Kidding

[flyonthewall2983]

Kidding

[Roger Ryan]

Kidding

The trailer screams "Michel Gondry" from the first shot; I'm pleased to see he has directed all ten episodes. Looking forward to this one.

[flyonthewall2983]

Kidding

The trailer screams "Michel Gondry" from the first shot; I'm pleased to see he has directed all ten episodes. Looking forward to this one.

The first episode is up on Showtime. It's promising, but there's room for improvement as there almost always is with new shows.

[flyonthewall2983]

Kidding

The trailer screams "Michel Gondry" from the first shot; I'm pleased to see he has directed all ten episodes. Looking forward to this one.

The first episode is up on Showtime. It's promising, but there's room for improvement as there almost always is with new shows.

I've caught myself up on the show in the last few days. This might be some of Carrey's best dramatic work, and the ensemble is entirely engaging. It's neck-and-neck with Barry for being my favorite new show this year.

[flyonthewall2983]

More Kidding: an impressive side-by-side comparison of how they shot a sequence for EP 3

[mfunk9786]

Have been through the first three episodes and this show is everything I wanted Maniac to become from a filmmaking perspective. Gondry is doing his Gondry thing, with beautiful little creative flourishes littered throughout each episode, whether it be in the camera work or some unusual plot occurrence that's reliant upon some tricky prop work that you don't see every day, or ever

SpoilerShow

(there is no way the garbage cans and streetlights thing wasn't his idea, stem to stern).

I'll be delighted if Showtime is willing to foot the bill for a 2nd season, and if Gondry returns to do much of the directing. The only real weak point so far for me is Frank Langella, who doesn't seem to be playing in the same ballpark as everyone else (if this interview is any indication, it's no accident), but he's good enough at his job that it hardly matters that the characterization will need time to gel.

More Kidding: an impressive side-by-side comparison of how they shot a sequence for EP 3

The standout sequence so far is indeed this virtuoso passage of time featuring Riki Lindhome in her apartment as her life improves from rock bottom to sunnily, functionally mundane. It's on the nose, sure, but Gondry is so great with in-camera how-dey-do-dat heroics that the material is elevated to soaring heights. I'm always very glad when he finds interesting material to work with, we don't see nearly enough of him in conversations about the best (or at least most talented) living directors, and perhaps this might lead to another excellent feature film script landing on his desk. Which I'm assuming is made out of cardboard and paper towel rolls.

Oh, and Keener and Carrey are fantastic and underrated in every conceivable way, but when are they not?

[mfunk9786]

Renewed for a 2nd season, Showtime says its ratings have more than quadrupled since the premiere and it's pulling down a really impressive 2+ million views per episode across TV & legal Showtime streaming

[flyonthewall2983]

Wonderful news. I didn't see I'm Dying Up Here but I was afraid news of it's cancellation didn't spell anything good for this, glad that was unfounded.

[flyonthewall2983]

This show is even clever in how it uses flashbacks. The scene with young Jeff and his sister, seen arguing with her mother who's about to leave was pretty raw and real for me, as well as smartly dove-tailing itself into issues going on presently.

[flyonthewall2983]

This has fully usurped Barry as my new favorite show this year, speaking so much to the toxic social environment we can run across and what it means when a Jeff Pickles is up against that, as well as dealing with his own personal toxicity. Hands-down it's Carrey's finest performance to date, fully immersing his profound gift for the silly and the serious. The last episode is such an emotional roller-coaster it feels like it summarized everything the previous nine did and compacted it into 30 minutes.