About Last Night…RELATABLE and THE KOMINSKY METHOD

With virtually nothing on TV last night’s let’s talk about a few streaming shows!

RELATABLE: I don’t generally have a lot of time for comedy specials, but I was curious to see Ellen DeGeneres’ set. Much was made about this being her first special in 15 years, and the title poked at her superstar status. But, frankly, the best parts of the special felt like the actually relatable aspects. Yes, she’s rich and she can make jokes about having a house so big a friend gets lost in it, or a butler drawing her bath. But it’s way more funny to hear her grouse about vegan food options (and then tell the audience she’s not actually a vegan anymore) or reenact how people react to hearing their favorite song come on at the club. (Skirting the line of relatable, but also fame-problems, was her bit about how she can’t ever be not-kind in public. That was my personal favorite part of the comedy related to her celebrity.) I can’t imagine it’ll be another 15 years before Ellen does her next special, but I hope she does lean a little more into focusing on her observations about the world.

THE KOMINSKY METHOD: The good/bad thing about Netflix dropping new shows every week is that it feels nearly impossible to catch up. But this show was near the top of my comedy list, both due the on-screen talent and Chuck Lorre. While Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin were, of course, great, it was fascinating to see how many alumni from Lorre shows appeared in the first episode. MOM’s Emily Osment and Melissa Tang! DHARMA & GREG’s Susan Sullivan!

It was also more serious than I expected in the first episode…when you start a series with one of the leads losing their spouse to an illness, it can’t be a laugh riot. But MOM has excelled at walking the line between funny and tragic—Osment was part of one of that show’s most heartbreaking storylines—so I’m curious to see how this balance plays out. And seeing a Lorre comedy in single-camera is also a fascinating switch…it’s a different kind of writing when you’re playing to a live audience versus performing just for the audience at home.

What shows did you watch last night?

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