tbh imo

The former

ehh I don't see any point in making a thread for a show that's done in three weeks but if you want to make one, knock yrself out

i am starting to think maybe i dont like this show as much as i thought i did but cant pinpoint why

it's a little mean and occasionally gross and it was a lot moreso this episode, though i am still trying to give it good faith interpretation until we get a bit further down the path. Coolidge is clearly a tragic character whose pain is being played for occasionally cheap laughs but her general presumption of power makes it unclear whether using her as an exemplar of rich white lady is punching up or not.

britton's character is pretty underwritten thus far and her daughter is a weird question mark. but i am compelled!

I experience the characters on this show as real people much much more than in most other shows I watch, not sure how much of this is down to good acting and how much to writing (and I except the characters played for laffs like coolidge's and to some extent the hotel manager)

Murray Bartlett is really fantastic, was not familiar with him

I feel like somebody told him "Basil Fawlty but sympathetic, go"

the dialogue is really bothering me sometimes, characters just churn out huge chunks of exposition for reason

the whole exchange with britton & the daughter about zahn’s dad while he’s sitting there was like weird cliffs notes or something, like “for the viewers at home who arent following along THIS IS WHAT IS GOING ON WITH STEVE ZAHN”

but i also love the hotel manager & the masseuse & literally every shot of the ocean so i am still going to keep watching

but also i think the Britton Zahn family isnt believable as a family because theyre so quippy & blank with each other

so maybe its just a me thing with them specifically

xpost to ums Murray was in Looking! he’s great, that was a v good show imo

the whole exchange with britton & the daughter about zahn’s dad while he’s sitting there was like weird cliffs notes or something, like “for the viewers at home who arent following along THIS IS WHAT IS GOING ON WITH STEVE ZAHN”

See I totally bought this, the mom disclosing that information clearly not having discussed with the dad whether he wanted it disclosed, the daughter experimenting with how it feels being pretty mean to her dad but in a "come on just having fun" kind of way, set up as a companion piece to her interaction with the hedge-fund husband splashing her at the pool, which interaction said husband later explains to peeved wife as "just giving them shit"

Looking is secretly one of the great tv shows

otm!

I wonder if one reason I experience the characters as real people is that (again excepting Coolidge) I don't think I've seen any of these actors in anything before

i've seen basically every actor in this show in a different hbo show lol

Looking was a great show, I forgot that he was in that. Great actor.

I love this show, partly because the last time we went to maui we stayed next door to this resort (this is the Four Seasons); we did eat over there a few times and walked through it enough for it all to be familiar.

I agree that Britton is underwritten so far but figure it might focus on her a bit more in the second half. It is hard too say what the overriding 'story' of the show is, but I kind of don't care because I enjoy the writing so much and Mike White really does write great characters.

it always takes me a moment to register when connie britton is meant to be playing an unsympathetic character because i know and love her from her role as saint on earth tami taylor in friday night lights

yeah I'm kind of willing to give her character all kinds of credit because I am in love with her

I wouldn't describe her character in this show as wholly unsympathetic

nb, i haven't seen episode 3 yet

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/mike-white-on-money-status-and-appearing-on-survivor

yet to arrive as a cast member: molly shannon

:D

Oh yeah, my wife clocked her voice on the phone, loving her late career Renaissance.

that nyer interview was great

ep3 was really good & hilarious imo

Agree the interview was really good. Fascinating that the college girls are in some ways the characters he identifies with (which makes sense, since he is, in some ways, the hardest on them.)

"we have a stylist pick them out" was a great line

The sound in this show is really intense

this made me lol

MELFI: and this tv program makes you anxious

TONY: jennifer cooler's crying, this one's fuckin mother in law showed up, and then you got the music

MELFI: what about the music

TONY: THEYRE JUST SITTING ON THE FUCKIN BEACH, WHY'S THE MUSIC SCARY?

— Ben Rosen (@ben_rosen) August 9, 2021

Really no more discussion? Loved this show

Yeah, it didn't hit the heights of Enlightened but I enjoyed it very much.

Has been renewed for a second season, btw. Apparently as a season-long anthology of sorts, as the second season will take place at another White Lotus property with an all-new cast. It's more Mike White so I'll take it.