One title you might be able to guess, perhaps two even, but the next two might astound you, yet they are so worth watching, I’d go to war for them. And I just might have to, as one of my faves has been unceremoniously cancelled…
What makes a show revolutionary? For me it’s the idea that the female protagonists not only are wholly fleshed out characters with full lives and even fuller wardrobes — all fitting their style — but they can also be kind to one another. In Dying for Sex, which was recommended by someone who works for another streamer and yet the series is on FX — so that’s how good it is! — Michelle Williams’ Molly and her BFF Nikki, played by Jenny Slate, are kind to each other. Nikki offers Molly a soft place to fall when she finds out her cancer is no longer in remission and her husband just wants to be her caretaker not her lover. And, in one scene that will always live with me for its sweetness, the latter holds the former’s boobs and confesses “your boobs are so relaxing,” she says, smiling, “they’re like a cup of hot tea.”
It’s moments like these that totally make the four shows I’m going to tell you about not only watchable but utterly addictive. Unfortunately one of them, even though it was slated to have a second season, was cancelled earlier this year by Amazon and we will just have to live with not knowing what happens next, to Cheyenne, Tobias and Nicholas and the two ballet companies in Paris and NYC.
Read on to find out more.
And Just Like That — on HBO Max
I know, it’s a bit commonplace of me to wax poetic about the spinoff of Sex and the City, now in season 3, yet Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda and new additions (well, new to SATC not AJLT) played by the sultry, sexy Sarita Choudhury and the mesmerizing Nicole Ari Parker, still got it. All the way. No other series manages quite like it to show a single woman, or a married one at that, enjoy her life with such joie de vivre, as well as offer up a portrayal of NYC which is the stuff of fairy tales.
Amidst its broad statements, like it seems it never rains messy in NYC (New Yorkers know better) and there is never a lunatic on the loose where the girls, eh hum Ladies, hang out, the series also focuses on serious issues, tackling themes like toxic relationships, the big C and the struggles of successful women. How has And Just Like That revolutionized my life, you may be asking yourself? It has gifted me the will to wear whatever I want, whenever I want, and play the girl, even if I may not be called one anymore. There, that’s a “series” superpower right there. And yup, I did that — serious/series, dig it.
Only Murders in the Building — on Disney +
What? You may be going right now. The show about the two Martins is a woman-centric series? Yes it is, particularly in season 4. Jane Lynch’s character Sazz Pataki is the victim of this season’s murder in the building and she used to be Charles’ (Steve Martin) former stunt double. Though what emerges is the story of a friendship that reminded me of mine with the late Richard Lormand, so I get all of Charles’ melancholy and urgency when it comes to solving her murder.
Mixed in with the trio of unlikely podcasters is also a stunning looking 70-something Meryl Streep and how many women are called stunning after fifty? I can’t say, I may have fainted the few times I heard that combo used. As someone much younger yet one who no longer gets photographed at 90% of the events I attend, I have to say the revolution is real and Loretta, Streep’s sensual character, is a breath of streaming fresh air.
Loretta is also Oliver’s, the character played by Martin Short, love interest and what a love story that is, on and off the screen it seems. Makes me wish the men in my life weren’t all so scared of love. Plus Selena Gomez as Mabel is calm, cool, collected and her old-soul voice I could listen to all day reading the phone book. So, while some critics didn’t love this season, I was heartbroken when it ended since it has kept me company on gloomy London evenings, after I finished my work for the day.
As an example of the understated greatness, in the final episode, during the last five minutes, as Loretta bids Oliver goodbye on her way to New Zealand after their courtyard wedding, she whispers to him “Where have you been?” and that’s such a beautiful moment, one I’ll carry in my heart for months to come. For we all know that when love hasn’t come early in life, we somehow feel like the chance has passed us by and her four words explain what my heart has been feeling, all these years.
Dying for Sex — on FX
Dying for Sex is based on the real life, and death of Molly Kochan (played in the series by Michelle Williams) author of the memoirs Screw Cancer: Becoming Whole, and the podcast she worked on with her best friend, Nikki Boyer, played in the series by Jenny Slate. I have yet to finish it but what I watched so far is a perfect depiction of women and their relationships, not just with each other and men but also with sex, beauty and their own self worth.
As they are lying in Nikki’s bed, after Molly has received word that her breast cancer has metastasized and has now spread to her bones — not a spoiler, since this is the basic premise that sets up the show in episode 1 — her friend Nikki tells her about the new-ish musician boyfriend with whom she has already moved in. “When were you going to tell me about it,” Molly asks and Nikki tells her to “f*ck off” jokingly. “He doesn’t vampire off my self esteem or sell my shoes on the internet,” she continues, arguing that he’s “different.” And Molly looks at her BFF with such a sweet, understanding and non judgmental look that I wanted to reach across the screen and kiss her. In this world where women are so often pitted against each other and jealousy for what you have and I lack, or what I want and you may get is always rearing its ugly head, this show not only passes The Bechdel Test, but also the Rothe test, for being funny until you cry and sob until you laugh good. That’s revolutionary.
Étoile — on Amazon
Before you get excited about this groundbreaking series, the second season has been cancelled, after being confirmed at first. In season 2 we would have found out what happens to the dancers on both side of the Atlantic, but also Genevieve’s and Jack’s on-again-off-again affair. And with stars like Charlotte Gainsbourg and Luke Kirby playing the artistic directors of Le Ballet National in Paris and the Metropolitan Ballet Theater in New York City respectively this was a plot twist I wanted to discover.
Mixed into the greatness of those two utterly watchable actors sparring with one another, but also delivering roles that are both hilarious and familiar to those who have even been involved in a dance company or even taken ballet classes, there are the dancers themselves. An incredible turn by Lou de Laâge as Cheyenne, the no-nonsense ballerina whose passionate dancing is only surpassed by her gusto for life, and sex. And Gideon Glick’s brilliant-but-odd, on the spectrum star choreographer Tobias. With a final kiss that leaves you gasping for air, the first season of Étoile was truly the stuff of streaming dreams. And now I’m left heartbroken by its cancellation but vowed, along with a former Amazon publicist, to bring it back.
So what was revolutionary about Étoile, created by Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, the unstoppable team behind Gilmore Girls and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel? Well, it’s the idea that a show can be about people who are in the minority, as far as their jobs, socio-economic background and cultural heritage and yet their stories, their agonies and victories can connect to the everyman, and woman, so perfectly. While I was never a Cheyenne, or can’t aim to be all of Genevieve’s chicness and mess, her most appealing qualities, I can definitely find much of me in both characters. And that’s the power of a great narrative, to allow us into the elite, without losing our everyday.
All images used with permission.