December Binges Part 2: Interior Chinatown, The Madness, No Good Deed

It's getting colder so why bother leaving the house when your TV beckons with so much entertainment? We just got our first snowfall in NYC and I'm planning on hunkering down on the couch with a cup of cocoa as the Arctic winds rage outside. If you have similar plans, consider the following three shows to hunker down with!

Interior Chinatown: I was a big fan of the novel by Charles Yu, but now he has translated that book into this twisty and extremely meta ten-part series. Jimmy O. Yang stars as Willis Wu, an unassuming Chinese waiter who works in his uncle's restaurant in Chinatown, alongside his best friend Fatty (Ronny Chieng, playing a typically Ronny Chieng character). However, when some cops start investigating various crimes in the neighborhood, Willis is drawn into their investigations. He initially serves as a background character of this police procedural, but he then teams up with an Asian detective, Lana Lee (Chloe Bennet), who is also hustling as a supporting character in this show. As the two of them start to investigate the disappearance of Willis's brother, Johnny (Chris Pang), they further delve into what exactly is going on with their lives and what it takes for minorities to get to star in their own show.

I know that description may not make much sense, but believe me, you'll get it once you start watching this show. It serves as a meta commentary on television and who gets to be a leading actor, as well as what types of stories are allowed to air. It is confounding and perplexing at times, but if you don't think too hard about it, it's a thoroughly enjoyable ride and Yang is doing some great work as a leading man. And special shout-out to Diana Lin who plays Willis's mother and probably does the most affecting work on the series. It's an intriguing and fun show that will lead to plenty of discussion after you're done watching.

The Madness: Created by Stephen Belber, this is a show about what happens when a news anchor named Muncie Daniels (the brilliant Colman Domingo) is on vacation and then discovers the murdered corpse of his neighbor. C'mon, doesn't that rope you right in? What follows is a classic man-on-the-run thriller, almost a throwback to the 70s and 80s, where you have one lone man fighting the system as multiple conspiracies and shadowy figures abound. Except this show is firmly rooted in 2024 where a Black man goes to the police to report a crime and then has to go on the run himself as he is framed for the murder and becomes the prime suspect. Sigh.

With stalwart support from actors like Marsha Stephanie Blake, John Ortiz, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Deon Cole, and even Bradley freakin' Whitford, you will spend eight twisty episodes delving into all sorts of topics like white supremacist groups and corrupt billionaires, as well as watching Muncie try to mend various relationships and discover who he can truly count on. The story is definitely convoluted but overall, this is a pulpy engaging show that keeps up a relentless pace until the very end.

No Good Deed: Created by Liz Feldman, who also gave us the fantastic Dead to Me, this is an intriguing and wonderful show with an absolutely stacked cast. Lisa Kudrow and Ray Romano star as Paul and Lydia, a Los Angeles couple looking to sell their family home. You can sense there's some tension there, and maybe Lydia is not as into this sale as Paul, but as the series unfurls, you will start to get flashbacks and bits of story to clue you into what happened in this house and why selling it might be a good idea. In the meantime, we are also following the various potential buyers from the open house, who include actors like Linda Cardellini, Luke Wilson, O-T Fagbenle, and Abbi Jacobson. All of these people have their own stories and little secrets they're carrying around, and as the show progresses, we spend time with all of them to understand what they're hiding and what they're going to eventually reveal.

I'm not giving away any more plot because this show is a comedy mystery gem that also has a great deal of heart. It has genuinely tense and ridiculous moments, and then moments of great catharsis and warmth. It's a story about couples and families, and the things people do to protect their loved ones that can sometimes just lead to driving an even bigger wedge between them. And I promise, at the end, you will get a happy ending, with only the deserving villains receiving their appropriate comeuppance. It's beautifully written and well told, the perfect miniseries for the holidays.