A lot of people are currently stuck at home with little kids and losing their minds. For those people, the quarantine has magically offered up two wonderful "comedies" about the frustrations of marriage and parenthood. While these shows are two very different beasts, they both feature sweary adults who are constantly on the edge - which is a condition that most of us can relate to, whether we are isolating with our families or are all by ourselves. The creators really lucked out when their shows dropped just in time for a global pandemic when we all desperately need some dark comedies to binge through.
Breeders: Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard star as Paul and Ally, a couple living in London with two young children. Paul is perpetually frustrated with his kids; nothing can ever go according to schedule, and every day is yet another struggle of finding lost toys, persuading the kids to sleep, dealing with school drama, and trying to find the spare moment to be an adult. Alongside Freeman, the other co-creators of this show are Chris Addison and Simon Blackwell, names you may recognize from their work on Veep, or its British predecessor, The Thick of It. So the language on this show should come as no surprise. Freeman is swearing up a storm at his unruly children and if you are currently stuck in endless Zoom conferences with colleagues or getting supremely annoyed at joggers who won't maintain a six-foot distance when you're on on your daily walk, you might want to live vicariously through Paul and revel in the litany of inventive cursing that every episode brings.
While the first few episodes are hilarious, this is also a very dark show because it has a foothold in reality. Yes, Paul and Ally's frustrations with their kids and each other can boil over in comically heightened ways, but they also boil over in the very traditional ways that occur when the people you love and spend the most time with get under your skin. I've watched the first eight episodes and have no idea what might happen in the final two episodes of the season, but I suspect it will be something dark, sobering, but still insanely funny. Which is certainly the kind of tone I'm looking for in my entertainment these days.
#blackAF: The title says it all, right? From creator Kenya Barris, who also stars as himself (somewhat fictionalized, though I doubt by much), you can basically summarize this show as: black-ish but with a lot more swearing. Ergo, the replacement of "ish" with "AF." I love black-ish and have never missed an episode, but apparently what I was missing was a hilarious meta commentary of the show's creator and his family where every single episode title proclaims that "this episode is about slavery." It is an insane and wild ride through the black experience when you're an affluent black family who has "made it" but still holds a lot of baggage personally, culturally, and socioeconomically. You will recognize every single one of the members of this family from black-ish, because again, both shows are based on Barris' actual family, but now everyone is just extra real and ready to tell you about the struggle.
Rashida Jones also stars as Barris' wife, Joya (she plays a former lawyer, as opposed to Barris' real-life doctor wife), and she is a delight. I've never seen Jones in a role where she got to lean into her blackness and now it feels like the gloves have come off and she is ready to outdo Barris in his constant racial commentary. The two of them are excellent and the actors who play their kids are incredible as well, lending depth and frankness to this portrayal of a black family that is enjoying a lot of privilege but still encountering the barriers of systemic racism in interesting and nuanced ways. The women of the family also have their struggles with feminism, and while the show is always going to be first and foremost about black identity (and slavery), it also delves deep into the other complicated and intersecting identities of its characters. It is super meta, super smart, and insanely funny. And like Breeders, while over the top, it is also very grounded in reality, so while you laugh, you will also uncomfortably squirm. I have already bingewatched six episodes in a day, so clearly, I can't give you any higher recommendation than that.
Breeders: Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard star as Paul and Ally, a couple living in London with two young children. Paul is perpetually frustrated with his kids; nothing can ever go according to schedule, and every day is yet another struggle of finding lost toys, persuading the kids to sleep, dealing with school drama, and trying to find the spare moment to be an adult. Alongside Freeman, the other co-creators of this show are Chris Addison and Simon Blackwell, names you may recognize from their work on Veep, or its British predecessor, The Thick of It. So the language on this show should come as no surprise. Freeman is swearing up a storm at his unruly children and if you are currently stuck in endless Zoom conferences with colleagues or getting supremely annoyed at joggers who won't maintain a six-foot distance when you're on on your daily walk, you might want to live vicariously through Paul and revel in the litany of inventive cursing that every episode brings.While the first few episodes are hilarious, this is also a very dark show because it has a foothold in reality. Yes, Paul and Ally's frustrations with their kids and each other can boil over in comically heightened ways, but they also boil over in the very traditional ways that occur when the people you love and spend the most time with get under your skin. I've watched the first eight episodes and have no idea what might happen in the final two episodes of the season, but I suspect it will be something dark, sobering, but still insanely funny. Which is certainly the kind of tone I'm looking for in my entertainment these days.
#blackAF: The title says it all, right? From creator Kenya Barris, who also stars as himself (somewhat fictionalized, though I doubt by much), you can basically summarize this show as: black-ish but with a lot more swearing. Ergo, the replacement of "ish" with "AF." I love black-ish and have never missed an episode, but apparently what I was missing was a hilarious meta commentary of the show's creator and his family where every single episode title proclaims that "this episode is about slavery." It is an insane and wild ride through the black experience when you're an affluent black family who has "made it" but still holds a lot of baggage personally, culturally, and socioeconomically. You will recognize every single one of the members of this family from black-ish, because again, both shows are based on Barris' actual family, but now everyone is just extra real and ready to tell you about the struggle.Rashida Jones also stars as Barris' wife, Joya (she plays a former lawyer, as opposed to Barris' real-life doctor wife), and she is a delight. I've never seen Jones in a role where she got to lean into her blackness and now it feels like the gloves have come off and she is ready to outdo Barris in his constant racial commentary. The two of them are excellent and the actors who play their kids are incredible as well, lending depth and frankness to this portrayal of a black family that is enjoying a lot of privilege but still encountering the barriers of systemic racism in interesting and nuanced ways. The women of the family also have their struggles with feminism, and while the show is always going to be first and foremost about black identity (and slavery), it also delves deep into the other complicated and intersecting identities of its characters. It is super meta, super smart, and insanely funny. And like Breeders, while over the top, it is also very grounded in reality, so while you laugh, you will also uncomfortably squirm. I have already bingewatched six episodes in a day, so clearly, I can't give you any higher recommendation than that.
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