On the show, contestants (usually) arrive without knowing what game they are about to play - the gimmick relies on the players figuring it out as they go, often putting them delightfully at odds with Sam Reich (operating as the show’s host/antagonist). Game Changer season 5Ĭast: Sam Reich, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Grant O’Brienĭropout, CollegeHumor’s quietly excellent streaming service, changed the game show game with Game Changer. Perry Mason is available to watch on HBO Max. An immersive period piece with detailed production design ( I love Perry’s motorcycle so much), Perry Mason delights in bringing 1930s Los Angeles to life, and Rhys’ supporting cast (especially Juliet Rylance as his brilliant legal partner Della, Chris Chalk as their dedicated investigator, Paul Raci as a terrifying gangster, Hope Davis as a wealthy socialite, and the always excellent Shea Whigham as Perry’s adversarial frenemy) help make it one of the best watches on TV. I won’t spoil what it is, but the decision opens up Perry Mason to be a richer examination of the justice system and the people caught up in it. When a massive case falls on his lap, Perry and his partners find themselves thrust into a case that’s impossible to win, stacked against a massive conspiracy that could involve all the power players in Los Angeles.Įarly on, the second season makes one crucial and bold diversion from nearly every piece of defense attorney media. He’s broken down, disillusioned with the system, and finds himself struggling with basic motivation at the beginning of the season. In Perry Mason, Matthew Rhys continues to excel as the saddest man on TV, picking up where he left off in The Americans (as well as A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood). I operated purely on a “if it’s important, they’ll remind me” point-of-view, and it served me perfectly. Good news: Not only is the second season of Perry Mason very good, you can absolutely skip the first season without issue if you want to. And when I started hearing more and more people talk about how good the show’s new season was, I dove right in. When The Knick showrunners Jack Amiel and Michael Begler came in to run Perry Mason’s second season, I was intrigued. I watched the first episode, found it overly dark and dour, and wasn’t much interested in an origin story about Perry’s time before his days as a defense lawyer. Showrunners: Jack Amiel and Michael BeglerĬast: Matthew Rhys, Juliet Rylance, Chris Chalkįirst, a quick confession: I skipped the first season of Perry Mason, HBO’s adaptation of the famed literary criminal defense attorney, perhaps best known for the long-running CBS series in the 1950s and 1960s. Jury Duty is available to stream for free with ads on Freevee. And more than that, the final episodes pull back the curtain to explain the unfathomable lengths the production went to go to pull off the trick. Jury Duty tells a real story, follows a real set of characters, and delivers a genuine payoff. Slight spoilers: The judge reaches a verdict in episode 8 that brought me to tears in more ways than one. The pressure of the judicial system is enough to keep the unknowing target focused on serving his civil duty, much to our delight. Eisenberg, Stupnitsky, Szymanski, and their team of on-the-fly writers constantly bring Jury Duty to that edge of zaniness without tipping off Ronald and blowing their cover. As foreperson, it’s up to Ronald to make sure his fellow juror’s “chair pants,” a homemade invention that attaches chair legs to pants, don’t disrupt the trial, and figure out a way for his group’s religious member to have sexual intercourse without breaking his premarital vows (it involves a loophole called “soaking,” which we will not attempt to describe). Across the eight episodes, Ronald winds up sitting on a ludicrous civil trial involving a disgruntled worker at a Goop-like company, sequestering at a hotel with his fellow jury members (all of whom are secretly comedians), and spending an inordinate amount of time with James Marsden, who plays a fame-crazed version of himself. And by god, the genial gig worker is exactly that. At the center of the series is Ronald Gladden, a non-actor who doesn’t realize he is in a sitcom and just wants to be the best damn juror he can possibly be. The idea of a jury-duty-themed mockumentary might have worked on its own, but the writing duo’s show goes the extra mile to create spontaneity. Who expected the best new sitcom of 2023 to air on Freevee, the free-with-ads streaming service formerly known as IMDbTV that now lives within Amazon Prime Video? Neither did we, but Jury Duty, created by The Office vets Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky and directed by Jake Szymanski ( 7 Days in Hell), is the real deal: hilarious, sweet, and enough of a concept to bring the unexpected with each half-hour episode. Cast: Ronald Gladden, James Marsden, Alan Barinholtz
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