Show #175 The Return of ALL KINDSA GIRLS October 9, 2021

The Return of ALL KINDSA GIRLS is dedicated to Amy!

 

Amy- The Stanleys The Stanleys 

Hello There- Cheap Trick Out To Get You! Live 1977 

For Those About To Pop- The Yum Yums For Those About To Pop 

Earth Girls Are Easy- Silver Sun Switzerland 

Alphabetland- X ALPHABETLAND 

Upper Hand- Nick Piunti & The Complicated Men Downtime 

New Direction- Kurt Baker After Party 

In A Town This Size- Geoff Palmer & Lucy Ellis Your Face Is Weird 

^The Unguarded Moment- The Church s/t

Father of All...- Green Day Father of All Motherf***kers 

Hey DJ- Paul Collins Beat Another World (The Best of the Archives) 

Forget About It- Classic Ruins Forget About It 

Everything's Good (Quarantine Sessions)- Sidewalk Driver s/t

Kiss My Tattoo- Jerry Lehane Jerry Lehane 

*The Nips Are Getting Bigger- Mental As Anything s/t

*Beautiful People- Australian Crawl s/t

*State of the Heart- Mondo Rock s/t

*Don't Throw Stones- The Sports s/t

*O Yeah- End of Fashion s/t

*Hoping For- Bad // Dreems s/t

*Rolling On- The Murlocs s/t

Sheila Can Do It- Weezer Van Weezer 

Best Of Me- Matthew Sweet Catspaw 

No One to Blame- Radio Days Rave On! 

>The Loved One- The Loved Ones s/t

>Get A Little Dirt On Your Hands- The Delltones s/t

We Stand United- Tuns Duly Noted 

Egocentric- Death By Unga Bunga Heavy Male Insecurity 

Tupelo- Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds s/t

 

Power Pop Peak:  #22 Australian Kent Report March 1981

 

SacroSets:  Songs from Mr. Inbetween

 

Power Pop Prototype(s):  1966, 1962

 

Like a lot of you no doubt, I got through the shelter in place phase of the pandemic by binging movies, TV shows, books, podcasts- anything to keep me from doom scrolling on my phone about the wretched state of the world.  I've always kept track of the movies I want to see but I took it to another level in the pandemic- entering them all into a spread sheet (there were 500+ at the time) so I could keep track of what I watched and check it off the list.  I became obsessed with watching something from the list every night of the week.  I did the same with TV shows- my wife and I got into the habit of watching a 30 minute episode of something during dinner each night.  We LOVED Teenage Bounty Hunters on Netflix- the story of sisters living in a rich suburb of Atlanta who go to an elite private religious school and get drawn into the bounty hunter business.  It's hilarious and the fact that it did not blow up like Stranger Things or Squid Game is further testament to how out of sync I am with the viewing public.  I thought this show was going to be HUGE- 94% on rottentomatoes- and it didn't even get picked up for a second season!

 

There was considerably more love for another pandemic favorite of ours- The Great on Hulu a comedy about Peter The Great of Russia and his marriage to Catherine (the not yet great).  Nicholas Hoult's Peter is a sheltered innocent child or a petty murderous sociopath often simultaneously, and Elle Fanning's Catherine is never less than brilliant.  This show, I'm happy to say, was renewed for a second season that starts this month.

I loved the first two seasons of Brockmire, a black comedy about a drug/sex/booze addicted baseball announcer sinking into the depths of depravity.  He manages to get sober at the end of Season 2 and while I had no idea how a sober Brockmire would play, Season 3 was great.  That said, I was in no way prepared for Season 4 which features a time jump to 2034 into an absolutely hilarious tech-riven dystopian hellscape where climate collapse and an AI named Limón (think aggro-Siri) are destroying the world.  Who would've thought Brockmire would end with biting, incisive and hysterically funny social satire about the state of our world yet that's exactly what they did.  Jim Brockmire's personal growth and relationship with his new found daughter was also deeply moving- another testament to what may be the defining role in Hank Azaria's illustrious career.

 

For drama, no show slayed my wife and I more than Normal People on Hulu- one of the most intimate viewing experiences I've ever had.  This story of a long term relationship between a man and woman was exquisitely painful to watch at times.  Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal take Marianne and Connell from high school into adulthood and as the fortunes of each shift over the years it is fascinating to see how this plays out in their relationship.  A lovely, brutal and devastating show.

