In the war zone that is the fall TV season, it’s important to pick out the gems hidden in the media mesh. Each week, A&E columnist Sebastian Torrelio will profile one new show and one returning show that share a connection, detailing how they may make those after-school hours more meaningful.
Romantic relationships are an essential part of life’s double-edged sword of laughter and sadness, and TV is constantly finding new ways to portray them.
Two recent offerings, “Casual” and “Please Like Me,” are highly unconventional depictions of love and sexual flings. And yet these shows have found an elegant balance that simultaneously keeps their premises both extreme and all too real.
“Casual,” currently premiering new episodes weekly on Hulu, is as dark as modern sitcoms get. “Saturday Night Live” alumna Michaela Watkins stars as Valerie, a psychotherapist in the process of divorcing her cheating husband. She and her teenage daughter Laura (Tara Lynne Barr) move in with Valerie’s younger brother Alex (Tommy Dewey), the creator of popular dating website Snooger.
All three characters are bundles of conceited vanity in a world where, like our own, most people look down on that sort of thing. Alex, with Valerie in tow, uses Snooger not for the purpose of finding true love, or even easy one-night stands, but more often just to mess with people who think that dating online isn’t a sham.
Currently only five episodes into its first season, “Casual” has already developed emotionally and comedically. After a couple episodes of overindulged narcissism, Valerie, Alex and Laura’s lives have exposed themselves as, in a word, painful – the kind of crushing pain that comes with waking up next to someone who no longer wants to be there, the kind of anxiety that comes from surveying the world from within a shell of self-detachment as the weight of poor decision-making caves it in.
While deserting these characters in a world of unreliable technology and harsh truths, the creators of “Casual” have found a very assuring balance of making their stories simple, honest and relatable. However, it’s still impressively funny when it wants to be – this family, as any good sitcom family should be, has a charming and redeemable egotism to supplement its behavior.
“Casual” isn’t for everybody. Like a lot of television nowadays, it’s a little too depressing and a little too crude. “Casual” is just the newest tread on a line that goes from “Shameless” to “Looking” to “You’re the Worst.” So with every recommendable American product of disheartening realism, some other country surely televises an equivalent package of unbridled joy to suit the remaining masses. The yin to our yang, if you will.
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That’s where “Please Like Me” comes in. An Australian import airing its third season domestically on the Pivot network, the show follows creator and stand-up comedian Josh Thomas playing a fictionalized version of himself, a 20-something trying to figure out the direction his life is supposed to take.
At its core, “Please Like Me” is a traditional coming-of-age rom-com, but beyond that, there are three huge statements that the show should be given credit for. Two of them rely heavily on its characters and the wistful moments between them.
“Please Like Me” depicts the reality of mental illness better than any show on the air. Thomas takes his real-life experiences with loved ones who have depression and anxiety and fits them into understandable personifications of the people we see every day. He does the same for gays and lesbians, accompanying the vibrant qualities of gay culture with credible discussions of men’s beauty and hilarious stories.
These two proclamations of socially underrepresented viewpoints put “Please Like Me” on the distinguished TV map, but the third point should convert the nonbelievers: Almost every moment on this show is a party. Some episodes involve dancing and confusion about men’s underwear, others playful hookups. Some involve the caretaking of chickens. Sure, there are moments of groggy, romantic lows, but for the most part, “Please Like Me” is a program that should always be symbolized, in emoji fashion, by a glowing smiley face.
“Please Like Me” is as light-toned as “Casual” is dark, but that doesn’t mean either is more essential than the other to understanding the perplexities of life. They are just two small pieces that make up the overwhelming television puzzle of sitcoms. With such defined sincerity, though, they are two pieces that audiences should discover sooner rather than later.
– Sebastian Torrelio
What television show have you been watching lately? Email Torrelio at storrelio@media.ucla.edu.