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flyonthewall2983 wrote: Thu Jun 07, 2018 7:54 pm 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.

Roger Ryan wrote: Thu Jun 07, 2018 8:14 pm

flyonthewall2983 wrote: Thu Jun 07, 2018 7:54 pm 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 wrote: Fri Aug 31, 2018 6:49 pm

Roger Ryan wrote: Thu Jun 07, 2018 8:14 pm

flyonthewall2983 wrote: Thu Jun 07, 2018 7:54 pm 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.

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

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

Spoiler

(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.

flyonthewall2983 wrote: Sun Oct 07, 2018 5:49 pm 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?

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

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.

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.

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.

Showtime aired the 2nd season with back-to-back episodes over 5 weeks. This was agreed upon by the creator and the network, who have seen more of an uptick from binging as opposed to putting one out a week.

This season has less of the raw nerve experience I had to the first, but not much. It goes into some uncomfortable emotional territory in nearly every episode, but hardly becomes unwatchable at all.

Canceled. Not too surprised since they kind of just shipped out the season as fast as possible by doing two episodes a week. Also, with how it ended, I'm happier that it left on that point and again would not be too surprised if it was a joint decision. Sucks a bit for Carrey though, who is currently promoting a book.

flyonthewall2983 wrote: Mon Jul 20, 2020 7:35 am Canceled. Not too surprised since they kind of just shipped out the season as fast as possible by doing two episodes a week. Also, with how it ended, I'm happier that it left on that point and again would not be too surprised if it was a joint decision. Sucks a bit for Carrey though, who is currently promoting a book.

It was a really good series, consistently hilarious and poignant. Still, I agree the cancellation isn't too disappointing since the second season did, indeed, end the story perfectly.

It is utterly surreal that we're living in a reality where a TV show starring Jim Carrey, the highest paid film star in history at one point, has been cancelled by the same network that financed an alienatingly strange 19 episode reboot of Twin Peaks. Tell that to somebody in 1995 and you won't even have to get to the whole "Trump's the president" thing before they're on the fainting couch

I think you mean financed a season rival of one of the most popular shows of the '90s during the height of '90s nostalgia frontlineing an Oscar nominated director.

mfunk9786 wrote: Tue Jul 21, 2020 8:49 pm It is utterly surreal that we're living in a reality where a TV show starring Jim Carrey, the highest paid film star in history at one point, has been cancelled by the same network that financed an alienatingly strange 19 episode reboot of Twin Peaks.

During it's first season I felt like this show was a beneficiary of the influence that season of TP had on the landscape. It's a pretty direct comedy-drama, but also hit on themes even prestige television didn't much cover, and in such a unique way that it could have been bound to be more appreciated. I thought that was the case with the first season, but it's clear by the 2nd it wasn't as huge a priority for the network as it's caliber showed that early out of the gate.

It probably also speaks to Carrey's less-then-sterling reputation in the public now. I don't know how much that translated to how he behaves in production now, and if he was a pain on the set on the show.

I must be more out of it than I thought, but Season 2 of this wonderful series was released on DVD back in May. Unfortunately, it seems to be a MOD release. Can anyone confirm?

Seasons 1 and 2 are on DVD and on sale on Amazon

mfunk9786 wrote: Mon Oct 08, 2018 7:48 pmThe 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.

He was on WTF With Marc Maron recently and they didn't even talk about his role on the show which I found surprising. It was more geared towards the movie he just did for Netflix but was a wide-range conversation about his career. I thought he was very good on the show and functionary towards the plot, being the fatherly center of not just the main character but of the show within the show.

It was interesting hearing him speak towards the craft, and specifically his favorite line from Dave, which he cites as his favorite line ever.