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Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Monday, April 20. All times are Eastern.
Top picks
Better Call Saul (AMC, 9 p.m.): Peter Gould and Ariel Levine have crafted a nearly 90-minute finale for season five of Better Call Saul. Will Jimmy finally get it together and actually level with Kim? Will Kim continue to call him on his shit? And how many people will die in this episode? [Sulagna Misra]
The Plot Against America (HBO, 9 p.m.) limited-series finale: Despite how potent and tightly written this limited series from David Simon has been, some viewers have struggled to watch what feels like an all-too-pertinent story about a world leader who stokes fear and bigotry. Which is why we’re grateful for Noel Murray’s ongoing analysis, which comes to a close tonight with this sure-to-be devastating finale. [Sulagna Misra]
Regular coverage
Dispatches From Elsewhere (AMC, 10:25 p.m.)
Wild card
Dummy (Quibi): There are semi-autobiographical shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm and Better Things, where seasoned creatives find new avenues for their outlooks and sensibilities by writing what they know—peeling the curtain back ever so slightly on their off-camera lives. And then there’s Dummy, in which the intimate-yet-readily-shared details of Kidding writer-producer Cody Heller’s life with her fiancé, cult-TV godhead Dan Harmon, are dramatized within an odd-couple comedy about aspiring writer Cody Heller (played by Anna Kendrick) and her new friend, Barbara Himmelbaum-Harmon—the latter being a red-headed sex doll owned by Cody’s boyfriend Dan Harmon (Donal Logue in the show—an on-the-nose choice that’s also frankly brilliant).
Dummy’s real-life inspiration is an open book that added pages to itself during every new Harmontown taping, but once the show gets through some surprisingly direct depictions of the couple’s peccadilloes, it starts angling toward an intense and psychological form of comic memoir. Kendrick’s in a screwball wallflower gear that she can probably do in her sleep at this point, but her inanimate scene partner is able to go toe-to-silicone-toe with the A Simple Favor star thanks to a lively performance from Meredith Hagner. Portraying Barbara in sing-song voice and appropriately off-putting mo-capped facial expressions, the Search Party scene-stealer finds a complexity within the character, who’s knowledgable and opinionated enough that the audience (and the protagonist) are kept on their toes as to whether she’s her own, independent persona, or just the sound of Cody’s insecurities rattling around in her head.
Dummy’s still a Quibi “movie in chapters,” so its story beats are awkwardly hacked into individual installments and its dialogue is occasionally forced to carve out some rough narrative shortcuts. But on the plus side of all that compression, nobody gets strung along about anybody else’s sex doll: Dan comes clean about Barbara in the first three minutes. Patience is instead reserved for the burgeoning bond between Cody and Barbara, a gonzo journey of self-discovery in which characters who initially perceive each other as rivals for one guy’s affection help one another recognize their strengths and vulnerabilities. Somewhere in the unlikely overlap between Ted and Toy Story, you’ll find Dummy. [Erik Adams]
18 Comments
I got a “Terriers” notification for this?!
Damn I’ve been trying to come up with shows to download thanks for the reminder
I re-watched “Terriers” a couple months ago, and it definitely still holds up.
Are AV Club and Quibi owned by the same company? I’m honestly curious. Does anyone have any insight into why it’s being promoted so much here?
Sorta Off-Topic/Sorta Related —
Darn 🙁 Just found out CBS cancelled ‘God Friended Me’ tv show series ie will officially come to an end with two-hour finale airing this upcoming Sunday, April 26th. Was sorta good, though not really great, teevee (for Sunday nite after 60 mins) etc. Think saw every episode except maybe two or three of ‘em during the two-season run —> Never purchased an advertiser product though.
“God Holy-Ghosted Me”
I’m really going to miss Better Call Saul when this season is over (and who knows how long we’ll have to wait for season 6!). This is a tough time for everyone right now; having an hour (or so) every week of guaranteed entertainment that has been written, acted and directed to perfection has been a really nice treat to look forward to.Also, after this season I’m 100% in the ‘Better Call Saul has somehow surpassed Breaking Bad as the best show ever’ camp.
My wife loved BB but for some reason was hesitant to get into BCS. Which means that I have both some extra time on my hands at the moment and am only 2/3 of the way through season one. Woohoo!
I envy you!
The wait for season 6 will be excruciating. The gaps were already long, and now there might be production delays in this strange new world… Two years is a possibility.This season has been excellent, and last week’s final scene a TV highlight of 2020. Passed BB indeed.
Yeah this show is like a relic of the golden age , it’s been a reminder of how great TV can be , and the rest of the dross around right now looks shabby by comparison.
Am I the only one who thinks Quibi is the worst idea ever??The last thing I want are short, attention span teasing content, out of my entertainment. If I want that there’s already something called YouTube.It doesn’t even matter to me that something might get created that’s good, because then it’ll just piss me off that’s it’s so short and expendable. I’m betting most of it will not be good, and here’s yet another avenue to distract people with short and sweet content, to fuel the social media addled.
I don’t remember ever being so nervous for an episode of television and the fate of a fictional character as I am today for Better Call Saul and Kim. And it’s amped up exponentially given how frayed my nerves already are from this pandemic. Really hoping they can pull a rabbit out of their hat and have Kim somehow manage to escape.
The Saul from the BB universe could never “do his thing” if Kim is dead. He is not some desentisized monster. Kim’s death would wreck him for good. Just as Jesse Pinkman gets to survive I fully expect Kim to be around.
The Saul from the BB universe could never do his thing if Kim is dead. He is not some desentisized monster. Kim’s death would wreck him for good. Just as Jesse Pinkman gets to survive I fully expect Kim to be around.
I subscribed to Quibi because, hell, three free months, why not.I have not watched once.I have quite low vision, and I was hoping I could airplay the shows to my TV. They don’t allow that. That’s fucking dumb. (It also confirms that low vision people are an afterthought for most everyone, but that’s another matter).
“an all-too-pertinent story about a world leader who stokes fear and bigotry.”Really, can’t we get a break from this crap? Trump is not Lindbergh. He’s not a bigot or an antisemite. And what “fear” is he stoking? You know who was Lindberg, even at the same time? JFK’s daddy, Joe Kennedy – that thoroughly corrupt individual who purchased a presidential election for his second favorite son. You call yourself a journalist? You should be ashamed.
“an all-too-pertinent story about a world leader who stokes fear and bigotry.”Really, can’t we get a break from this crap? Trump is not Lindbergh. He’s not a bigot or an antisemite. And what “fear” is he stoking?You know who was Lindberg, even at the same time? JFK’s daddy, Joe Kennedy – that thoroughly corrupt individual who purchased a presidential election for his second favorite son. You call yourself a journalist? You should be ashamed.