I started watching Bill Hader's new show
Barry, and it is really good. It's a bit hard to buy Hader as an ex-Marine, but the rest of the show strikes a similar balance. The supporting cast is amazing, and Noho Hank will be your new favorite television character from this year. Henry Winkler is perfectly cast as the hard-ass acting teacher Gene Cousineau. Plus, my former improv teammate D'Arcy Carden is in it! Also, a few of the episodes were directed by Hiro Murai, who did the music video for Childish Gambino's "This is America." Lots of good stuff.
I also just wrapped up
The Tick, Season 1, on Amazon, and it is fine. It wasn't laugh-a-minute like I was hoping from something with The Tick in it. It was more like an Arthur origin story. I am hoping the next season will actually serve the titular character better. Peter Serafinowicz starts the series with this bombastic energy that is near deflated by the last scene of the season. There are some really solid bits throughout the season, however, that made it worthwhile for me. The episodes I liked the best featured retired superdog Midnight, voiced by the animated Tick's Townsend Coleman. Since this series comes from Tick creator Ben Edlund himself, I have to respect what he was trying with this decades-old character.
I caught up on
Better Call Saul, which is thoroughly great television, though it is not as funny as it has been in the past. It continues to showcase what an amazing talent the entire cast has. If you didn't like
Breaking Bad, you will still love Saul.
I also just watched this Netflix anime
Kakegurui - Compulsive Gambler on recommendation from my friend and podcaster Andy Beckerman. If you are unfamiliar, the series is set in a private academy where the students social lives are determined by gambling. Each episode is some strange, invented gambling game.
It reminded me a lot of that YouTube video of "If Uno Was an Anime." We checked it out because Anna and I have been playing in a weekly poker game. Anna has also been watching YouTube archives of the
World Series of Poker because she never once saw it when the poker craze started.