Dave's comments reminded me of some other thoughts I had on "Maisel." In a prior version of this group, there seemed to be a consensus criticism of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" that the character played by Sarah Paulson was supposed to be some kind of comedy genius but her character did no funny sketches in the show. Midge Maisel has just okay comedy material in the first season. Maybe that's to be expected for a comedy noob, but if Alex Borstein's character is enamored with her, she needs to show more. Her style of jokes don't fit with the style of jokes told in the 1950s. Granted, most of the comedy that survived from then was sanitized so the edgy stuff kind of disappeared, but it seems the style of jokes she tells came into existence in the 1990s. On IMDB I saw some mistakes in the show. The Bob Newhart routine people ripped off came out on an album in 1960 but the show was set in 1958. Also, she makes a joke about Newhart and Rickles being friends but that is still several years off.
On Fri, Mar 8, 2019 at 5:55 PM Marti Lawrence <[email protected]> wrote: > Oh, I should note that while MMM is wholly fictional, the show I > mentioned, "Crashing" is autobiographical of a real-life comic.Also set in > current times. > > On Thursday, March 7, 2019 at 11:48:10 PM UTC-6, Steve Timko wrote: >> >> “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” has cleaned up at awards shows the past >> couple of years, winning several important Emmy and Golden Globe awards, >> but we haven’t discussed it in this group. I finished the first season and >> it’s worth watching. >> Rachel Brosnahan plays the title character, a 1950s Upper West Side New >> York City housewife who gets plunged into stand-up comedy as a form of >> therapy. Miriam “Midge” Maisel is the perfect housewife and trained her >> whole life, it seems, to do that, going to college just to find a husband. >> In the arc of the first season, Miriam develops a feminist bent. Brosnahan >> deserves the accolades she receives. >> Alex Borstein, who I thought was good on “Mad TV” and as a voice actor, >> is also exceptional as the manager who sees greatness in Miriam, even if >> she doesn’t see it herself. >> Tony Shaloub is fantastic in a relatively minor role as Miriam’s father. >> Shaloub said on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast he has a bigger role in the second >> season. He can steal the scene with just a few words. Kevin Pollak is >> mostly good as Miriam’s father-in-law – he goes over the top a few times – >> but it’s clear he can’t hold his own against Shaloub. Maybe it’s intended >> that way. Shaloub has a few great scenes where he says almost nothing but >> steals the movie. If you watch Matthew Wiener’s DVD commentary on the first >> season of “Mad Men,” you could see how he broke down scenes and explained >> how they worked. I would love some DVD commentary on Shaloub. Is the script >> that good? Is it the directing? Is it Shaloub? Or is it all three? >> The writing is often great but uneven. Like in the sixth episode, there’s >> a celebratory dinner scene with an over-enthusiastic Jewish convert that is >> so good and so funny it’s worth watching twice. A few minutes later, >> there’s a screaming match between the characters of Brosnahan and Borstein >> that seems like it’s right out of scriptwriting 101. Almost amateurish. >> The show is beautifully photographed, especially the earlier episodes >> where they glamorize Greenwich Village. Again, it would be great to have a >> DVD commentary to say which are real shots and which are CGI. >> One other gripe is how the character interacts with Lenny Bruce. I don’t >> know much about Bruce but I don’t think he was a benevolent do-gooder. I >> recall stories of him borrowing money from lots of people *before* he got >> deeply involved in drugs and not paying it back. >> Some have ranked it as one of the best series ever. I wouldn’t rank it up >> there with “Breaking Bad” or “The Sopranos,” but it’s funny and smart and >> worth your time. >> >> -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