 

While I love the four shows above, my #1 pandemic TV show and what will likely become an all-time favorite is Mr. Inbetween.  The story of Ray Shoesmith: divorced father, brother/ caretaker, boyfriend, security consultant/ hitman.  If that seems like a lot, it is- and that's the whole point of the show.  Never in my life have I seen a show that so deftly balances drama, action and comedy, often in the same scene.  The 30 minute run time makes episodes fly by yet they never seem rushed.  Creator/writer/star Scott Ryan is so dialed in on Ray Shoesmith that it's thrilling to watch, whether he's debating James Bonds with best friend Gary (the hilarious Justin Rosniak), parenting his daughter Brittany (played by the spot on Chika Yasumura) or killing dudes (most of whom deserve it).

Scott Ryan as Ray Shoesmith

While the above were my Top 5 shows of the pandemic, there was A LOT of time for TV viewing during those months so here are some other 2020 favorites, each with their accompanying Tweet https://twitter.com/allkindsagirls :

 

COMEDIES

I enjoyed Better Things S1 & 2 but Pamela Adlon takes it to whole other level in S3- it is an amazing show! What I think of as her "catch phrase" has morphed from "Oof!" to "Unhhhhhhhhh...."

If you're one of those people (like me) who sometimes wonder how fictional characters' lives turned out then Cobra Kai will be your jam. More than just nostalgia, its a show about how our middle age years are largely guided by our adolescent choices.

Lame title aside, Feel Good is a show like Fleabag or Catastrophe where you’re laughing one minute and getting your heart ripped out the next.... I dig shows like that!

I loved Veep and In The Loop so it was great to see their DNA in Armando Iannucci's The Thick of It which is absolutely brutal, hilarious fun. With actor Peter Capaldi's Malcom Tucker, Iannucci has created a TV character for the ages!

While not as upbeat and fun as The Good Place, Upload’s take on the corporate monetization of our afterlife seems scarily plausible...

 

If you don't think overcoming grief, cultural dysphoria and the horrors of 10th grade make for a charming, funny TV show then Never Have I Ever will prove you wrong. Maitreyi Ramakrishnan is a star!

 

DRAMAS:

The Plot Against America is gripping television- based on the brilliant Philip Roth novel, it makes the political personal. I'm glad I didn't watch it before the election- with so much at stake it would've killed me!

Really enjoyed Mystery Road Series 1. Interesting story, solid acting and some breathtaking photography. Now I'm going back to watch the movie...

I May Destroy You is raw, brutally honest and tough to watch at times yet such a specific, singular vision I couldn't look away. I'll be very curious to see what Michaela Coel does next.

I had avoided Homecoming Season 1 thinking it would be harrowing stories of PTSD, yet it's actually a mystery/conspiracy thriller that had me on the edge of my seat. What a cool show!

Based on the life of Anne Lister, a true icon beautifully portrayed by Suranne Jones.

Series 5 was fantastic! Just when you thought you knew who was going to "break bad,"  though I must say I'm a little terrified for her

 

Really enjoyed The Queen’s Gambit. Anya Taylor-Joy is incredible and the period settings/costumes/production design are just beautiful

 

I was wondering if The Wilds would fulfill the promise of its early episodes, but I'm happy to say that Season 1 is great to the end. The hard part will be waiting for Season 2...

LIMITED SERIES:

For me, Patricia Arquette owned the limited series format in 2020- she was fantastic in Escape at Dannemora and supremely creepy in The Act.

 

 

WTF?

If you watch only one Korean wuxia/plague mashup this shelter in place, I’d go with Kingdom. It’s got political intrigue, swordplay and zombies galore- like Game of Thrones without the rape and incest...

I'm neither DC nor Marvel (still holding out for a standalone Ruffalo Hulk movie) but that would change if superhero stories were more like The Boys- Season 1 was DIABOLICAL, and Season 2 is even MORE over the top!

Do I watch too much TV?  Probably, but it was a freaking pandemic (at least that's my excuse).  Thanks to all the creators behind these shows- you helped make a difficult situation a little more bearable.

 

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ALL KINDSA GIRLS #175